Adwen GmbH (former names: Multibrid GmbH and Areva Wind GmbH) is an offshore wind service company headquartered in
Bremerhaven
Bremerhaven (, , Low German: ''Bremerhoben'') is a city at the seaport of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen, a state of the Federal Republic of Germany.
It forms a semi-enclave in the state of Lower Saxony and is located at the mouth of the Riv ...
, Germany. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Spanish-German company
Siemens Gamesa
Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy S.A., formerly Gamesa Corporación Tecnológica S.A. () and Grupo Auxiliar Metalúrgico S.A., is a Spanish-German wind engineering company based in Zamudio, Biscay, Spain. In Spain, the company has two other main ...
. Previously the company designed, assembled, and installed 5-Megawatt
wind turbines
A wind turbine is a device that converts the kinetic energy of wind into electrical energy. Hundreds of thousands of large turbines, in installations known as wind farms, now generate over 650 gigawatts of power, with 60 GW added each year. Wi ...
for
offshore wind farm
Offshore wind power or offshore wind energy is the generation of electricity through wind farms in bodies of water, usually at sea. There are higher wind speeds offshore than on land, so offshore farms generate more electricity per amount of c ...
s. It also designed and manufactured rotor blades through its subsidiary Adwen Blades GmbH, headquartered in
Stade, Germany.
History
Adwen was established as Multibrid GmbH by Pfleiderer Wind Energy GmbH in 2000, after acquiring Multibrid turbine technology from
aerodyn Energiesysteme GmbH.
[
] In 2003, Multibrid was bought by Prokon Nord Energiesysteme GmbH.
[
][
] In 2007, Multibrid opened a wind turbine assembly plant in Bremerhaven.
[ At the same year, Prokon Nord established a blade manufacturer PN Rotor GmbH.
The French nuclear corporation Areva invested in Multibrid in 2007, buying 51% of the company's shares for €150 million.][
] In 2009, Areva acquired PN Rotor,[
] which became Areva Blades. Areva bought the remaining 49% of shares of Multibrid in 2010.[ Correspondingly, the company was renamed Areva Wind GmbH.
The first prototype was installed in 2004. Three additional onshore turbines were installed in 2008 in order to develop expertise with tripods, large hub heights, erection, lifting equipment, logistics and serial manufacturing. In 2009, Multibrid installed six wind turbines at the ]Alpha Ventus Offshore Wind Farm
Alpha Ventus Offshore Wind Park (before renaming known as Borkum West Offshore Wind Park) is Germany's first offshore wind farm. It is situated in the North Sea north of the island of Borkum.
History
The application for construction of the w ...
.[
] In 2009, Areva Wind was selected as a turbine supplier for the Global Tech 1 offshore wind farm, in 2010 for the Borkum West II offshore wind farm and in 2012 for the Wikinger offshore wind farm.[
]
In 2014, Areva and Gamesa Corporación Tecnológica
Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy S.A., formerly Gamesa Corporación Tecnológica S.A. () and Grupo Auxiliar Metalúrgico S.A., is a Spanish-German wind engineering company based in Zamudio, Biscay, Spain. In Spain, the company has two other main ...
started negotiations to create a joint venture for the offshore wind energy.[
] In 2017, Areva sold its stake in Adwen to Gamesa, after the merger of Gamesa and Siemens Wind Power
Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational conglomerate corporation and the largest industrial manufacturing company in Europe headquartered in Munich with branch offices abroad.
The principal divisions of the corporation are ''Industry'', ''E ...
was announced.[
][
]
In 2017, Siemens Gamesa announced a restructuring plan for Adwen, to be completed by September 2020. Manufacturing of wind turbines by Adwen was discontinued and Adwen focused on servicing installed turbines. Plants in Bremen and Emden would be closed and the number of employees in Germany would be reduced from 480 to 211.[
][
]
Operations
Adwen had plants in Bremerhaven, Bremen and Emden in Germany, and it planned to build manufacturing or assembling plants in other markets, particularly in Le Havre
Le Havre (, ; nrf, Lé Hâvre ) is a port city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the river Seine on the Channel southwest of the Pays de Caux, very ...
in France. However, due to restructuring the only plant which would remain is the plant in Bremerhaven, which would support the offshore services.
Adwen provided two different 5 MW offshore turbines: AD 5-135 (formerly Areva M5000-135) for the Wikinger Project and AD 5-116 for the North Sea Projects GlobalTech One, Borkum West II and Alpha Ventus. In addition, it has developed 8 MW AD 8-180 turbine prototype, which has the world largest wind turbine gearbox, developed jointly with the wind energy engineering company Winergy.
References
External links
{{official, http://www.adwenoffshore.com/
Engine manufacturers of Germany
Wind turbine manufacturers
Areva
Siemens