Goldwind Australia: Gullen Range Wind Farm Represents Trophy Project
Goldwind Australia is a subsidiary of Xinjiang Goldwind Science & Technology Co., Ltd.; the largest manufacturer of wind turbines in China, and the second largest globally. The Company brings to the market innovative technology in their permanent magnet direct drive for wind turbines. Goldwind Australia combines that with a cost-effective manufacturing base in China to produce a highly sophisticated, low-cost wind turbine that is suitable for the international market.
Goldwind Australia’s Commercial Manager William Ives details the culmination of their technology and competitive advantage which has brought them to the international market. “Our technical advantage being magnet, we have very few moving parts in our wind turbine in that we have our direct drive as well. Our turbines feature a converter which enables us to be highly green code compliant, so we achieve a high level of sophistication with that green code advantage compliance,” says Ives.
“We are a technology company with a diverse manufacturing base in China. Furthermore, we are an integrated wind energy player in that we develop and construct and operate wind farms that use our own technology. So not only do we supply the market with wind turbines but we also own and operate our own wind farms.”
Project Management
Project management is a necessity to facilitate Goldwind's activities. It is a tool that the Company has and uses in order to deliver their business. Goldwind has varying levels of engagement with their clients, offering full investment where they build, operate and transfer the project to a customer. The Company is equally capable of operating the next level down, which is to completely engineer, procure and construct, where Goldwind takes a controlling position of project management and delivers a project for their customer. Or, they can step down and do the wind turbine supply component where Goldwind will provide turbines and commission them for the customer who would build the rest of the infrastructure. This is necessary to connect the wind turbines to the grid. "We execute varying levels of involvement -- Goldwind's capabilities cover all those areas,” says Ives.
“We do supply infrastructure which goes along with the wind turbines. We project manage subcontractors that will carry out the work, so we have a civil engineering company that will come out and build the roads and the foundations for the wind turbines. We also have an electrical engineering company that we contract,” says Ives. “We then subcontract to them and take the management responsibility on the side as a principle contractor.
Goldwind doesn't own these companies but retains the essentially on-demand capabilities of top subcontractors that allow the Company to efficiently and proficiently execute virtually any wind energy project from start to finish. Meanwhile, Goldwind exercises comprehensive communication on every level and with every subcontractor, which allows the Company to subcontract any element of a project and still maintain powerful project management capabilities.
Successful Challenges
While based on the solid principle of providing clean and renewable energy, companies in the wind energy market face steep challenges and intense scrutiny. Among the areas that require an extra degree of focus on behalf of the Company is developing wind farms compliant with local planning requirements. “I'd say a point of significant focus required by our Company was green code compliance regarding the commercialization of our 2.5 megawatt platform. Bringing our turbines over to Australia and making sure they operated successfully in accordance to green compliance was a significant milestone for us,” says Ives.
One of the brilliant ways in which Goldwind ensured compliance was tapping into the expertise and experience of local manufacturers, which proved to make the difference in meeting the necessary standards of their Australia projects.
Continuous Improvement
“There's always room for improvement, but I think we've managed to deliver a very nice solution at the Gullen Range project. It's definitely a stamp to say Goldwind is here and we're capable of delivering a large infrastructure project in Australia. It also speaks of our capability to manage the many stakeholders that are involved, including the department of planning, the local councils, and the local community. Our Company endeavors to not only have the go-ahead to carry out the construction but also that we have a social license to operate in the area, ensuring that we're a positively contributing part of the community,” says Ives.
