Manufacturing Wind Energy


The fi nancial downturn of 2009 caused a dry spell in cast wind component production in the U.S. Are domestic casting sources ready to supply the promised growth of the next four years?


Shannon Wetzel, Senior Editor


only will be busier in the next four years as the U.S. wind industry contin- ues to grow. According to the annual year-end market report by the Ameri- can Wind Energy Association (AWEA), a record 10,000 MW of wind energy capacity was installed in 2009, which was forecast to be a down year due to the recession. Now, with more than 35,000 MW of installed capacity, the U.S. has the most wind energy capacity in the world. Gangulee sees that trend continuing in the immediate future. “2011, 2012 and 2013 will be very


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signifi cant years for the wind energy market in the U.S.,” he said while giving a tour of Winergy’s newly ex- panded gearbox manufacturing facility in Elgin. “The wind market in the U.S., along with China, is the most aggressive in the world.” Four years ago, domestic metal


casting suppliers viewed wind en- ergy as a boom market. Until the end of 2008, it lived up to the hype. But when the fi nancial crisis hit, the metalcasters saw orders for wind


May/June 2010


ahul Gangulee, director of supply chain management at Winergy Drive Systems Corp., Elgin, Ill., is a busy man. By his accounts, he


Located just outside Evan- ston, Wyo., this wind farm, which was completed in 2003, has the capacity to produce 144 MW of energy.


This cast wind turbine gearbox weighs more than 8,000 lbs.


Metal Casting Design anD PurChasing 37


Photo courtesy of Vestas Wind Systems AIS.


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