More than 235 exhibitors, ranging from turbine manufacturers to bolt suppliers, were on hand at the Windpower 2005 exhibition Tuesday at the Colorado Convention Center. Here's a closer look at three of them.
More than 235 exhibitors, ranging from turbine manufacturers to bolt suppliers, were on hand at the Windpower 2005 exhibition Tuesday at the Colorado Convention Center. A closer look at three of them:
KESTRAL WIND TURBINES LTD.: James Carpy invented a turbine that makes little noise and can power a small school. The chief executive and managing director of Kestrel Wind Turbines Ltd., in Gauteng, South Africa, said wind power is helping to educate primary school children in rural Africa. For a total of $3,000, his smallest windmill -- the Kestral 600 -- can generate enough electricity to power computers and televisions for 20 hours a week.
"The uplift that it creates in children is incredible," said the Scotland native, who moved to South Africa in 1988 to start the company. "They can see a computer in operation and have access to education."
Carpy's turbines, which go up to 2,500 watts, can power rural clinics and small farms. The company is working through distributors in the United States to make its silent turbines available. Because most schools and clinics in rural Africa can't afford to pay for the turbine system, Carpy looks for corporate and government sponsors.
"The oil companies, we really hammer them," he said.
ESAB AUTOMATION: ESAB has made cutting and welding products for more than 100 years, but it started making products for the wind industry in Europe a mere 20 years ago. Members of the company's automation group based in Florence, S.C., were in attendance to show their automated welding products.
"We make the machinery to make the wind towers," said Richard Hadley, general manager of the ESAB Automation Group. "Our advantage is that we started in Europe, and wind energy has just now caught on here."
On display at the expo was a welding tractor, a device that allows for repairs inside a cylindrical wind tower.
ROPE PARTNER INC.: Scaling a wind turbine is similar to scaling a mountain. That's why companies in need of repairs and maintenance on turbines look to Rope Partner. The Santa Cruz, Calif., company has skilled technicians that can climb about any height.
Co-founder and president Chris Bley says that his team of 12 U.S. technicians can attach and rappel themselves up turbines, the walls of a football stadium and even that tent-like roof at Denver International Airport. The company is doing a repair job there later this year.
"Cranes can be expensive and may not reach the heights needed," Bley said. "This type of work has a big history in Britain, France and Germany."
Rope's European headquarters is in Berlin.
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Source: Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News
