Senvion is targeting a 15% to 20% share of the Irish turbine supply market by the end of next year after completing its maiden deployment in the country.
Jochen Magerfleisch, executive vice president for sales in northern Europe, said the German manufacturer has a clear line of sight on new orders from developers aiming to commission wind farms in 2018 and 2019 under the Refit 2 support mechanism.
Senvion has a “clearly defined strategy” for cracking the market, which includes engaging with the “right customers”, offering tailor-made hardware adjusted for site-specifc conditions and sharing project risk with developers, he said. “It is an ambitious target but once we go into a market we do not do it to be number five,” Magerfleisch added.
Senvion has banked around 40MW worth of orders since setting out its stall in the Irish sector at the end of 2016, including the five MM82 units that opened the company’s account in the country at NTR’s 10.25MW Teevurcher wind farm in Meath.
Other deals are for two 3.2M114 machines at NTR’s Rathnacally wind farm in Cork and 10 turbines, including MM82 and MM92 models, for Galetech’s 20MW Carrickallen project in Cavan.
The results are in line with initial internal targets and will provide the springboard for the coming years, Magerfleisch said.
“It is not often that a company starts in its first full year by installing and commissioning turbines. Usually more time is needed to explore and establish yourself with the wind family in a country,” he said.
“We were earning money in 2017 (in Ireland), which means the development of the market for our company was very fast.”
Senvion has avoided any logistics or transport headaches although Magerfleisch pointed to grid access and planning delays as the main challenges both now and in the future.
The sales executive said he is also confident Senvion has the right turbines to offer developers of post-Refit 2 projects, which are likely to be built under an auction-based system that will demand greater cost savings.
Magerfleisch pointed to the company’s performance in other auction arenas, such as Germany and Argentina, but noted delivering low-cost projects is not solely down to pricing.
So-called soft factors, such as turbine reliability, performance and availability, as well as servicing options all make a difference, he said.
This web exclusive article first appeared in the most recent subscriber-only EO European Onshore quarterly report from reNEWS.
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Image: NTR
Ireland whets Senvion appetite
By EBS