Installing and maintaining offshore wind farms when faced with intertidal areas or shallow water can provide an interesting challenge. However, there could be an answer using an air cushion solution. The heavy-lift Hoverbarge, which Hovertrans engineers have been manufacturing for over 30 years, is an amphibious marine barge capable of transporting a payload of hundreds of tons on a cushion of air.

The Hoverbarge system can be utilized to transport heavy equipment over shallow waters, mud flats, and sandbars unaffected by tidal ranges. The Hoverbarge could also eliminate the need for offshore jointing, transporting cable from the shore to deep water. The capability to move heavy equipment efficiently over such areas could reduce costs significantly because there is no need for dredging, constructing, or using quayside infrastructures. Hovertrans has seen an increase over the past month of interest from power and engineering companies looking to use the Hoverbarge system, potentially alongside traditional hovercraft for crew transfer.

The Hoverbarge has proven to minimize environmental impact. Dan Turner, managing and technical director of Hovertrans, says that “The Hoverbarge only exerts 1psi ground pressure compared to a human footprint of 8psi and can avoid the need for dredging. There appears to be great benefits from using a system that minimizes environmental impact when constructing wind farms.”

For more information call + 44 23 8030 2035, send e-mail to Stuart Turner, general manager, at stu@hovertrans.com, or go online to www.hovertrans.com

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The Timken Company plans to expand production capacity at its Tyger River facility in Union, South Carolina, to serve the wind energy market. The investment is part of a strategy to strengthen Timken’s position in serving growing global demand for highly engineered large-bore bearings that will help customers harness wind power.

Timken expects demand for large-bore bearings used in main-rotor shafts and gear drives in wind turbines to grow rapidly in the coming years as reliance on renewable energy increases. The Tyger River investment will allow the company to serve demand from North American customers and provide expanded capability to produce prototypes in support of new wind-turbine programs.

Expansion work at Timken’s Tyger River location will begin this year, with production currently slated for 2010. It will be the company’s second wind-related commitment of the past year, following formation of a joint venture with China’s XEMC to build a new main-shaft bearing facility in Xiangtan, Hunan province. Construction of that new facility is scheduled to begin this year.

The Timken Company manufactures highly engineered bearings, alloy steels, and related components and assemblies. For more information please visit www.timken.com.

CENTA’s wide-ranging global experience produces an enhanced version of its Torque Hub, the market-leading slip clutch that offers a simple and low-cost design for torque overload generator protection. In wind power plants, electrical circuit problems are known to cause short-term torque peaks. In this event slip clutches protect the costly gearbox against overload by slipping at a defined maximum torque in order to temporarily interrupt the drive. The slip process takes place not on the generator shaft surface, but inside the CENTA Torque Hub, which is mounted on the generator shaft in the coupling’s clamping set.

CENTA’s latest development in slip systems—the “CENTA Torque Set”—now positions the slip unit to the middle section of the shaft. By relocating the slip function, manufacturing tolerances at the generator shaft no longer cause variations in the slip torque, resulting in improved accuracy of the slip function. Another advantage of the new design is that the slip system is made to be pre-mounted as a complete unit. The maximum torque is set on a certified test bench according to the manufacturer’s requirements and documented in a test report, eliminating the need for on-site adjustments. For more information contact Bob Lennon at (630) 236-3500 or bobl@centacorp.com. Go online to www.centa.info.

The first privately owned and operated instructional program and training center for wind energy technicians is scheduled to open in July 2009 in Vancouver, Washington, according to Arch Miller, founder of the parent company, International Air and Hospitality Academy. The Wind Energy Technician course is the first for alternative energy workers that will be taught in a separate division of the academy, called the Northwest Renewable Energy Institute (NW-REI). Training for other renewable energy technologies will follow.

Miller says the course is a direct response to the huge demand for wind power as a means of generating electricity in the United States. At the beginning of 2008 wind power accounted for just over one percent of the nation’s electricity, or some 16,818 MWe. Last year, according to the American Wind Energy Association, the wind energy industry installed about 42 percent of all the new electric generating capacity in 2008 and created 35,000 jobs, primarily in construction and manufacturing.

“Currently there are some 85,000 Americans employed in the wind energy business in the U.S.,” Miller says. “The U.S. Department of Energy reports that wind energy is capable of generating 20 percent of the nation’s electricity by the year 2030. If we meet that goal the number of workers involved in wind power will grow from 85,000 today to 450,000 by 2030. That’s a huge demand for new workers in this field, which today pays between $36,000 and $68,000 annually, depending on education and experience.” To learn more call Colleen Piller at (360) 695-2500 or go to www.nwenergyinstitute.com. 

A leading manufacturer of innovative filtration solutions, Donaldson has engineered a revolutionary new gearbox filter to improve wind turbine performance. The company will showcase the new DT-1300R element at the AWEA WINDPOWER 2009 Conference & Exhibition in Chicago. The show, scheduled for May 4-7, is the largest annual event of its kind in the world, and features the latest industry developments, technologies, products, and more.

Gearbox wear and malfunction are two of the primary concerns in wind turbine maintenance. Donaldson’s DT-1300R gearbox filter helps reduce those maintenance concerns, saving time and money. “The DT-1300R uses our new patented breakthrough in filter media, Synteq™ XP,” says Marty Barris, director of engineering. “Synteq XP delivers absolute level efficiencies with contaminant-holding capacities beyond that of competitive filters. This increases performance and provides greater protection against wear, improving overall wind turbine performance and productivity.”

Donaldson maintains the industry’s largest inventory of many replacement elements, including the DT-1300R at their North American distribution center. “Keeping a product in stock translates into less overhead costs for our distributors and customers, quicker delivery, shorter lead times, and faster response to customer inquiries,” Barris adds. “Donaldson is committed to customer service. Getting customers the products they need, when they need them, is something we’ve prided ourselves on for more than 90 years.” To learn more go to www.donaldson.com.

Ferraz Shawmut has been a leader in circuit protection for industry and the electrical market for more than 100 years. Now the company is bringing its knowledge, innovation, and technical expertise for the second year in a row to the AWEA WINDPOWER 2009 Conference & Exhibition at McCormick Place in Chicago May 4-7, 2009. Ferraz Shawmut invites attendees to learn more about its complete line of problem-solving products for wind power electrical protection by stopping by booth #4536.

A worldwide supplier of current-limiting fuses and accessories for overcurrent protection, Ferraz Shawmut products ensure the security of electrical components, systems and the people who use them. A wide range of products are available for the nacelle, utility, and tower base, including finger-safe power distribution blocks (FSPDB), time-delay class J fuses (AJT), E-rated medium voltage current-limiting power fuses, and more. To learn more visit www.us.ferrazshawmut.com.