Swedish company SeaTwirl has had a patent approved in China for a divisible wind turbine.
The patent protects an important innovation in the market that accounts for the most expansion of wind power in the world, said the company which designs floating wind turbines built for deep sea deployment
China has a growing demand for energy and the wind power expansion there is fast as the government has set ambitious goals for the environment. Make Consulting predicts in its global forecast that offshore wind power is expected to increase in China by more than three gigawatts annually between 2022-2027.
“The Chinese market is the one that stands for the most expansion of wind power in the world, and floating wind power will also be included in the future expansion, which makes it important to protect our technology even there”, says Gabriel Strängberg, CEO of SeaTwirl.
The patent, which has recently also been approved in the USA, protects a solution where the wind turbine is divisible above and below the house that holds the generator and bearing, which means that the entire generator and bearing housing can be replaced just above the water surface by boat.
It facilitates and reduces the cost of installation and maintenance, and means that the downtime, ie the time when the wind turbine cannot produce electricity due to repairs and maintenance, can be minimized.
SeaTwirl works strategically to build a broad patent portfolio in several markets. By protecting technical solutions that make SeaTwirl cheaper to build and maintain, the company strengthens its market position.
"Again, I would like to stress that we try to focus on an as simple and robust solution as possible, as this is very important at sea where service and repairs can be very expensive. The solution that has now also received a Chinese patent reduces the cost of service and maintenance by simplifying the installation and replacement of entire modules”, continues Gabriel Strängberg.