World leading welding and cutting technology for wind towers

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1 World leading welding and cutting technology for wind towers Excellence from a single. Photo courtesy Vestas A/S STRENGTH THROUGH COOPERATION

2 The most successful provider of wind tower manufacturing solutions... In May 2008, Vestas announced the construction of the world s largest wind tower manufacturing plant in Pueblo, Colorado, USA a $250M investment. ESAB was selected to supply all welding and cutting equipment and consumables for this greenfield plant, for their proven track record and ability to design, deliver and service such a large venture. Horns rev II, Denmark. To date, the largest offshore wind farm. Wind turbines (91) were supplied by Siemens Wind Systems. Monopiles and transition pieces fabricated by Bladt Industries A/S, Denmark. Siemens press picture. Competitiveness in wind tower fabrication is synonymous with the application of productive, high quality welding and cutting solutions. With ESAB, you are assured of a partner who understands your challenges and forms a single for engineering, automation and consumables. your welding and cutting productivity and to boost factory output. Developed specifically for your industry, our flux/wire combinations ensure the required weld quality and mechanical properties. With ESAB you deal with just one complete equipment and consumables package supplier. With factories, sales offices and We have been distributors across Our services to the wind involved in the wind the globe, we are tower industry, from tower industry: always close by to the early days, and offer valuable pre- Welding and cutting have responded to and after sales support, training and equipment steadily increasing Engineering and requirements to the research facilities, automation point where, today, wherever you are Handling equipment a majority of wind located or decide to Specialised towers in service, set-up new production. consumables worldwide, have Support, training and been manufactured research using ESAB technology. We partner with Worldwide presence welding company ESAB is the only fabricators all over with ISO14001 the world, such as Vestas, Hitachi and Sif, certification for its group Environmental, producing wind towers, foundation piles Health & Safety Management System and and transition pieces for land-based, offshore or arctic service. operations. Wherever you buy your ESAB OHSAS group certification for all products - they are designed to minimise Our services range from retrofitting of existing production facilities to turnkey equip- are produced to uniform standards for their lifetime environmental footprint and ment for greenfield installations with occupational and product health and productive solutions for each step in safety. your fabrication, designed to increase with the largest worldwide customer base.

3 One run cutting of all bevel types. 3-axis oxy-fuel cutting VBA bevel head Bevel types vary with the position of the respective segment in the tower. With 3-torch oxy-fuel cutting, all individual joints needed in wind tower production can be prepared at the same station and in one run, allowing for high utilisation and productivity. For wind tower top segments, ports and flanges, it may prove economic to utilise single torch plasma cutting of I-bevels The plasma process does not allow multi-torch cutting, but is significantly faster than oxy-fuel cutting and the lower heat input limits plate distortion. ESAB offers a range of standard portal machines covering all cutting processes and most plate size demands, as well as tailor-made solutions for specific customer requirements. To guarantee consistent cutting quality and ease of use, a high degree of automation is provided and the cutting processes are supported by powerful Columbus CAD/ CAM software, VISION 55 numerical control and PDM production data management software. With the software package a production part s CAD-drawing is all that s needed to get 3D-views, process parameters and automatically set cutting machines. Cutting services include installation, start-up and education of operators.

4 A global range of welding equipment. The fabrication of wind towers involves the composition of large tubular shapes from individual cans. The cans require internal and external longitudinal welding, while the formation of the tower requires forming, tacking and welding of internal and external circumferential joints. Other areas for which welding solutions are needed are foundation flanges, port-holes and sub-components. To achieve good, repeatable welding results, a high degree of automation is required. This implies that the welding process equipment becomes a system of components, each optimised for their respective function. These components can broadly be divided into three categories: Process Equipment & Accessories (welding heads, power s, control units) Carrying Equipment & Accessories (Columns & Booms, Tractors, Port-hole welders) Handling Equipment (Roller beds, Crocodiles, Head & Tail stock) ESAB offers solutions for all welding requirements in wind tower fabrication, using elements from these three catagories. ESAB s telescopic column and boom, Telbo - an innovation that reduces investment costs by saving factory space, utility cost and maintenance. Column and boom station for internal longitudinal welds in cans. The most productive welding heads in the industry. Roller bed and head and tailstock equipment for optimal handling and production flow.

5 Submerged arc welding variants for all applications. Submerged Arc Welding (SAW) is the ideal welding process for the welding of thick materials such as the steel plates in wind tower production. There are a number of process variants with increasing deposition rates for which ESAB has developed welding heads, including narrow gap heads to save on weld volume. The main difference between these variants is the number of wires used and how these wires are powered. Each process variant requires an individual arrangement of welding equipment. Single Wire Twin Wire Flux hopper Flux hopper Tandem Tandem Twin Flux hopper Robust solutions for the most critical of welds. Flux hopper Multi Wire Flux hopper The operator can safely control the welding operation with the fully integrated PLC control system.

