Tuesday, November 5, 2024

Manufacturing Facilities News

Enphase's forecast for fourth-quarter revenue is below expectations due to muted demand

Enphase Energy, a maker of solar inverters, forecast revenue for the fourth quarter below Wall Street's expectations on Tuesday. This was due to weak demand across some markets. Shares fell 9% following the bell. The demand for residential solar in Europe has declined due to lower electricity prices, and increased competition on key markets like the Netherlands and Germany. According to LSEG data, the solar energy company expects its fourth-quarter revenues to range between $360 and $400 million. This compares to analyst expectations of $435.8 millions.

US offers tax incentives to solar manufacturers that use semiconductors

The Biden Administration announced on Tuesday that it would extend an incentive to manufacturers of thin silicon wafers used in solar panels, which are mostly produced in China. This is part of the administration's climate change and job agenda to create a domestic supply chain for solar energy. Thanks to the new subsidies for clean-energy manufacturing, manufacturers have announced dozens solar panel manufacturing facilities by 2022. However, the industry is calling for greater support for wafer production facilities that require more complex manufacturing processes and larger investments.

Siemens Gamesa, GRI Renewables Invest in NE England Offshore Wind Production

© masterskuz55/AdobeStock

Siemens Gamesa and GRI Renewables Industries will invest more than $360 million into offshore wind manufacturing facilities in northeast England.Siemens Gamesa will invest a total of $258m to expand its blade manufacturing site located near Hull - Britain's largest offshore wind manufacturing facility - readying it for the next generation of offshore wind turbines and blades greater than 100 metres, the government said.Siemens Gamesa will add 200 workers to the 1,000 it already employs in the factory, the company said in a separate…

Offshore Wind Will Bring Jobs, Growth to New Jersey, Other Coastal States

NOIA President Erik Milito issued the following statement after New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy announced the creation of the nation's first purpose-built marshalling and manufacturing port dedicated to the offshore wind industry:"New Jersey is making a smart move by betting on offshore wind. A thriving and innovative American offshore wind sector is close, but we need to invest in improved ports and infrastructure to make it a reality. Expanded port and manufacturing facilities up and down the East Coast will bolster the construction bandwidth for offshore wind, creating efficiencies and reducing the risk of prohibitive delays.

The Emerging U.S. Offshore Wind Industry in a Post-COVID-19 World

Join a webinar on June 17, 2020 for the global release of a major new market study on the depth, breadth and growth prospects of the Offshore Wind Market -- https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_UR5uY1boTOKdAAcAXDbR4g
© zozulinskyi/AdobeStock

Join a webinar on June 17, 2020 for the global release of a major new market study on the depth, breadth and growth prospects of the Offshore Wind Market --  https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_UR5uY1boTOKdAAcAXDbR4gJust when it was looking like the offshore wind industry was finally about to take off in the United States, the COVID-19 pandemic has introduced one more significant layer of uncertainty upon an already very complicated playing field. There are currently 15 active offshore wind projects in the planning stages which, if completed, could add approximately 25 gigawatts of electricity to the power grid.The State of PlayThings were hard enough already.

Denmark's Vestas Breaks Wind Turbine Installation Record, Woodmac Says

Image Credit: Vestas

Danish wind farm turbine builder Vestas became the first wind turbine manufacturer to install more than 10 GW of wind capacity in a single year (2019), according to new analysis from Wood Mackenzie.The Danish OEM’s grid-connected capacity of 11.3 GW in 2019 is an increase of 1.5 GW on 2018, with installations completed in over 35 markets. The company’s installations in the Americas region contributed more than 50% of capacity for the first time. This was driven by the US, Mexico, and Argentina.Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy (SGRE) climbed to the second position according to Wood Mackenzie’s research…

GFS Storage Tanks Aid Green Energy Growth

Balmoral Tanks’ 150,000sqft design and manufacturing facility in South Yorkshire, UK, where the new range of tanks will be produced.

