Two West Midlands companies have both netted international orders worth more than £1 million in the wind energy business after being helped by a local initiative.

The Wind Supply project, funded by Advantage West Midlands, has aided Serck Controls, based in Coventry, and Rugby- based Alstom Power Conversion to win significant contracts with European wind turbine builders.

Serck Controls, which employs 180 people, is a supplier of high technology data acquisition, control and information solutions whose systems and software help control and manage windfarms.

It has won two orders for its products at two separate windfarms in the UK and Ireland worth a combined £1 million.

Barrie Cressey, sales director at Serck, said: "Working with Wind Supply has made a real difference to us.

"Our presence on the Wind Supply mission to Hamburg last year helped us to understand the industry better and to develop more contacts."

Alstom Power Conversion, which employs 800 staff at Rugby, specialises in the advanced and hightech electrical machines that convert the electricity generated inside a wind turbine into use on the electricity grid.

Since entering the volume wind market, around 18 months ago, the company has worked with the Wind Supply Project to increase its knowledge of the market place.

It has now sold its products across Europe and the US in a string of deals worth a total of £1 million. John Hill, business development manager at Alstom, said: "We would not have come so far so fast in coming to grips with this market without support from Wind Supply."

The Wind Supply project is designed to link companies throughout the Midland region to this worldwide market which is expanding at a rate of 30 per cent year on year.

It began in the West Midlands, with the support of Advantage West Midlands, and is now being adopted in other parts of the country.

Wind Supply provides workshops and supports presence at international trade shows as well as innovation groups which link suppliers of castings, fasteners and gears to the wind market.

Around 800 companies have already registered with the project, which has funding until 2009.