ABB leans towards alternative energy

ABB wants to gain a foothold in the alternative energy market Keystone Archive

The Swiss subsidiary of the global technology group, ABB, says it has been awarded two contracts for developing and supplying drives for wind power plants.

ABB Switzerland said on Friday that the move was a step towards establishing a firm foothold in the growing market for alternative energy.

In a statement, the company said it had won the contract from the Netherlands company, Zephyros. ABB Industrie’s brief is to develop the power converter, the control and instrumentation technology, and an auxiliary operation concept for an initial set of six wind power plants.

ABB said the contract marked the first time that it was acting as a system supplier for the entire electric plant of a wind turbine. It added that it was also assuming complete responsibility for the system.

The first Zephyros plant is to be built in early summer in the Netherlands’ port of Rotterdam.

ABB Industrie’s work accounts for SFr3 million ($1.82 million) of the SFr7 million ABB contract.

In the second contract, ABB Industrie is developing and manufacturing the power converter for a wind power prototype from ABB called Windformer.

The initial plant, one of the largest wind power plants in the world, is being built by ABB and SCANWIND in the Swedish county of Gotland. It is due to go on line later this year and will have an output of three megawatts.

ABB said it intended to increase its turnover from alternative energies to $1 billion by the year 2005.

swissinfo with agencies