This week’s WindEnergyUpdate news round-up includes: Cape Wind ruling; funding announcement for UMaine; RWE Innogy offshore wind projects; United Technologies & Clipper Wind; Honeywell & Zenergy; Aitkins; Iberdrola & Tennessee Valley Authority; EBRD & Iberdrola Renovables; SMart Wind; GE & Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.

Cape Wind final ruling due April

Ken Salazar, secretary of the Department of the Interior, has pledged a final decision on the controversial Cape Wind proposal by the end of April.

Nine years after its original planning request, Salazar will issue a final ruling on whether the first US offshore wind project can go forward.

Recently, the state Department of Public Utilities of Massachusetts approved a plan by National Grid to negotiate a power purchase agreement from the proposed 130-turbine Cape Wind offshore wind farm at Nantucket Sound.

Salazar is scheduled to meet the principal parties this month to discuss how an agreement can be worked out on the basis of actions taken to minimise and mitigate Cape Wind’s potential impacts on historic and cultural resources.

If an agreement among the parties cannot be reached, Salazar will be prepared to take the necessary steps to bring the permit process to conclusion. “The public, the parties, and the permit applicants deserve certainty and resolution”, he said.

Salazar made this comment in response to the determination by the National Park Service’s Keeper of the National Register of Historic Places that Nantucket Sound is eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places.

The finding of eligibility ensures that significant archeological, historic and cultural values are considered in the review of the permit for the proposed Cape Wind project by the Minerals Management Service (MMS).

UMaine receives US$12.4 million grant

The University of Maine has received a US$12.4 million (€8.6mn; £7.6mn) grant from the US Commerce Department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology for construction of its new deepwater offshore wind energy research and testing facility.

The new Advanced Nanocomposites in Renewable Energy Laboratory (ARNEL) will support a materials and engineering research programme designed to capitalise on two of the state’s key resources – namely, wind energy and wood.

Funding for UMaine’s new facility is being distributed to Maine through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA).

The ANREL addition is designed to develop durable advanced composites materials suitable for the harsh offshore environment, which must withstand both high wind stresses and a corrosive environment.

It will include a nanocomposites laboratory, prototyping space for large composite structures, a large structural testing laboratory with a test stand capable of supporting prototype 70-meter wind blades, and mechanical and environmental testing labs.

The 30,000 square foot addition to UMaine’s Advanced Structures and Composites Centre will be the only facility of its kind in the US to include complete development capabilities for designing, prototyping and testing large structural hybrid, composite and nanocomposite components for the deep water offshore wind energy industry.

RWE Innogy to develop UK offshore wind power

RWE Innogy, the renewable energies subsidiary of the German RWE Group, will develop 4,000 MW of offshore wind energy projects in the UK.

The development emerged as Gordon Brown announced successful companies for Round 3 offshore wind power development zones.

The company has signed Zone Development Agreements for the development of Bristol Channel Zone (1,500 MW Atlantic Array project) located off the coast of South Wales and North Devon, in addition to the Dogger Bank Zone (target capacity of 9,000 MW, with a potential for approximately 13,000 MW) located off the Yorkshire coast.

RWE Innogy will develop the Dogger Bank Zone through a consortium named Forewind.  The consoritium comprises RWE Innogy, UK energy utility Scottish and Southern Energy and Norwegian energy companies Statoil and Statkraft.

The Bristol Channel Zone, which will be developed by RWE Innogy through its UK subsidiary RWE npower renewables, covers an area of about 950 square kilometres.

Within this zone it is anticipated that up to 250 wind turbines could be constructed in an area of approximately 500 square kilometres, delivering an installed capacity of up to 1,500 megawatts.

UTC concludes Clipper investment

Hartford, Connecticut-based United Technologies Corporation (UTC) has completed the purchase of shares in wind turbine manufacturer Clipper Windpower.

UTC successfully closed its subscription and partial tender offer to acquire an aggregate 49.5 percent stake in California-based Clipper.

Last month, UTC mentioned that its offer will provide many benefits to Clipper and its shareholders. It said the deal would strongly position Clipper to pursue opportunities in the US and other offshore wind markets over the coming years.

In addition to providing Clipper with equity financing, the deal will also enable the company to access UTC’s support and expertise in areas of manufacturing, product quality and other industrial processes.

Honeywell to supply Zenergy 

Superconductor energy technology company Zenergy Power has approved Honeywell to supply chemicals required for the manufacture of its superconductors.

Zenergy says the deal paves the way for, what it hopes, will lead to lower production costs and cheaper wind power generation.

