Wind gearbox service provider Moventas Gears UK has invested heavily in the UK wind service market, with its offering of a multi-brand service portfolio suited to the UK’s and Ireland’s most popular fleets. A substantial upgrade of Moventas’s original-equipment manufacturer quality facility in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, is scheduled to be completed in July.

The company is in the final stages of the refurbishing and upgrading process at the Huddersfield workshop. A capital investment has been made towards the construction of a 3 MW load test rig that is flexibly designed to accommodate Moventas’s multibrand service approach. Relying on the support of the UK government, the Huddersfield upgrade is part of a regional growth initiative.

Moventas Gears UK is the first gearbox service provider in the UK able to provide multi-megawatt full load testing – an essential part of gearbox servicing. Until this development, serviced gearboxes needed to be sent to mainland Europe for testing. This is not only a benefit to the budget of the customer but reduces the carbon footprint of the gearbox service industry.

According to Moventas board chairperson Jim McColl, the company’s 35 years of wind turbine gearbox experience, industry leading technology and high-quality manufacturing facilities positions Moventas ideally to support the servicing of the UK-installed base of wind turbines from its modern, well-equipped service facility in the centre of the country.

“I am proud to say that the UK wind industry can really benefit from our highly qualified service team, experienced in the service and repair of gearboxes for all makes of MMW wind turbines,” comments McColl.

Moventas’s technical staff are capable of servicing as many as 20 different brands of turbines and gearboxes, adding up to a total of 60 models in the company’s service portfolio. In terms of on the most popular fleets, Moventas UK covers a large percentage of the market in the area: Vestas V80 and V90, Senvion MM82 and MM92, Nordex N80 and N90, as well as the Siemens 2.3.

The company’s service teams are capable of carrying out a number of up-tower jobs and offer local condition management expertise. With the aim of extending gearbox life on existing fleets, Moventas Gears UK is lowering the cost of wind power by contributing to cost savings for wind operation and management.