This week's news round up includes: BWEA, EIB, BritNed Interconnector project, Narec, The North Seas Countries’ Offshore Grid Initiative, Siemens, RWE Innogy,Caithness Energy, GE, NATs and the US Department of Energy’s (DoE) Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

Financial support extended for UK offshore wind 

The British Wind Energy Association (BWEA) has welcomed Chancellor Alistair Darling’s Pre-Budget Report, which has extended financial support for offshore wind farms by four years to 2014.

In his pre-budget speech, Darling said that offshore wind farms accredited under the Renewable Obligation Certificates (ROCs) scheme before March 2014 would qualify for two ROCs per megawatt hour (MWh) of electricity generated. There are up to 3000MW worth of projects that should benefit from this new support, according to the BWEA.

The increase from 1.5 to 2 ROCs in the 2009 Budget in April this year, applies to all projects that reach financial close in the 2009 to 2010 financial year.

The industry also welcomed an additional £50 million (€56mn; US$81mn) investment for the funding of new UK offshore wind manufacturing and testing facilities.

In UK waters there are currently 228 offshore wind turbines with an installed capacity of 688MW, with a further 1407 in construction and approved, totalling 4598MW.

The UK made headlines earlier this year, in October, for achieving a milestone of 4 GW of installed wind energy capacity. This was achieved with the final commissioning of three wind farms - the EDF Energy Renewables 38MW Longpark, Scottish Power Renewables 30MW Dun Law extension and the first phase of Dong Energy's 173MW Gunfleet Sands offshore wind farm. 

The latest 1GW of capacity was added in less than a year. A further 9GW worth of schemes await approvals. The UK aims to be generating 30GW of wind energy by 2020.

EU grants €565 million for wind farms

The EU Commission has approved over €1.5 billion (£1.3bn; US$2.2bn) for 15 Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) and offshore wind projects.

Of this, €565 million (£508mn; US$826mn) is earmarked for nine offshore wind energy projects. As per the information provided by the Commission, project name and description is as follows: 

1.     Baltic - Kriegers Flak I, II, III : Combined grid solution. Interconnection of German, Swedish and Danish wind farms in the Kriegers Flak area through a modular-based combined solution, linking up the national grid connections

2.     Cobra Cable: Large capacity interconnector between the Netherlands and Denmark. Investment in innovative designs for direct connection of offshore wind farms and the modular start of the North Sea Grid.

3.     HVDC hub: Addition of an intermediate offshore platform on the planned HVDC link (between Shetland and Scottish mainland) for connecting offshore wind and marine generation.

4.     BARD 1: Production of innovative Tripile foundation system and production and installation of innovative Cable in-feed system for a 400 MW offshore wind farm

5.     Global Tech I - Gravity Foundations : Gravity foundations for deep water wind farms using efficient serial manufacturing and fast installation processes.

6.     Nordsee Ost: Installation of 6MW wind turbine generators (jacket foundation structures) in challenging offshore circumstances, including innovative logistics and installation concept.

7.     Borkum West II Installation of innovative 5MW wind turbine generators on tripod foundations.

8.     Aberdeen Offshore Wind Farm - Wind deployment centre: Development of a facility for testing of multi-MW turbines with innovative structures and substructures and optimisation of manufacturing capacities of offshore wind energy production equipment.

9.     Thornton Bank - Optimised logistics for up-scaling the far-shore deep-water Thornton Bank wind farm and demonstration of innovative substructures (jacket foundations) for deep water off shore parks.

The Commission mentioned that in many countries, environmental and other concerns continue to limit wind farm developments.

Attention is therefore shifting to offshore sites, which are possibly less contentious and where the quality of wind resources is higher.

The funded wind-grid integration projects aim to realise a substantial EU-wide improvement of the large scale supply of offshore wind electricity up to the end-user at acceptable costs, while ensuring a more efficient, stable and secure grid.

Boost for BritNed Interconnector project  

The European Investment Bank (EIB) is to provide €300 million for the construction of the BritNed Interconnector, a new electricity transmission cable between the UK and the Netherlands.

The project, which will have a capacity of 1,000 MW, is a 50:50 joint venture between National Grid and TenneT. The EIB loan will contribute 50 percent of the overall €600 million project cost.

The 260-km BritNed high-voltage direct current (HVDC) link will comprise bundled marine cables buried beneath the sea-bed and land cables accessing both converter stations. The HVDC submarine power cable will be between the Isle of Grain in Kent (UK), and Maasvlakte near Rotterdam (The Netherlands).

The interconnector is already under construction and is expected to be completed by December, 2010. The BritNed link will be available for commercial operations in the first quarter of 2011.

BritNed is a commercial link with 100 percent third-party-access for all market participants via implicit and explicit auctions.

Market participants will have open access to the capacity of the BritNed interconnector.

Trading will be driven by the difference in price and use between both countries. The explicit auction mechanism will be similar to the auction system used by the IFA interconnector between France and Great Britain.

Narec expands existing blade testing facilities

The UK's New and Renewable Energy Center is to build a new £15 million (€17mn; 24mn) facility for testing offshore turbine blades of up to 100m in length.

The new facility, which will be the largest of its kind in the world, will help in accelerating the development of new blade designs before they are taken offshore.

