Wind Solutions
Energy industry stakeholders around the world have welcomed the Dellner Group’s decision to bring its wind technologies together under one velarium – Dellner Wind Solutions
Dellner Wind Solutions was unveiled in time for WindEurope in Bilbao, Spain. The new division is one of six new business units, each dedicated to a vertical marketplace. Dellner Wind Solutions will be overseen by an intimate leadership team, including Joel Cox, global sales director.
Single brand identity
Joel explained: “The company has been in a continual phase of growth, powered by regular, landmark acquisitions. We want to bring all that evolution together at a place where this equally dynamic marketplace can find us under a single brand identity.”
The Dellner brand has been synonymous with industrial braking since Dellner Brakes was founded in 1941, but it has been a story of perpetual motion, right up to and beyond the 2021 acquisition of Dellner Hydratech, the Danish supplier of high-end hydraulic systems, cylinders, and accumulators for wind, offshore, and marine applications. Other historic moments include the acquisition of Pintsch Bubenzer in 2018, leading to the formation of the Dellner Bubenzer Group.
That’s without referencing JHS Jungblut, a pioneer of noise-free, lightweight brakes, and yaw sliding bearings for wind turbines, which was also added to the portfolio in the same significant year. Other brands have featured along the journey too, all of which have served as signposts towards today’s Dellner Wind Solutions.
Global reach
The division includes 25 global locations and 800 employees. At the centre of the range are heavy-duty rotor, yaw, and pitch brakes, used in various wind energy applications. Rotor brakes are typically caliper-style (active or passive), while rotor lock style pins (hydraulic or manual) are used for safety locking and maintenance purposes. Yaw brakes (active or passive) and sliding bearings, along with special brakes, are installed for pitch movement on the blades. Then there’s high-end coolers, hydraulic systems, cylinders, and accumulators.
Just one illustration of a wind turbine nacelle in a Dellner Wind Solutions presentation covers 18 different product families. Pitch cylinder assemblies are behind the nose cone, and active water coolers are at the other end, with flexible coupling and rotor brake technologies somewhere in the middle.
Pillar of strength
Joel continued: “Our pre-eminence stems from decades of experience, subject-matter expertise, and innovation. With safety at the forefront of our minds, we are also wedded to high-quality standards of product and service. As no single project or customer is the same, we deliver turnkey solutions with a customised approach and support to match.
“The new division isn’t about forgetting where we’ve come from. The pillars of preventative service, reactive service, and lifecycle management, are as much about what we’ve built on as they are where we’re going in the future. We’re not moving away from anything – we’re pivoting more directly to the marketplace.”
Example – Single online store
Perhaps a good example of that is Dellner Bubenzer and Dellner Hydratech wind solutions soon being made accessible at a single online store – from full braking system design to the assessment and optimisation of existing solutions, the company’s engineers offer a full suite of services, including 3D conceptualisation, technical documentation, customised testing, and development of prototypes.
Dellner is renowned for provision of high-end braking solutions for static and dynamic applications – it’s an offering that whets the appetites of the sector’s highest profile original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). Cox points to some household names in the U.S., but it is a global business, with customers in wind energy markets everywhere. China is one of the world’s numerous wind energy hotbeds, while India is on a steady upward trajectory, and long-term offshore growth especially is expected in North America and Europe.
The newly expanded Czech facility has increased capacity for pitch cylinders production and is primarily focussed on provision of power packs; pitch units and manifolds; cylinders; cooling units; and accumulators, filled with nitrogen. It is strategically located in Staňkovice, Czech Republic, near major hubs, including Prague, Frankfurt, and Munich. Additional wind-specific facilities are found in Silkeborg, Denmark; Dorsten, Germany; Chennai, India; Tianjin, China; and Alabama, U.S. And that’s not the full list, Cox remarks.
OEM perspective
Cox, himself, was formerly managing director of sales for Dellner Bubenzer USA and global sales director for the Americas. He spent nearly 30 years in the electric overhead travelling (EOT) and container crane business and has been extensively involved in OSHA inspections in addition to the design, build, fabrication, installation, modification, and load testing of lifting equipment.
He dedicated a decade of his career to the high-level modernization of some of the largest, heaviest duty overhead cranes in North America. It has afforded him a unique perspective.
Cox continued: “It’s not like crane sales, where you cover all bases in terms of OEMs, engineers, consultants, and reps. In wind energy it’s not a case of chipping away at a consultant, who might get your equipment specified into a turbine. In wind, it’s about having a relationship with the OEMs, being right on price, and leveraging it with brand recognition and supply chain capability.”
Westerly wind
In addition to having a presence at WindEurope in Bilbao, Dellner Wind Solutions will have a higher profile and exhibition booths at both the American Clean Power Association (ACP) Cleanpower Conference & Exhibition, which takes place in Minnesota (May); and WindEnergy Hamburg, which will be staged in Germany (September).
Dellner Bubenzer