GSA Daily Staff Report
Published July 29, 2010

The Timken Co.’s Tyger River plant in Spartanburg County has been retooled and expanded along with other Timken facilities to supply the growing market for bearings in wind turbines.

Canton, Ohio-based Timken said Thursday it has received a contract worth $26 million to supply wind turbine products and services to China's Xinjiang Goldwind Science & Technology Co., one of the world's top five wind power equipment manufacturers.

Timken said it recently began producing ultra-large bore bearings for wind turbines in Xiangtan, Hunan Province, and retooled and expanded its U.S. facilities in Asheboro, N.C. and Tyger River to serve customers in the industry.

These expansions are in addition to Timken's existing wind-bearing production in Wuxi, China; Chennai, India; and Ploiesti, Romania.  The company also provides clean Timken steel from its facilities in Canton, Ohio, for its own production and for various wind-energy components for other customers.

In 2009, Goldwind received new wind power capacity orders for about 2,722 megawatts, accounting for approximately 19.7% of the wind generation added in China last year. Goldwind's contract with Timken will support more than 1,500 megawatts of new wind power capacity, with a broad scope that reflects Timken's long-term commitment to develop wind energy technology, the company said.

“It will contribute meaningfully to the company's expansion in the industry, with Timken providing engineering support, advanced bearings that include the new Timken UltraWind tapered roller bearings and condition-monitoring systems and services for Goldwind’s current 1.5-megawatt and 2.5-megawatt platforms,” the company said. “The companies also will collaborate on future wind-turbine developments.”

"The collaboration between our companies brings together two leaders developing advanced technologies for efficient, green power generation," said Leong Fang, president of Timken China. "Combining Timken's century of experience with Goldwind's leading innovation in large-scale wind turbines, we are prepared to serve China's needs for renewable energy, and to promote global development as well."

Christopher Coughlin, president of Timken Process Industries, added, "The opportunity to support Goldwind's leadership on these platforms plays to Timken's strength: engineering sustainable systems for large turbines, from a range of proprietary materials to a breadth of power transmission products and services for the extended life of the equipment."

Coughlin noted the companies have agreed to collaborate further on development programs, including using Timken's advanced engineering design to reduce cycle times for new platforms and incorporating the company's "life cycle" service approach to contribute to sustainable performance and uptime of Goldwind's projects around the world. "We've established wind power manufacturing and service capabilities on three continents, which is important as Goldwind looks to grow globally," he said.

Timken supplies a broad range of wind-power solutions for the global market including: engineering design, development and testing support; high quality alloy steels; gearbox components and systems; tapered, cylindrical, and spherical roller bearings; seals and lubrication products; online condition-monitoring; and global field services and technical support.