WinWinD was founded in the turn of the millennium but its story starts already well before that. During its 10-year-life, WinWinD has grown from a small Finnish company to an established international wind turbine manufacturer and wind energy solutions provider.

The key to success was creating a turbine that would be technically superior to ones dominating the markets. A professional, multi-talented organization was built to stand behind the product. In the first stage of WinWinD’s history, the company focused extensively on the design and development of its technologically advanced wind turbine and was the first market player to have a 3 MW turbine with permanent magnet technology.

The breeze that would rise to become WinWinD

The founding father of WinWinD is Mr. Jouko Tiuraniemi, who has 30 years of experience in the field of energy industry. Tiuraniemi made an extensive wind energy market study for Oulu Energy, a Northern Finnish energy company, in 1995 and thus began the history of WinWinD. The experience prompted Tiuraniemi to start thinking about a new, highly efficient wind turbine. He realized that the key to success was not to try to compete on the same terms with the market dominants, but to create a turbine that would be technically superior.

In 1998, Tiuraniemi approached the German consultancy firm Aerodyn with the aim of designing a competitive wind turbine “Made in Finland”. There he met Georg Böhmeke, the head of the design activities who had 20 years of experience in the wind power industry. In parallel, he had contacts to Pohjolan Voima (PVO), a Finnish energy producer, who was interested in wind energy on a general level. Veli-Matti Jääskeläinen, insider of the energy business and chief of PVO’s Engineering department, would later become the Managing Director of the newly founded WinWinD. Böhmeke was appointed Technical Director and Jouko Tiuraniemi Vice President.

A direct drive wind turbine solution was discarded because of its lower economic efficiency, but a medium speed drive train concept seemed promising. After a thorough technical and economic research the Multibrid® model was chosen. WinWinD’s solution is to generate electricity by an integrated power unit, which has a reliable planetary gear and a medium speed synchronous generator. The studies were followed by the detailed design of a one megawatt wind turbine – WWD-1.

The concept and the product

– years 2000 to 2003

WinWinD Oy was officially founded March 6, 2000. The first shareholders of WinWinD were PVO, Voimarakenne Oy, Sähkö-Rantek Oy and Jouko Tiuraniemi. Office facilities were set up in Oulu and the WWD-1 assembly factory in a small town called Ii, both located in Northern Finland.

The first WWD-1 pilot plant was erected in the Vihreäsaari oil harbor in Oulu in the autumn of 2001. The main component suppliers were Metso-Drives (nowadays Moventas) for the gearbox and for the generator and inverter ABB, with whom WinWinD carried out a cooperation project subsidized by TEKES (the Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation). Over 70 % of the components were made in Finland. The machine worked reliably and confirmed the chosen medium speed drive train concept.

During the first three years of WinWinD’s life, the number of employees grew from one to twenty. Already from the beginning, the organization culture of WinWinD was very enthusiastic and motivated. The development work for a three megawatt turbine, WWD-3, started in 2002 with a pilot project ordered in 2003.

Entering the international markets & getting wind behind our backs

– years 2004 to 2007

The years between 2004 and 2007 were a period of steady growth and finding a strong foothold in the markets for WinWinD. The number of installed turbines grew constantly and the number of employees rose to 152. WinWinD’s technology and business potential also caught the attention of some major international international investors. Finnish Industry Investment became a shareholder of WinWinD in 2004 and Sterling Infotech Group, a diversified Indian conglomerate with interests in high growth sectors, became the majority shareholder in 2006.

Cooperation with Hollming Works Oy started in 2004 as they became the assemblers of WWD-3 turbines in Loviisa, Finland. The first WWD-3 turbine was installed in Oulu and the first WWD-1 turbine to Portugal at the end of 2004.

Estonian subsidiary Winwind Eesti OÜ was established in 2005 and the Estonian market opened for WinWinD, when Viru-Nigula Wind Park consisting of eight WWD-3 turbines was delivered in 2006.

WinWinD expanded outside the Finnish borders also to Sweden in 2005 as the first WWD-1 turbine was installed. The number of WWD-turbines in Sweden grew to 16 already by the end of 2007. A distribution agreement with InnoVent in France lead to a business entry in France in 2007, and by the end of the year, already 6 turbines were installed. 

The wind is growing and becoming stronger

- years 2008 to 2010

In September 2008 Masdar, a multi-faceted company advancing the development commercialization and deployment of renewable energy solutions and clean technologies, decided to invest 120 M€ in WinWinD, which opened up the possibilities for even further development, growth and internationalization. WinWinD’s growth continued and by the beginning of 2010 the number of employees reached up to 793 with 495 people working outside of Finland in India and offices in Estonia, Portugal and Sweden.

Year 2009 was an eventful year for WinWinD. In addition to project deliveries and ground-breaking R&D projects, two state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities were built and started up. The WWD-1 assembly and blade manufacturing facility in Vengal, India was opened in September 2009. Its designed annual capacity is 1000 MW. The WWD-3 assembly factory, with designed annual capacity of 500 MW started its operation in Hamina, Finland in October 2009.

Today, WinWinD has established its presence in global wind energy markets and continues to grow both in the existing markets and to new areas. WinWinD has received certificates of ISO 9001 quality, ISO 14001 environmental and OHSAS 18001 occupational health and safety management system compliance. WinWinD wants to succeed together with its customers and this success story is only just beginning.