K NOWLEDGE TRANSFER IN WIND COMPANIES

Knowledge transfer is an important component of a complete technology

transfer, and is characterized as the last stage in a transfer: i.e., the know-how-to-do-it phase. For a firm to reach this stage there has to be enough participation from the recipient, via on-site training and other organized classes designed to boost the level of knowledge. This was something Kristiansen (1993) assessed by studying several hydropower projects in Africa and Latin-America. The projects

36 One example of a parameter is the temperature range in which gearbox functions. In the Thar Desert, the highest temperature the engineer experienced was close to 60° C, and the gearbox is programmed to cut-off at temperatures above 55° C. This cut-off temperature is programmed by the TCI.

were a mix of private enterprise agreements and bilateral aid agreements. He looked at what kind of training and education the transferees and recipients agreed upon in a legally binding contract before the transfer and what actually happened after the transfer. The contracts for the bilateral aid projects were quite specific about training, but little of it was actually carried out. In the cases where training of recipients was achieved, it was because the clients pushed for and utilized the options they were given in the contract.

As mentioned in section 7.2.3 about RRB Energy, the Indians received on-site training when the subsidiary company was set up in 1987. The manager further explained that there are some Danes employed in the company’s blade factory in Chennai in Tamil Nadu. The technicians employed by RRB Energy must be university educated. It is fair to assess that a transfer of knowledge did happen, but it happened many years ago when RRB Energy began its collaboration with Vestas. Now they have moved further in developing their skills and knowledge about WEGs, and have enabled themselves to manufacture larger turbines.

In the study by Kristiansen, he was able to examine the technology transfers shortly after they happened. This was not possible for my study. For both RRB Energy and Enercon the transfers happened over ten years ago. But what I could examine was the level of dependency on the sender. RRB Energy initially

received on-site training from Vestas, then broke off the collaboration and developed their own turbines. They also have control over their own

manufacturing (RRB Energy 2009). This fits well with Kristiansen’s definition of the know-how-to-do-it phase: “If we are talking about know-how-to-do-it in connection with (water) turbine technology, this implies technical and organizational skills to run a turbine plant” (Kristiansen 1993:12).

Enercon is still at the mercy of the mother corporation for the most important parts of the machinery, but they are also in a know-why phase when it comes to knowledge. Kristiansen (1993) defined the know-why stage as the phase where the recipient has gained enough insight about the underlying conditions in the

technical and administrative processes so he can make repairs, adjustments and improvements on the hardware, organizational level and administrative routines in the production process. During the Enercon interview it became clear that the Indians have skills to maintain and repair the machines under normal conditions:

i.e., normal Indian conditions. They have been trained to report on abnormalities which have an effect on the performance of the machines to the main corporation in Germany. It is in Germany that the kinks are worked out, meaning that the Indians are left in a know-why-phase of knowledge transfer.

The engineer told me about the Enercon training company in Daman where technicians and other newly employed personnel receive training. The

knowledge transfer between Enercon GmbH and Enercon India happens here.

The theoretical training for technicians lasts for six months, while the practical on-site training lasts one month. The engineer explained that the technicians learn about the standards and parameters during their training. These are set by the German mother company, and according to him it is the standards that separate Enercon India from other wind power companies. The standards are evaluated by a company division called Service Installation and Quality Assurance department (SIQA).

SIQA is there to insure and guarantee quality. Because of the connection with the Germans, Enercon India has more standards they must follow than the other companies, according to the engineer. If SIQA finds any deviation from the standards, the equipment and procedures will be rejected. The second engineer from Enercon, whom I interviewed prior to visiting the wind sites, explained that the collaboration with Enercon GmbH persists:

“The Germans still visit. They are visiting every year. They are doing this on a sample basis. They are doing auditing, quality checks…. All these things they are checking.

Whether norms, standards, quality norms are maintained or not. Basically it’s a reputate [reputable] company. It’s a process of verifications, that’s why they are doing the audits. They want to insure same standards” (Enercon interview with engineer 1).

He further went on to explain that Enercon India complies with all the Enercon GmbH standards and benchmarks. He also indirectly suggested that this

collaboration was a two-way street, saying that there are Indians in Germany getting training. In India, the machines experience completely different problems from those in Germany, where they were developed. The biggest problem in India was heat, so this had to be communicated back to the Germans by sending data related to heat-induced errors in the WEGs. Then they would work on altering the “…softwares and other things (ibid.). They are continuously improving the performance of the deviations”.

RRB Energy and Enercon India started off in the same way, as subsidiaries to two of the world’s largest wind turbine manufacturers, Vestas and Enercon GmbH. The former has gone through all the steps of technology transfer, while the latter still has some way to go. Even so, there has been a transfer of

knowledge to a large number of Indian professionals, and their capacity for operating wind power projects has increased substantially.

In the previous sections, I described how the Indian government initiated a push for renewable energy technologies. As a result of a multi-faceted policy, India has become a country with a competent and globally competitive wind sector.

The CDM has not contributed to technology transfer or knowledge transfer to the country from abroad. But if one is to look at the distribution of CDM projects within the nation, it is a different story.