Endurance wind power declare bankruptcy

[Courier]

Not fully up to speed with this, but has Amber Rudd reduced the FIT for the whole planet or just the UK... or are the UK FIT levels vital for any renewable industry to survive?

The FIT was being reduced in a structured orderly manner at the rate of 10% every six months which allowed projects to be organised and funded on that basis then there was the out of the blue announcement that the rate of reduction was going to be accelerated to such a dramatic extent that many projects where planning had been obtained and infrastructure and one turbine had already been installed and paid for made the fulfilment of the balance of the project unviable.

Without the FIT renewable small and medium scale projects in the UK would never have got off the ground in no small part down to the extra hoops in terms of planning and construction industry regulations to jump through compared to much of the rest of the planet.

 

[Lincsman]

The FIT was being reduced in a structured orderly manner at the rate of 10% every six months which allowed projects to be organised and funded on that basis then there was the out of the blue announcement that the rate of reduction was going to be accelerated to such a dramatic extent that many projects where planning had been obtained and infrastructure and one turbine had already been installed and paid for made the fulfilment of the balance of the project unviable.

Without the FIT renewable small and medium scale projects in the UK would never have got off the ground in no small part down to the extra hoops in terms of planning and construction industry regulations to jump through compared to much of the rest of the planet.

So did Endurance only sell in the UK?

 

[Funny Farmer]

If it was not possible to survive without Uk feed in tariffs then all the turbine companies would have gone down - like Kill said more likely a poor product and a badly run operation - not a good combi!

 

[Courier]

If it was not possible to survive without Uk feed in tariffs then all the turbine companies would have gone down - like Kill said more likely a poor product and a badly run operation - not a good combi!

Our turbine is a French Vergnet and the parent Company had designs on selling 200 into the UK medium wind market. Ours was I believe their 24th (and last) even though there were a number of others with approved planning and DNO approved connections. I know of at least 3 where the intention was to put a 2nd one up and all the planning approvals and infrastructure installed (and paid for) for the first ones reflected that.
The UK maintenance operation (based near the M1 in Derby) looks after most of the 24 with the exception of 2 or 3 in wildest Cornwall and Northern Scotland which are serviced direct from France by flying in engineers for any routine or other work required.

We have an availability factor since commissioning of 98.15 % including all servicing time and a couple of grid issues and any lockout time during storm conditions, however our average windspeeds have so far come in at about 1 metre per second below NOABL and VMM anticipation based on past records.
Incidentally no one locally has complained about poor spraying conditions in that time so maybe we should be looking forward to catching up with higher wind speeds in the future [emoji6]

 

[jcb360]

Our turbine is a French Vergnet

Any reason why you didn't buy an Endurance, manufactured in Britain?

 

[Courier]

Company established 1989, self erecting design using nothing bigger than a couple of 5 tonne telescopic forklifts, delivered in standard container sized transport, minimum concrete use, 55 metre hub, hurricane proven, rated output at 9.5 mps, using mainly off the shelf components (generator/gearbox), 700 working turbines worldwide at the time ours went to planning in 2012....

 

[jcb360]

Company established 1989, self erecting design using nothing bigger than a couple of 5 tonne telescopic forklifts, delivered in standard container sized transport, minimum concrete use, 55 metre hub, hurricane proven, rated output at 9.5 mps, using mainly off the shelf components (generator/gearbox), 700 working turbines worldwide at the time ours went to planning in 2012....

Fair enough......Endurance X series design had a 20+ year history and is a good turbine. Maybe if more people had bought British the company would have survived.

 

[Courier]

Fair enough......Endurance X series design had a 20+ year history and is a good turbine. Maybe if more people had bought British the company would have survived.

How many were sold in Britain before the 2010 FIT was introduced ?
We didn't really have a preference when we got a planning consultant on board and he used all the parameters from the Vergnet which the planners made specific.
What we weren't prepared for though was that Vergnet were not on the banks' (supposedly non existent) "preferred list" but Endurance was. We looked into amending the planning simply to get funding but were told in no uncertain terms that we would have to start a completely new application, the original application went through on delegated powers and one of the things that we already had in place (MOD approval) now needed a £20k deposit.
The Endurance 225 machine had a smaller swept area, a shorter tower, a lower anticipated annual output and a steeper power curve with rated output at about 3 MPs higher than the Vergnet 200.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing and despite having had excellent back up from the manufacturers whom we ended up working with directly because the planning consultant and the UK exclusive agent threw a paddy - neither of them now exist [emoji36]

 

[kill]

Any reason why you didn't buy an Endurance, manufactured in Britain?