The North East’s new facility is jointly funded by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and Department for Energy and Climate Change (£11.5mn; €12.7mn; US$18.9mn) and Regional Development Agency One North East (£3.5m; €3.9mn; US$5.7mn).

The new extension will be focused on testing offshore blades in the 50 to 100m range and will deliver the technology development and certification required for the Crown Estate’s Round 3.

As per the information available, a permanent site for the testing centre has yet to be decided. Work on the site is to begin soon, with the test hall expected to be open by the middle of 2011. Existing test facilities will remain open while the new hall is under construction.

Nine countries to develop offshore super grid

Britain, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium, Ireland and Luxembourg have finalised an initiative to cooperate on the development of offshore wind infrastructure in the North Sea and Irish Seas.

The declaration, titled, 'The North Seas Countries’ Offshore Grid Initiative,' highlights the benefits an integrated offshore grid can bring in terms of security of supply and market integration.

The objective is to prepare a strategic work plan in early 2010 with the aim of coordinating offshore infrastructure development. This would be defined in a Memorandum of Understanding to be signed later in 2010.

Siemens to invest over US$73m in Tianjin

Siemens China has announced its decision to make a significant investment into its two operating companies – Siemens Mechanical Drives Systems and Winergy Drive Systems.

The investment of over US$73 million (€50mn; £45mn) is earmarked for a plant extension of about 35,000 square metres and will take place over 3-5 years.

A key area the new plant will focus upon will be the production of gearboxes specifically for wind power generation in China.

RWE Innogy awards contract to Korean shipyard

RWE Innogy has awarded Korean shipyard Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering a contract to build a specialist ship for the construction of offshore wind farms.

The value of the contract for each ship is around €100 million (US$146mn; £90mn). The first ship should be completed in 2011.

The contract also includes the option for two further identical construction ships. RWE Innogy’s chief executive Fritz Vahrenholt said the order helps the company overcome one of the most pressing bottlenecks in the construction of offshore wind farms.

The ships ordered by RWE Innogy are the first of their type in the world. They are able to transport and install the largest available offshore wind turbines including foundations. With a length of 109 metres and a width of 40 metres, the ships can simultaneously transport and install up to four turbines in the multi-megawatt class.

Siemens eyes a leading slot by 2012

Siemens has stated that its objective to become one of the worlds top three providers of wind turbines by 2012.

The company, which entered the wind power market five years ago, says its strategy will be to strengthen its position as a global market leader in offshore wind farms while expanding its international production network in key markets and ensuring technology leadership.

The global wind power market will grow from about €30 billion (US$44bn; £27bn) annually to more than €200 billion (US$292bn; £178bn) by 2030.

The company anticipates robust growth in the Asia-Pacific region.

To date, Siemens has realised 10 offshore wind farms with a capacity of 850 MW. The company has also been expanding its international production network in key markets.

After establishing a rotor blade production plant in Fort Madison, Iowa, Siemens recently began construction on a new nacelle production facility in Hutchinson, Kansas.

In 2010, a Siemens plant on the outskirts of Shanghai will commence production of rotor blades and nacelles. Production is also planned in India.

Caithness Energy, GE sign US$1.4 billion contract

Independent power producer Caithness Energy has signed a US$1.4 billion contract to supply wind turbines and provide services for the 845 MW Shepherds Flat wind farm project to be located in Oregon.

Stretching across 30 square miles of Gilliam and Morrow Counties in north-central Oregon, near the town of Arlington, the project marks the US debut and largest single global order of GE’s 2.5xl wind turbines.

A total of 338 turbines will be installed in 2011 and 2012. Construction will begin in 2010 and will be completed in 2012.

GE will also provide 10 years of operational and maintenance services to the project.

NATS to minimise effects of wind turbines on radar signals.

UK-based NATS, formerly National Air Traffic Services, has chosen to work with Raytheon Company to conduct software modeling and field trials of technology that minimises the effects of wind turbines on radar signals.

Raytheon is working on a technology with NATS to eliminate potential radar blackout zones near wind farms.

The Raytheon solution uses hardware and software to detect the turbines on radar systems, which eliminates interference with radar displays.

Under the US$6.5 million (€4.4mn; £4mn) contract, Raytheon will develop and test advanced mitigation algorithms within its S-band approach and L-band en route primary surveillance radars.

Raytheon will also develop and test advanced post-processing tracking algorithms, along with a full PSR modeling and simulation capability that validates enhancements and serves as a tool for rapid development of future improvements.

System testing will take place in the UK and the Netherlands.

Wind turbines do not adversely affect property values of homes

A new report released today by the US Department of Energy’s (DoE) Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has suggested that proximity to wind energy facilities does not have a pervasive or widespread adverse effect on the property values of nearby homes.

The Berkeley Lab researchers did not find statistically observable differences in prices for homes located closer to wind facilities than those located further away, or for homes that sold after the announcement or construction of a wind energy facility when compared to those selling prior to announcement.

Neither the view of wind energy facilities nor the distance of the home to those facilities was found to have any consistent, measurable, and significant effect on the selling prices of nearby homes.

The new report, funded by the DoE, is based on site visits, data collection, and analysis of almost 7,500 single-family home sales. The team of researchers for the project collected data on homes situated within 10 miles of 24 existing wind facilities in nine different US states; the closest home was 800 feet from a wind facility.

It took the researchers three years to compile the data and analyse more than 50 different statistical model specifications.