Swiss power electronics firm set for wind growth in China

Zurich, Switzerland-based Integral Drive Systems' (IDS) CEO Alexander Stoev says the American market is still open for his engineering and automation technology company. However, the European market, especially for its wind turbine products, has closed, with areas such as Germany already full of suppliers.

He told the Cleantech Group yesterday that IDS provides power electronics including converters for different types of wind turbines, as well as for the solar and energy storage industries.

Its solar converter product line was developed for grid-connected solar systems and comes in power ranges from 40 kilowatts up to 250 kW. The company, founded in 1998, also makes geared and gearless wind turbines. IDS claims its products enable its global customers to enhance their performance, while simultaneously reducing pollution.

Its products compete with bigger players including General Electric, Siemens, and Zurich's ABB. During 2008, ABB (NYSE:ABB) supplied more than 3,000 megawatts of wind turbine converter power to the wind industry with its liquid and air-cooled models.

Headquartered in a Swiss Technopark, which serves as a catalyst for business development in western Zurich, IDS has 180 employees, with subsidiaries in Switzerland, Bulgaria, Italy, Beijing and Tianjin. The Italian and Chinese branches were launched in 2009, Stoev said.

Stoev said IDS is focused on China because the country is specifically spending a lot of money on wind energy development (see China drives global market, supply for wind). IDS has manufacturing operations in Switzerland, eastern Europe and most recently China.

But IDS isn't alone in seeing China's potential. Earlier this year, Germany’s Siemens (NYSE:SI) broke ground on a wind turbine production facility in Shanghai's Lingang New City, signifying its entry into China’s wind power market (see Siemens breaks ground in China’s wind market).

Some of IDS's specialty solar products include a solar plant container for a 1 MW system and a DuoSolar panel, which includes photovoltaic and solar thermal in one. The DuoSolar panel can be used on residential installations or large-scale power plants, the company said. IDS is partnering on the panels with German module manufacturer Solon, which is also working with companies such as Atlanta-based Suniva (see Suniva, Solon in $500M supply deal).

See a photograph of a DuoSolar panel here »

“We build everything in house, test it, and ship it,” said the company's CTO Martin Vinzens, of the solar plant container.

The self-financed, private IDS brought in revenue of about CHF 18 million (US$17.6 million) in 2008 and the same in 2009. Vinzens said that’s expected to increase by 10 to 30 percent for 2010.

This is expected to come as it advances sales in key markets including China, where it already has a presence, and the United States, where, for example, it’s involved in supplying its technology to an offshore wind farm project in Ohio.

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