Balmoral Tanks introduced a new range of glass fused to steel (GFS) liquid storage tanks, part of the company’s portfolio of storage tanks for the water, wastewater, anaerobic digestion and processing markets.The development follows a $20m+ investment in manufacturing facilities at its South Yorkshire facility.“International markets require technology which allows their economy to thrive while being mindful of the impact on the environment,” said Allan Joyce, MD at Balmoral Tanks. “Against this background, we have established ourselves as a global player in the design…

Siemens Gamesa Buys Senvion Wind Biz

German-Spanish  wind turbine manufacturing giant Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy (SGRE) has agreed a $225m deal to buy 8.9GW of the European onshore service business of embattled Germany-based rival Senvion along with its smaller rival’s blade factory in Portugal.Senvion´s European service assets will strengthen Siemens Gamesa´s capacity and potential in an important segment. The acquisition of a Service fleet of 8.9GW from Senvion will take Siemens Gamesa to a total of nearly 69GW under maintenance, explained the turbine manufacturer…

OGCI Invests in Wind Power for Ships

OGCI Climate Investments has led an EUR 8 million investment round in Norsepower, along with current investors, to accelerate Norsepower’s growth on global markets.The investment enables Norsepower to scale up production at its manufacturing facilities as part of a next phase of commercialization triggered by demand for its renewable wind energy propulsion systems, said a press release from Norsepower Oy Ltd., the provider of low maintenance, software operated, data verified auxiliary renewable wind energy propulsion systems.The increased…

Offshore wind: The making of a (supply chain) star

Retrofit: new work in wind for an anchor-handling vessel. Illustration: courtesy Unitech

Wind is “the tech of choice,” the International Energy Agency said recently, just as a new report by the University of Delaware outlined the opportunity in U.S. offshore wind: 5,000 miles of offshore cabling and 1,700 turbines, it turns out, are bundled into current state-side plans. Yet, serious observers of the first U.S. offshore wind installations saw inefficiency: unwieldy lifts; few specialist vessels on-hand; and cables were “just cables.” Supply chain innovation, people say, lags other industries.In Europe, where offshore turbines heavily dot maritime maps, there’s acknowledged room for innovation in turbine construction, support shipping and subsea.

QP, Exxon to Build $10B LNG Plant in Texas

Exxon Mobil and Qatar Petroleum announced a final decision to finance a $10 billion-plus project to export liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the Texas Gulf Coast.Construction of the Golden Pass LNG export project located in Sabine Pass will begin in the first quarter of 2019 and the facility is expected to start up in 2024, said a press release.“Golden Pass will provide an increased, reliable, long-term supply of liquefied natural gas to global gas markets, stimulate local growth and create thousands of jobs,” said Darren Woods, chairman…

Hardide Coatings Invests in North America

Mark Hanania, Business Development Engineer, Hardide Coatings (Photo: Hardide Coatings)

Surface coating technology company Hardide Coatings has appointed Mark Hanania as Business Development Engineer based in Houston to help drive growth in the oil, gas and energy sectors throughout North America.Strong growth in demand from oil and gas customers in North America and recent entry into the aerospace market is underpinning significant investment in coating technology and quality accreditation at the company’s U.S. coating facility in Martinsville, Va.A third coating reactor will be installed by fall 2018 to accommodate increased demand from major oil and gas operating and service companies.

New HT/HP Subsea Valve Coating Developed and Deployed

Photo: Hardide Coatings

An international collaboration between Hardide Coatings and Master Flo Valve Inc (MFV) has developed a new solution to protect high temperature, high pressure (HT/HP) subsea choke valves. The valves are the first of their kind to feature the Hardide-T coating, which can be applied to choke valve stems so they can withstand temperatures up to 400°F and pressures of 20,000 psi. Canada-headquartered MFV found that alternative hard coatings previously applied to the stem assembly were not rated to sufficiently high temperatures. The challenge was to have a durable coating with a completely smooth finish to form a tight metal to metal seal.

