West Midlands wind turbine company in competition with Japan

• Mar. 4 by Jade Rance (0)

A Warwickshire engineering company are competing with a Japanese firm to design and construct a cheaper way to test offshore wind turbines indoors.

With the UK striving to meet its target of getting 15% of its energy from renewable sources by 2020 Converteam, based in Rugby, are battling against Horiba to design a more cost effective way to test off shore wind turbines.

The project was commissioned by the Energy Technologies Institute (ETI) and the winning contractor will be selected to procure, build and commission the test rig to be operational by the end of 2011.

Part of the project requires the companies to create an on-shore test rig that tests turbines under the same intense pressures they would see offshore.

By developing these technologies, tremendous opportunities for UK businesses will be opened up both in terms of renewable energy and generating jobs.

Currently the turbines needed for the UK offshore wind market are not yet produced on a commercial scale and if Converteam can win this bid, perhaps facilities can be improved elsewhere across the country.

A spokesperson from Converteam said

We encourage new ideas, turning these into technical innovation.We draw strength from the talent of our employees and are confident about our performance.