Report: Wind Turbine Gearboxes Will Be Easier on the Wallet

A wind turbine gearbox is one of the costliest parts of the wind turbine, making up for almost 15% of the overall wind turbine cost, but the price of this component is expected to decrease in the coming years, according to a recent report by Research and Markets.

Wind turbine gearbox market has been rising steadily over the years to meet the growing demand, with an estimated annual production of gearboxes amounting to over 35 GW in 2014, Research and Markets said. The primary function of the gearbox in a wind turbine is to connect the blades to the turbine, which combined with a generator generates electricity from wind power. Gearboxes also allow the generator’s internal shaft to rotate 50 to 250 times per rotation of the turbine blades. This provides an advantage of low noise levels combined with high efficiency.

The new report, titled ”Global Wind Turbine Gearbox Market 2015-2019,” has identified China High Speed Transmission, Bosch Rexroth, ZF Wind Power Antwerpen and Moventas as the main players in the industry.

The report is divided into 5 sections. Section 1 analyzes the global wind power industry through an analysis of the global wind energy industry by market profile, industry statistics, market analysis by regions, wind power in the European Union and an analysis of the global offshore wind market. Section 1 also looks at wind power technology like types of turbines, wind power technology, power generation from wind, globalization impacting the wind turbine market, turbine cost and size, lifetime of a turbine and many other turbine related factors are analyzed.

Section 2 of the report analyzes the global wind turbine industry through components of wind turbines, global installations of wind turbines, market size, cost of turbines, average turbine size and a market share analysis.

Section 3 analyzes the global market for wind turbine gearboxes. The market is analyzed through an overview of gearboxes, what is the use of a gearbox in a wind turbine, reliability issues with gearboxes and the emergence of gearless or Direct Drive wind turbines. The market for wind turbine gearboxes is also analyzed through an industry overview, industry size, production statistics of gearboxes, cost of wind turbines gearboxes and a market share analysis. Industry trends and competition in the market are analyzed as well.

Section 4 of the report looks at the major manufacturers of gearboxes for wind turbines such as Enercon, Gamesa, Winergy, China High Speed Transmission Equipment Group and others. In total, 21 major industry players are profiled in the report.