China more like

 

[jcb360]

China more like

Ok, some parts from China, but most products these days contain some parts from China. They have to in order to remain competitive.

X series was assembled in UK and towers built in UK.

 

[kill]

Ok, some parts from China, but most products these days contain some parts from China. They have to in order to remain competitive.

X series was assembled in UK and towers built in UK.

ASSEMBLED in UK with Chinese parts. My tower had to be a light grey rather than white due to planner's and my tower then came direct from China. I think only one E series had a UK made tower as a special request and it was many thousands dearer

 

[jcb360]

ASSEMBLED in UK with Chinese parts. My tower had to be a light grey rather than white due to planner's and my tower then came direct from China. I think only one E series had a UK made tower as a special request and it was many thousands dearer

Gearbox, generator, controller (and many other parts) - none of those are Chinese - either in E or X.

At least the X assembly was in the UK - kept some people employed for a while.

 

[kill]

Gearbox, generator, controller (and many other parts) - none of those are Chinese - either in E or X.

At least the X assembly was in the UK - kept some people employed for a while.

But the parts you speak of are not made in UK either as where all bought in by Endurance and not made in house

 

[jcb360]

But the parts you speak of are not made in UK either as where all bought in by Endurance and not made in house

I didn't say they were. You seemed to imply the parts were all Chinese - they weren't.

Why try to build, for example, a gearbox when you can buy one from an established European manufacturer?

And the X towers were manufactured in UK.

Would you rather all the parts were from China and assembly was in China? I can only imagine how much worse off Endurance owners would be if this was the case.....

 

[kill]

I didn't say they were. You seemed to imply the parts were all Chinese - they weren't.

Agreed

Why try to build, for example, a gearbox when you can buy one from an established European manufacturer?

And the X towers were manufactured in UK.

Would you rather all the parts were from China and assembly was in China? I can only imagine how much worse off Endurance owners would be if this was the case.....

The point I made earlier if you read it correctly is that areas were cheapened for production and those have lead to weaknesses. Rotor shafts, bed frames, tie rods and several other area's.
Endurance are far from the only manufacturers to have done this.

 

[jcb360]

The point I made earlier if you read it correctly is that areas were cheapened for production and those have lead to weaknesses. Rotor shafts, bed frames, tie rods and several other area's.
Endurance are far from the only manufacturers to have done this.

OK I understand where you're coming from now.

Is it quality or poor design/engineering that's causing the problems you're having?

 

[kill]

OK I understand where you're coming from now.

Is it quality or poor design/engineering that's causing the problems you're having?

Parts were cheapened for production to save pence per unit but x times unit's equals lot's of money. Happens in alot of production businesses when accountant's manage production costs and don't understand why certain steel's are stronger than others or why a bearing with a grease nipple is dearer than one with out or why a 8 ply tyre is stronger than a 6 ply or a shaft made in Germany verses a Chinese shaft thats £10 cheaper.
Unfortunately the purchasers lose out every time.

 

[Courier]

Chinese parts are everywhere nowadays.
The Vergnet developed an occasional slight knock which was picked up by the service manager and it turned out that the blade feathering system which operates through a hardened ball joint similar to a category 5 top link end had developed 1mm of wear, only on one of the two joints and only found on 2 of the 24 UK installed turbines - all 48 in the UK were changed for the German version previously used at the next routine services.

 

[jcb360]

Parts were cheapened for production to save pence per unit but x times unit's equals lot's of money. Happens in alot of production businesses when accountant's manage production costs and don't understand why certain steel's are stronger than others or why a bearing with a grease nipple is dearer than one with out or why a 8 ply tyre is stronger than a 6 ply or a shaft made in Germany verses a Chinese shaft thats £10 cheaper.
Unfortunately the purchasers lose out every time.

I'm of the opinion that the design of the E was fundamentally flawed long before the accountants got involved....

 

[jcb360]

And how much are you charging for this service?

We are running a new system called WiSE. Wind Sync for Endurance. It gives full control and better analytics. You will also be able to fully operate the the turbine from the base even if the internet goes down.

And how much are you charging for this service?

Any update DC21 on how much WiSE will cost?

Or is it POA?