PMG Wind offers products and solutions for the renewable energy sector. The company's activity focuses on obtaining high efficiency energy from alternative sources, and its portfolio includes wind turbines, photovoltaic panels and hybrid systems, the majority of them produced from scratch in-house, under high technical standards.
What circumstances led to the creation of PMG Wind and what does its portfolio include presently?
We ventured into the renewable industry by chance. I held a small share in a Chinese factory that was producing front loaders for my previous business, and at one point they sent me a wind turbine as a gift. Its performance was very low, but I liked the idea and led by providence decided to switch focus for our business and venture into renewables instead.
In terms of products, our portfolio includes wind turbines, which we are able to build from scratch, solar panels and also hybrid systems. Further to this, our team holds capabilities that allow us to analyze the energy efficiency of the systems used, evaluate current consumption patterns and provide solutions tailored to meet individual requirements. We have a well rounded portfolio already and also a few new products under development.
PMG Wind has its own production capacity in Cluj. What proprietary products are developed there?
We developed our first proprietary product at the very beginning of our activity, namely a generator. It took us about 3-4 years of trial and testing and we essentially managed to build the product from scratch without any external help or funding and we take great pride in the result. We designed the generator to be used specifically in green energy, and keeping this particular focus in mind allowed us to create a product that performs spectacularly for wind and hydro production. In the case of wind energy for example, you need a certain speed for the turbine to start producing and we managed to have the lowest speed at which we go into production. We also fare excellently in terms of resistance, which was proven by installations that we built in difficult areas with very high intensity winds.
Another innovation was our hybrid system, that uses parallel sources to alleviate risks associated with renewable energy production. We have customers for example in the agricultural field - for them, not being able to ensure energy for a week or longer can severely affect their yields. To prevent such issues, we thought of a hybrid system that includes both a wind turbine and photovoltaic panels. We originally offered a one-year warranty, but the competition from the Chinese companies was very high so we decided to extend the warranty over a 25-year period, which gave us a great advantage in the local market.
The company is very active on international markets. What does your geographical footprint look like at this point?
About 70% of our production ends up outside of Romania and this percentage keeps growing. We have a strong footprint in Europe, in countries such as Belgium, Norway, Poland and Turkey and also in Africa, which we find to be a very good market. We do not have a direct presence in these countries, instead we work with dealers and have partnerships with companies such as Turn2Power.
Working in such varied locations involves a great deal of challenges, because we need to adapt our configurations to each particular climate. We take patience in understanding the specifics of the country because it allows us to personalize the solution according to these specific needs and ensure the highest levels of efficiency.
How have the fluctuations in the local renewables industry affected PMG Wind’s business?
We focus on residential projects, small businesses and agricultural farms, an area in which there was no other player when we first started out. For this reason, we were fortunate enough to not be severely affected by the market unsteadiness.
However, I do believe that there is need for more stability in legislation for renewables and a long term vision for the industry, especially given Romania’s fantastic potential for wind and solar energy. Equally important, we need to better educate the population regarding the value of green energy and the savings that can be achieved in the long run by investing in such capacities. People in Romania still do not have a thorough understanding of the advantages and this is something that can be changed through simple and direct communication.
What does the company aim to achieve in the coming two to three years?
Last year we tripled our production capacity and even so we expect that in the next two years we will have a hard time keeping pace with demand. So one of our goals is to expand our capacities further and increase the number of units produced. We are also working on adding new products to our portfolio, and in terms of markets we plan to solidify our presence in Europe and Africa and expand our footprint into the United States.
Romania also remains important to us, as we believe there is still great potential to be explored here, especially from a production perspective. Thinking of quality of products and highly skilled workforce, the country offers innumerable advantages.
