Wärtsilä's intention is to reduce the costs of exporting wind turbine boxes to specialized centers located in Europe.
Last Thursday (30), the Wärtsilä group announced the inauguration of a service center fully specialized in gearbox repairs, intended for wind energy turbines, being the first service center dedicated entirely to this specific objective in the whole of Latin America. The center is located in Cabo de Santo Agostinho, Pernambuco, in the Northeast region of the country.
First service center in Latin America specialized in wind turbine gearbox repairs, from the Wärtsilä Group, in Northeast Brazil
The service center manages to stand out, as the test bench is composed of two 1,5MW AC motors, together with a gearbox, which is used to simulate the torque in operation.
After making these settings, it becomes feasible to test the already repaired equipment, either with full or partial operating load, depending on the power of each model. Carrying out this test is essential to help in the prior identification of possible failures, with the aim of correcting them even before carrying out the assembly of the gearbox inside the wind turbine.
According to Jorge Alcaide, Director of Energy Business at Wärtsilä, by offering the possibility of repairing and testing gearboxes in Brazil, it is contributing to a direct reduction in energy costs, helping to increase the operational availability of wind farms, in addition to helping to maximize the use of wind energy within the Brazilian energy matrix.
Advantages of installing the Wärtsilä service center in the Northeast
Due to the fact that it is fully in line with the whole purpose of boosting the energy transition, for Wärtsilä, another advantage of installing a service center of this type in Brazilian territory is being able to contribute to the creation of new revenue streams for asset owners.
According to Alcaide, instead of sending gearboxes to European countries, which are the main manufacturing hub for these units around the world, Wärtsilä customers will now be able to count on the option of carrying out any repair right here in Brazil, with the guarantee that the service will be done with the same competence and quality that are offered in Europe, but benefiting themselves, as they will achieve more savings and less time spent with the entire process of procedures that an operation like this ends up demanding.
Partnerships signed by Wärtsilä
Brazil currently has the 7th largest installed capacity of wind power in the world ranking, with more than 20 GW generated and distributed in more than 10 thousand turbines generating wind energy.
It is estimated that Brazil will be able to reach the 25 GW milestone by the year 2025. In view of this possibility, in mid-2018 Wärtsilä signed a partnership agreement with one of the largest and main gearbox manufacturers in the world, so that it would be possible to specifically meet the demands of the Brazilian market, but also opening up space for a possible service to the European market.
choose region Northeast does to carry out this type of operation is a strategic plan of many companies that decide to work with renewable energy sources – such as solar energy and, in this case, wind energy – precisely because it is the location where the vast majority of wind turbines are installed and operate fully, due to the strong incidence of winds characteristic of that region of Brazil.
The Brazilian wind energy market currently represents around 11,4% of the total energy produced in the country, equivalent to 21,1 GW, with 16,4 GW produced coming from the Northeast region.
