ELSTO Drives & Controls, a 100% subsidiary of the Voorhout based Stokvis Group, recently received an order for the supply of 3,600 gearboxes for integration in a series of 2.5 MW wind turbines to be constructed by Red Wind B.V. Red Wind is the Dutch subsidiary of the leading and globally operating wind turbine manufacturer Enercon.

The gearboxes supplied by ELSTO are complete drive units with motors and control systems, and are produced in close cooperation with the Italian Bonfiglioli group. Two types of gearbox unit are supplied, one for turbine blade angle adjustment, and one for turbine nacelle rotation also known respectively as pitch an yaw adjustment. The units are fitted with both a three phase primary motor and an DC emergency backup motor.

In each wind turbine three pitch drives and six yaw drives are installed.  The order equates eighty trucks loads of twenty tonne of materials, and a total order value of twenty million euros. Stokvis Group CEO Paul Stokvis notes: “An export order of this magnitude is something special, and did not fall out of the sky overnight.

An important factor in securing the order was the close cooperation with the Bonfiglioli factory, a cooperation that has stood the test of time now for over forty years.”

With the increasing popularity of wind turbines as a source of renewable energy, the cooperation between ELSTO and Bonfiglioli has already yielded an impressive list of interesting orders over the last ten years. The current Red Wind order is seen as the proverbial icing on the cake.