Northern Power Systems

Northern Power Systems
Public
Traded as TMX: NPS
Industry Wind Power
Headquarters Barre, Vermont, United States
Key people
 CEO Troy Patton, CTO Jonathan Lynch
Products Wind Turbines
Website www.northernpower.com

Northern Power Systems designs, manufactures, and sells wind turbines, and provides engineering development services and technology licenses for energy applications, into the global marketplace. The company was founded in 1974, and has since grown into a multinational corporation headquartered in Barre, Vermont, with European headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland and a significant presence in the United Kingdom and Italy.

History

Today's Northern Power Systems was started in 1974 in Warren, Vermont, as Northwind Power Company.[1] Its founders hitchhiked to Colorado, Minnesota, and North Dakota to buy secondhand Jacobs wind plants. They trucked the wind turbines to Vermont where they reconditioned them for resale as the North Wind “Eagle.”

In 1978, North Wind was awarded a U.S. Department of Energy contract to develop a high-reliability 2 kW wind turbine for the growing telecommunications market. As a result of that work, North Wind developed its HR2 wind turbine, a three-bladed, horizontal axis up wind rotor configuration utilizing a slow-speed, direct-drive 2.2 kW alternator. This small wind turbine soon gained international market acceptance as one of the most rugged, high-reliability wind turbines available. Over 600 HR2 and its successor HR3 wind turbines were sold over approximately 20 years of production. Northern Power wind turbines have been installed in over 40 countries on all seven continents, with many still operational today.

In 1986, the team continued its DOE-sponsored research and development work, but also began to design, fabricate, and install high-reliability hybrid power systems for remote applications using gas- and diesel-fired reciprocating engine generators, photovoltaic panels, wind turbines, and battery banks for energy storage.

In the summer of 2008, the Vermont-based company was acquired by its current owners who have invested over $100 million into Northern Power Systems over the past several years (2008 – to date). Major shareholders include Rockport Capital, Allen & Company and BeCapital. Today Northern Power Systems continues plans for aggressive growth with support from some of the most trusted and well-known financial partners in the industry.

Products

Northern Power Systems has almost 40 years’ experience in technologies and products generating renewable energy. Northern Power Systems currently manufactures the NPS 60 and NPS 100 wind turbines for community applications. The NPS 100 is rated as having a 100 kilowatt capacity, and the NPS 60 is rated as having a 60 kilowatt capacity. Northern Power Systems also manufactures the larger 2.3 megawatt turbine designed for industrial applications such as wind farms, called the Northern Power 2X platform. With millions of run time hours across its global fleet, Northern Power wind turbines provide customers with clean, cost effective, reliable renewable energy. Patented next generation permanent magnet/direct drive (PM/DD) technology uses fewer moving parts, delivers higher energy capture, and provides increased reliability due to reduced maintenance and downtime.

Northern Power Systems offers comprehensive in‐house development services, including systems level engineering, advanced drive trains, power electronics, PM machine design, and remote monitoring systems to the energy industry.

Some of the world’s largest manufacturers license NPS next generation technology and IP for their utility and distributed wind products and markets.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Wind Power Holdings raises $45M". Mass High Tech. 23 October 2009. Retrieved 14 June 2010.
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