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A Lancashire-based manufacturer of wind turbines has said it has had a “nightmare” in dealing with the British engineering supply chain, forcing it to turn to companies overseas for help.
4 Navitas is developing British-designed vertical-axis wind turbines, ranging from a 55kW micro-turbine to a 1MW design that could be used on offshore windfarms, said the company. Horizontal-axis turbines are less efficient than vertical ones in an urban environment, it claimed. The micro-turbine can actually produce 65kW at a wind speed of 11m/s, it said. The 1MW design looks the same “but is significantly bigger,” said 4 Navitas founder, entrepreneur Dominic M’Benga.
M’Benga told PE: “Some of the vertical-axis turbines on the market suffer from what you might call ‘Chinese build syndrome’. So we decided we could do better ourselves. Four years into the project, we are starting full production. We are convinced our turbine design is more efficient.”
Traditional windfarms rely on horizontal-axis turbines that have to be placed hundreds of metres apart owing to turbulence. Vertical-axis turbines could be placed closer together, said M’Benga. Turbulence from one machine could help to drive another, he said. They could also help to increase the efficiency of horizontal-turbine windfarms if placed underneath them.
“We could increase the efficiency of our existing windfarms by a huge factor,” he claimed.
M’Benga said the supply chain in Britain for 4 Navitas products had been “an absolute nightmare,” forcing the firm to turn to German companies for the supply of major components. “When we started on this journey, the idea was for a UK-manufactured product. We engaged with several companies in terms of brakes and fabrications, and pneumatics,” he said.
“There were myriad technologies we needed around us to put this product together. We just couldn’t achieve that using British companies.” He said German suppliers had been more responsive and flexible when 4 Navitas looked for components such as brakes.
“They invested time and effort in understanding the product and designing something for it, instead of giving us something off-the-shelf. They are now supplying all our brakes purely because of that attitude.” Initially the firm had looked to British suppliers for the gearbox and motors but had ultimately gone with Siemens, M’Benga added.
“The British firms were only interested in us supplying them with large cheques. They made no effort to win the business.”
A company in the supply chain had failed to commission an early safety relay mechanism and didn’t deal with gearbox problems, landing 4 Navitas with a £250,000 bill, said M’Benga. He said the company involved failed to respond when 4 Navitas contacted it in January. 4 Navitas received no correspondence from the firm. The firm’s solicitor eventually wrote to 4 Navitas six weeks later, M’Benga said. “They refused to engage with us at all, which led to us going with Siemens.”
Some components, however, are being provided by British firms, including the propshaft, bearings and carbon-fibre turbine blades. The braking system is supplied by Germany’s Ringspann. “Siemens and Ringspann have a strong presence in the UK and our products come from their UK arms,” said M’Benga.
He added that British suppliers were overcharging customers for components as soon as renewable energy was mentioned. When 4 Navitas obtained quotes for components while keeping what they would be ultimately used for confidential, it got lower prices. “Suppliers will double prices if a component is known to be used in renewable energy,” M’Benga claimed. “Now we initially price under stealth. We send a third party out and we don’t tell them where a component is destined for. We just give them a specification and a design.”
He said the market for micro wind turbines was nonetheless promising, although a number of wind industry companies had failed. M’Benga said it was a mistake for firms to try to do everything under one roof. Green energy firm Ecotricity recently acquired Evance, the small wind-turbine manufacturer, which was facing closure after being placed into administration. In 2009, Vestas confirmed the controversial closure of its turbine blade production facility on the Isle of Wight.
4 Navitas had recently signed a £21 million deal for vertical-axis turbines and would manufacture at least 50 units over the next year. “Selling them isn’t a problem.” Turbines were also being supplied for free and the electricity produced charged for on local authority sites, M’Benga said.
“If we could manufacture 200 turbines a year, we could sell 200 a year. We can’t get UK companies to co-operate. We are putting our own factory together now so we don’t have to use subcontractors. They price themselves out of the market through greed.” The factory is likely to be up and running next month.