Trelleborg Acquires Automated Dynamics

Trelleborg said it has, through its business area Trelleborg Sealing Solutions, signed an agreement to acquire the U.S.-based privately-owned Automated Dynamics, a specialist manufacture of advanced composite components. The transaction, which is subject to the approval of the relevant authorities, is expected to be finalized in the third quarter of 2017. Trelleborg said it sees composites as a strategic, adjacent technology with high potential in multiple industries, and the bolt-on acquisition is part of its strategy to strengthen its positions in attractive market segments.

New US Pipelines to Drive Natural Gas Boom as Exports Surge

© Yauheni Chazlou / Adobe Stock

U.S. energy firms are scrambling to finish a slew of pipelines that will unleash rich reserves of shale gas in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio as the nation prepares to become one of the world’s top natural gas exporters. The pipelines are expected to boost output from shale fields in the three states by giving producers access to new domestic and international markets. Those states could supply about a third of all U.S. natural gas once the pipeline expansion is complete, up from about 25 percent now, according to projections from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).

The Switch set to boost marine growth

The Switch is targeting growth of 200% within the marine segment in the next five years, building on the momentum of a flurry of recent orders, its acquisition of Wartsila Drives, and the financial muscle of its parent company, the EUR 3.3 billion turnover Yaskawa Electric Corporation. The Finnish headquartered business, a specialist in the development and supply of advanced drive train solutions, believes its permanent magnet (PM) and frequency converter technology can have the same transformational effect on marine as it has had in wind.

Tidal Turbine Connected with Onshore Electricity Grid

Final fixation of GreenLink connector to its plate (Photo: SABELLA)

French marine renewable energy pioneer SABELLA has completed a cable operation connecting a tidal turbine to an onshore grid. The operation was carried out in the Fromveur Passage, off the island of Ushant, France, and the future outcome of connecting the two halves is a coverage of 15 to 20 percent of the Ushant island’s electricity consumption needs. Completed with the help of a MacArtney connectivity solution, the ‘Sabella D10’ tidal stream turbine project includes two drymate GreenLink connectors, one linked with the turbine, the other one connected to the export cable. They are eventually lifted out of the water and connected to one another.

Mech-Tool Engineering Secures $45.6 m Contract

Photo: MTE

Mech-Tool Engineering Ltd – which has offices in the UK, Houston and the Middle East as well as manufacturing facilities in Korea – has been appointed by Wood Group, to provide a full turnkey service including design, manufacture and pre-commission of the modular units. The delivery of Mech-Tool Engineering’s modules will take place over a phased period from now until 2019. The project involves multiple disciplines with the system being integrated and designed to function at optimum performance in the extreme environmental conditions.

Lankhorst Ropes Awarded Shell Contract

Photo courtesy of Lankhorst Ropes

Offshore rope manufacturer, Lankhorst Ropes, has been awarded a contract by Shell Offshore to supply the mooring lines for the Appomattox development to be located approximately 140 nautical miles Southeast of New Orleans in the Gulf of Mexico. The semi-submersible four-column production platform will be moored in approximately 7,200 feet (2,195 metres) of water using 16 mooring lines arranged in 4x4 clusters. Lankhorst Ropes is supplying 78 rope lengths totalling over 63,000 metres of Lankhorst’s Gama 98 polyester deepwater mooring rope with minimum breaking strength of 21,545 kN.

ABB Strengthens Commitment to India’s economic development

ABB doubles workforce at its global engineering and operations center in Chennai and opens a new UPS production facility near Bangalore. ABB’s expansion of the Chennai center demonstrates its commitment to the country’s “Make in India” policy, aimed at strengthening its industrial base and fueling economic growth. The competency center, whose workforce will be doubled to 1,200 over the next two years, brings together professional engineering resources under one roof, serving ABB units across the world from its base in Chennai, among the largest industrial and commercial centers in India.