Can metal fabricators prosper with wind power?

The renewable energy markets, which include wind turbines, remain a viable industry sector for metal fabricators looking for new opportunities. Getty Images

The winter storms that hit Texas were no laughing matter. The ice and deep freeze caused the state’s power grid to collapse, and people suffered greatly. At least 57 people died as a result of the winter storm, mostly from hypothermia.

Unfortunately during this time, social media was here to confuse and misinform the masses about the power failure. In a state inextricably linked to the fossil fuel industry, memes were flying around blaming renewable energy sources for failing with the cold weather. The meme that comes to mind is a wind tower with icicles hanging from it and that’s not spinning, suggesting that it froze. Well, some wind turbines might have froze, but so did natural gas wells. In fact, some news outlets reported that nearly half of the state’s natural gas production went offline because of the extremely low temperatures. This wasn’t about faulty sources of energy; it was about Texas energy officials not investing in cold-weather systems that can operate below freezing temperatures.

Such misinformation could detail what many consider to be a nascent industry, but wind power is beyond that point. The push for more renewable sources of energy is sure to continue. Many will be amazed to know that Texas is the dominant power in wind energy production in the U.S. with a total installed capacity of 28,843 megawatts in 2019.

U.S. wind electricity accounted for 300 billion kilowatt-hours in 2019, which is triple what it was in 2010. With states such as California lobbying for energy to be produced completely from renewable sources, wind power is going to be a key market for years to come. Fabricators should make note of that.

Shops that can roll the “cans” that make up the towers that support wind turbines are few and far between. They have to have the equipment to roll plate to diameters that can reach just over 16 ft. for wind towers found onshore and 25 ft. for those offshore. These shops also require the expertise to meet customer-specified dimensions or risk scrapping expensive plate. Was it mentioned that some of these tower sections require conical bends and angle differentiation as the cans are stacked from the bottom section up? Fabricating these wind tower components is not easy job, but it can be lucrative for the metal fabricating company that specializes in heavy-duty work.

For those interested in learning more about what it takes to fabricate components for the wind turbine industry, consider attending this webinar sponsored by Faccin, a manufacturer of plate and angle rolling machines. The webinar—“Wind Industry Manufacturing Overview: Solutions Today to the Challenges of the Future”—is scheduled for April 8 and covers the latest market data on the wind power market, future challenges facing the industry, and discussion on the latest technologies available to help fabricators become a part of the wind power supply chain.

Fabricating companies looking to take advantage of new market opportunities don’t want to be frozen out of this energy sector.