This week’s Wind Energy Update news brief includes the following companies and organisations: The U.S. Department of the Interior, The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM); Ofgem, Balfour Beatty Equitix Consortium, Balfour Beatty Investments, Equitix, RWE npower renewables, RWE Innogy, Stadtwerke München, Siemens; Dong Energy, the Planning Inspectorate, Dong Energy Walney Extension (UK); Gamesa; AMSC, GL Renewables Certification

News compiled and written by Ritesh Gupta

Weekly Intelligence Brief: 22 – 29 July 22, 2013

U. S. confirms second offshore wind energy lease sale

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) in the United States will hold its second competitive lease sale for renewable energy on the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf (OCS). The auction, scheduled to take place on 4th of September, will offer nearly 112,800 acres of offshore Virginia for commercial wind energy leasing, according to The U.S. Department of the Interior.

The nation’s first wind energy lease sale for an area offshore Rhode Island and Massachusetts is slated to take place on July 31.

Under the terms of the Final Sale Notice, the wind energy area offshore Virginia will be auctioned as a single lease. The area is located 23.5 nautical miles from the Virginia Beach coastline and has the potential to support more than 2,000 MW of wind generation.

For more information, click here: http://www.boem.gov/Renewable-Energy-Program/State-Activities/VA/Commercial-Lease-for-Wind-Energy-Offshore-Virginia.aspx

Balfour Beatty Equitix Consortium chosen as preferred bidder

Ofgem has selected the Balfour Beatty Equitix Consortium as the preferred bidder to own and operate the high voltage transmission links to the 576MW Gwynt y Môr wind farm. The estimated value of the transmission assets is £346m.

The project is being built by RWE npower renewables. It is currently under construction in Liverpool Bay, off the North Wales coast, and will consist of 160 turbines.

The project is being funded by RWE Innogy, in partnership with Stadtwerke München and Siemens.

Balfour Beatty Equitix Consortium, a consortium comprising Balfour Beatty Investments and Equitix, was chosen through a competitive process in which bidders compete to become offshore transmission owners.

This is the final Transitional Tender Round 2A project to reach the preferred bidder stage of the tender process. The other projects in tranche A of the tender round are Lincs and London Array. A total of £1.4bn of transmission assets are being competitively tendered by Ofgem in Transitional Tender Round. There are three projects in Tranche A (Lincs, London Array and Gwynt y Môr) and one project in Tranche B (West of Duddon Sands). The next tender round, Tender Round 3 (TR3), is expected to launch later in 2013.

Application for Development Consent for Walney project accepted

Danish energy company Dong Energy has shared that the application for development consent for the Walney Extension Offshore Wind Farm has been accepted for examination. The application was submitted to the Secretary of State via the Planning Inspectorate in late June.

Dong Energy Walney Extension (UK) will now be publicising the acceptance so that members of the public and other stakeholders will be able to make representations and request to speak at public hearings.

The relevant dates will be announced shortly on the project website.

The team have been working to develop the application since it was awarded an Agreement for Lease (AfL) in 2010 by the Crown Estate. The Walney offshore wind farm was awarded an AfL to extend the operational offshore wind farm at the Walney Round 2 site by up to a further 750MW.

Milestone for Gamesa’s first offshore prototype

Turbine specialist Gamesa has shared that the first offshore wind turbine installed in Spain has been commissioned.

For the Spanish entity’s G128-5.0 MW offshore prototype, installed in Arinaga (Canary Islands), this development is also a key step in its certification.

This turbine features a rotor diameter of 128m and a total height of 154m.

Gamesa started the installation of the tower, the nacelle and three blades of the wind turbine in mid-April, with the assembly of the tower, with a total height of 90m and manufactured by Windar. The nacelle, manufactured at the Tauste (Zaragoza) factory, is 12.5m long, 4m tall and wide and weighs 72 tonnes.

After the tower hoist, began assembly of the three blades, 62.5m long each and 15 tons in weight, which concluded a couple of months back. Since then, the company has developed electrical installation works and connection to the network, prior to its implementation.

Gamesa posts €22m in net income in 1H

Gamesa posted €22m in net income in the first half of 2013, compared with a loss of €33m in the same period last year.

The Spanish company managed €1,116m in sales in the first half of 2013.

According to Gamesa, activity was 950 MWe, in line with 2013 guidance (1,800 MW-2,000 MW). Latin America + Southern Cone accounted for 48% of sales, followed by Europe + Rest of the World (32%) and India (16%).

Order intake rebounded strongly in the second quarter (612 MW), tripling the figure in the first quarter of 2013. The order book amounted to 1,547 MW at the end of June 2013.

O&M revenues, 16% of the total, expanded by 18% in 1H 2013, to €180 million, i.e. far outstripping growth in MW under maintenance (+7%, 19,450 MW at 30 June), as the company is prioritising value over volume.

AMSC gears up for design assessment of its turbine

AMSC has chosen GL Renewables Certification (GL RC) to conduct the A-Design Assessment of its 5.5MW full conversion offshore wind turbine.

The assessment will ensure the turbine meets the requirements of GL RC’s “Guideline for the Certification of Offshore Wind Turbines, Edition 2005”. The initiative addresses several issues, such as the safety philosophy, quality assurance and engineering integrity of the turbine.

AMSC’s turbine design uses an advanced electrical individual pitch control system design. It is available in 50 or 60Hz, for various climate conditions and in different hub heights, different rotor diameters and blade types, to meet all type classes, according to AMSC.