The deal will also help in scaling-up Zenergy Power’s 2G production techniques, which involves an ‘all-chemical’ process.

The process is a reel-to-reel manufacturing technique involving the continuous deposition of superconductor material from chemical solutions onto metal tapes.

The two companies entered into a five-year Joint Development Agreement in September 2008 to the secure the supply of industrial scale quantities of chemical precursors for Zenergy.

RWE Innogy to build Nordsee Ost offshore wind farm

RWE Innogy will build the 295 MW Nordsee Ost offshore wind farm in the north-west of the island of Helgoland.

With an investment of €1 billion (US$1.4; £88,000), the farm is expected to install 48 turbines in waters of 25 metre depth.

The project will use REpower 6M turbines, of a rated capacity of 6.15 MW each. Full commissioning of the wind farm is planned for 2013.

RWE Innogy plans to build the wind farm with its own construction vessel - the only ship in the world specially designed to carry and install turbines and foundations of this size, according to the company.

RWE Innogy placed the order to build the specialist construction vessel with Korean shipyard Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME), with an option to build a further two vessels.

Atkins taps into wind energy sector

Engineering consultancy Atkins plans to extend its expertise in the oil and gas sector to offshore wind.

The innovation and learning gained from installation of steel structures in the North Sea can be applied to offshore wind, says the company. This best-practice can be applied to offshore wind, offering immediate benefit, particularly given the comparative cost-sensitivity of offshore wind projects.

Atkins argues that advances in oil and gas expertise with regards to working with steel could be leveraged by the offshore wind industry.

The company points out that the amount of steel used to support a given weight has broadly halved over the period that the oil industry has been operating in the North Sea. 

As steel weight is a useful proxy for cost, this demonstrates what engineering innovation can achieve in terms of economic benefit.

Iberdrola signs deal with Tennessee Valley Authority

Iberdrola Renovables has signed a deal with the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) to supply 300 MW of renewable energy through its Streator Cayuga Ridge South wind power project in Illinois.

The wind farm in Livingston County, Illinois is expected to be in service by spring of 2010.

The deal marks Iberdrola’s biggest ever power purchase agreement with a new customer.

TVA will purchase the wind energy as part of its effort to add 2,000 MW of new renewable or clean energy resources to its generating system.

EBRD signs deal with Iberdrola Renovables 

The EBRD Board of Directors has approved an equity investment in Iberdrola Renvoables.

The investment of up to €125 million (US$180mn; £110mn) via a capital increase in Iberdrola Renewables Polska (IBR Polska) and Iberdrola Renovables Magyarország Kft (IBR Magyar), wind farm developing companies operating in Poland and Hungary, respectively, will confer a 25 percent stake of each company to EBRD.

IBR Polska and IBR Magyar are wholly-owned by the Spanish-based Iberdrola Renovables.

The two IBR subsidiaries currently operate a total of five wind farms (four in Poland and one in Hungary), with a total capacity of 211 MW.

By the end of 2010, IBR will commission two more wind farms in Hungary and another wind farm in Poland with total additional capacity of 98 MW.

SMart contract

SMart Wind Limited has been awarded a contract to develop 4GW of wind farms by 2020 as part of The Crown Estate’s Round 3 offshore wind farm programme.

SMart Wind will develop projects in the Hornsea zone, comprising 4,735 square kilometres off the UK’s Yorkshire coast. Hornsea is one of nine zones to be developed in the seas around Great Britain as part of The Crown Estate’s Round 3 programme.

SMart Wind Limited is a project development company set up by Siemens Project Ventures GmbH and Mainstream Renewable Power to develop the wind farms in the Hornsea zone off the northeast coast of England. Each partner holds a 50 percent stake in SMart Wind.

Siemens Energy Sector companies are expected to supply wind turbines and offshore substations.

ITC overturns GE IPR ruling

General Electric is disappointed with the International Trade Commission’s (ITC) decision to reverse an earlier decision ruling that the company’s patent rights for certain wind turbine technologies were violated by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI).

GE filed the lawsuit in 2008, alleging Mitsubishi infringed three of its patents. The three GE patents, issued in 1992, 2005 and 2008, are related to variable-speed turbines that adjust to ensure that a consistent amount of power is supplied to the grid without damaging the machines and that deal with periods when voltage on the grid is low, such as during an outage.

MHI had challenged both the validity of the patents and GE’s contention that they were infringed.

In an email to WindEnergyUpdate, a GE spokesperson said: “GE believes strongly in the merits of its case against MHI, and we will continue to protect our technology in the US and around the world. GE will explore all of its legal options and will continue to vigorously protect its intellectual property.”