6 Dedicated consumables in the most productive delivery packaging for single and multi- wire procedures such as tandem, twin-arc, tandem twin welding and many more, for butt and fillet welds. The excellent slag removal in narrow Y- or V-joints allows the included angle of the joint to be reduced. In large Y-joints (50mm and above) the characteristics of the flux are highly beneficial easy slag removal on the first run and high current carrying capacity, to allow for high deposition rates. ESAB supplies a number of welding fluxes that have become extremely popular for their excellent properties dedicated to the wind tower industry. The fluxes are combined with various solid and cored SAW wires to obtain the required strength and toughness properties in both the as welded and stress relieved conditions. OK Flux is the most versatile flux for wind tower fabrication, suitable for the welding of thick sections, in multiple layers with respectable toughness values down to -50 o C when combined with a standard non-alloyed SAW wire. It is used The ESAB range of flux packagings offers a choice to meet fabricators individual productivity needs from 25kg paper bags to reclosable 1000kg BigBags. All are well protected against moisture pickup. Wire is available on a wide range of spools weights from 15kg random wound basket spools to 1000kg EcoCoil. In addition, ESAB offers a range of flux handling equipment systems, flux feed and recovery systems, magnetic separators, air filters, flux storage silos, powder dryers, and anything else required for mass production. consumables dedicated to wind tower industry for single and multi-wire and multiple layers toughness values down to -50 o C bulk packaging for fluxes and wires complete range of flux handling systems

7 A majority of wind towers worldwide fabricated with ESAB solutions. Who are the players? Vestas Wind Systems A/S, Denmark - the unchallenged world leader in wind power. Over the years, they have installed over 40,000 wind turbines in 65 countries on five continents. In 2008, Vestas installed a new turbine every three hours, worldwide, generating more than 60 million MWh a year, enough power to provide electricity for every household in a country the size of Spain with its population of 45 million. Their expertise in modern energy covers more than just wind turbines, specialising in the planning, installation, operation and maintenance of windfarms and covering everything from site studies to service and maintenance. Vestas is investing heavily in new capacity in North America and Asia. In August 2008, Vestas announced the construction of the world s largest wind tower manufacturing plant in Pueblo, Colorado, USA -a $250M investment. ESAB was selected as supplier, for their proven track record and the ability to design, deliver and service such a large venture. The contract includes several large plasma and oxy-fuel cutting machines, a number of new telescopic column and boom SAW stations, rollerbeds, portable welding machines and a long term supply agreement for SAW wire and flux. Martifer Group SA, Portugal - a worldwide operating industrial conglomerate active in civil construction, wind energy, solar and wave energy and bio-fuel production. For the wind energy segment, it produces wind towers and gear boxes for turbines and erects and maintains complete wind farms. More than half of our company s life has been in co-operation with ESAB, as a supplier of consumables, equipment and solutions, says Anónio Pontes, CEO of Martifer Energy Systems. We have always counted on ESAB for its ability to grow with a customer and channel industry developments - an appealing characteristic. ESAB plays a very important role in broadening our horizons regarding production. Sif Group bv, The Netherlands, specialises in the manufacture of heavy tubular structures for the offshore oil and gas industry, offshore windfarm foundations, harbour and jetty facilities, and pressure vessel shells and cones. Anticipating the boom in offshore wind farms, Sif Group bv has invested heavily in a new yard lay-out, a new production hall for foundation piles and transition pieces and modern production lines. The company has supplied the steel foundations for more than 80% of the offshore wind farms installed in Western Europe. Throughout the years, ESAB has been the main supplier of welding equipment and consumables to Sif Group bv, responding to steadily increasing production targets. Very recently this resulted in the purchase of ESAB s latest innovation, the telescopic column and boom.

8 World leader in welding and cutting technology and systems. ESAB operates at the forefront of welding and cutting technology. Over and Safety Management Systems across all our global manufacturing facilities. one hundred years of continuous improvement in products and processes enables us to meet the challenges of technological advance in every sector in At ESAB, quality is an ongoing process that is at the heart of all our production processes and facilities worldwide. Bladt Industries A/S, Denmark - has been involved in the wind energy business since 2002, constructing monopiles, wind towers and transition pieces. In 2010, the company contracted to manufacture 175 offshore foundations for the first phase of the London Array. This required heavy investment in production facilities. ESAB supplied column and booms and roller beds and the retrofit of six existing station. which we operate.. Quality and environment standards Quality, the environment and safety are three key areas of focus. ESAB is one of few international companies to have achieved the ISO and OHSAS standards in Environmental, Health Multinational manufacturing, local representation and an international network of independent distributors brings the benefits of ESAB quality and unrivalled expertise in materials and processes within reach of all our customers, wherever they are located. ESAB Sales and Support Offices worldwide ESAB AB Box 8004, SE Göteborg, Sweden. Phone: Fax: info@esab.se Reg. No: XA Printed in the Netherlands.