• Wind power in Sweden breaks new record
• Emerging markets powers Swedish recovery

SKF, the world's biggest supplier of ball bearings, has been awarded a contract with the Chinese energy company Guohua Energy Investment, the company said Friday. Gotheburg-based SKF will supply wind turbine monitoring systems to the Chinese power firm.

“SKF has over the years developed well defined remote diagnostic processes for many industries, such as wind energy, which enable us to reduce the operating cost for our customers”, said Vartan Vartanian, President, SKF Service Division.

The Swedish company will supply 180 WindCon systems for the monitoring of wind turbines in order to improve reliability maintenance for already existing turbines. Guohua Investment also plans new wind farm in Beijing and SKF has supplied 58 SKF WindCon systems to SEC, a major Chinese manufacturer that will supply the wind turbines.

Trade association Swedish Wind Energy said Wednesday that development of new wind power stations in the Scandinavian country is expected to break the record this year, despite the fact that global investment in wind power has slowed during the economic slump.