This week’s Wind Energy Update news brief includes the following companies and organisations: The Department of Energy & Climate Change, The Department for Business, Innovation & Skills; The Crown Estate; Scottish Enterprise, The Crown Estate; The Energy Technologies Institute; Gamesa; Seajacks, Samsung Heavy Industries; GE Power Conversion; Tata Power, Exxaro Resources; Ulstein Idea Equipment Solutions

Weekly Intelligence Brief: 10 - 17 June, 2013

UK focuses on inward investment for offshore wind 

The UK government has chosen to set up an Offshore Wind Investment Organisation (OWIO) to support inward investment and to further stimulate jobs in the UK offshore wind industry. Business and Energy Minister, Michael Fallon has confirmed the development. 

The OWIO is one of the recommendations of the forthcoming industrial strategy. 

This Investment Organisation will be an industry-led partnership with government, headed by a senior industry figure and complementing the work of The Department of Energy & Climate Change (DECC) and The Department for Business, Innovation & Skills (BIS). It will be measured on tangible results and will focus on the offshore wind supply chain.

“This year we have passed the 3GW mark for fully installed capacity. London Array, the largest offshore wind farm in the world, has become fully operational, Lincs and Teesside are nearing completion, Gwynt y Mor and West of Duddon Sands are installing at sea,” said Fallon. He mentioned that these are signs of an industry which is driving forward a new industry and making a genuine difference to the UK’s energy mix and sustainability.

Fallon also announced three innovation projects that the government will support as part of Offshore Wind Components Technologies Scheme:

• Power Cable Services, based in Kent, has been awarded a £540,000 grant towards their high voltage subsea cable jointing technology project.

• Aquasium Technology with partners Burntisland Fabrications and TWI have been awarded a grant of £769,600 towards their cost-effective fabrication project.

• Wind Technologies (Cambridge) has been awarded a £728,355 grant to design, manufacture and test an innovative 5MW medium speed drive train concept.

Crown Estate to lease sites for offshore wind testing 

The Crown Estate has come up with a new leasing programme to encourage further investment in a range of offshore wind test and demonstration projects, including a leasing round for floating offshore wind technology.

The Crown Estate, owner of the country’s seabed, mentioned that this programme is paving way for testing and demonstration of new technology across the spectrum - from turbines to foundations and cables. 

The floating wind turbine device segment is included for the first time because of its future potential. In addition to opening up potential new sites, it is also expected that floating turbines could eventually contribute to meeting the offshore wind industry’s ambitious cost reduction targets. 

The industry is being invited to propose sites for the development of floating wind farms; the process is expected take to up nine months allowing time for essential early stakeholder engagement. This timetable will facilitate an early deployment of projects, and may allow some projects to commence construction as soon as 2017. 

Successful projects will include arrays of up to 15 machines, utilising floating foundations and producing less than 100 MW. The technologies involved “must not have been previously deployed commercially” and the projects “must be used solely for test and demonstration purposes.”

New subsidies for offshore wind power in Scotland 

The Scottish government has introduced new bands of Renewables Obligation, with a new band of 2.5 ROCs aimed at supporting generation from offshore test and demonstration sites, and a higher rate of 3.5 ROCs for providing financial support for innovative offshore structures such as floating turbines. 

Energy Minister Fergus Ewing mentioned that the plan is to curtail “the cost of developing offshore wind in our deeper waters.”

As per the information available, Ewing said that these new bands, available only in Scotland, exemplify the government’s intent to support renewable technologies at the right levels, and in a way which limits the cost to consumers.

Report underlines UK offshore O&M opportunities 

A report in the U. K. has highlighted that the market for offshore wind O&M services is expected to grow to £1.2bn/year by 2020 and almost £2bn in 2025 – in the UK alone. This represents a five-fold increase on today’s level, according to a new guide, The Guide to UK Offshore Wind Operations & Maintenance.

The report from Scottish Enterprise and the Crown Estate underlines that the offshore wind business has not yet reached commercial maturity. This means that there is a range of technical and contractual approaches to consider. This complexity will increase as projects are constructed further from shore, which presents both challenges and opportunities for incumbent and new entrant contractors. 

Some of the highlights include:

• Opportunities for new entrants to the industry exist in several areas most notably where existing practice lacks maturity or will be unsuitable for future projects constructed further from shore and in harsher environments. Notable areas for consideration include improved offshore logistics, vessel leasing and subsea operations.

• Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are particularly well suited to exploit opportunities that require a local presence, commercial/technical flexibility or specialist/ innovative solutions. Several UK SMEs have already been successful in this market but there is considerable scope for further involvement.

• Project owners, wind turbine original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and offshore transmission owners are driving a wide range of contractual and strategic approaches to offshore wind O&M, underlining the need for commercial flexibility for contractors targeting this evolving and relatively fragmented market.

ETI appoints strategy manager for Offshore Renewables

The Energy Technologies Institute (ETI), a public-private partnership between global industries – BP, Caterpillar, EDF, E.ON, Rolls-Royce and Shell – and the UK government, has appointed Nick Clarke as strategy manager, Offshore Renewables.

The ETI has invested to date £60m in its offshore wind and £25m in its marine programmes. Clarke will be responsible for the strategy of both the programmes. He will report into Andrew Haslett, the ETI’s director of strategy. 

Clarke will work closely with Simon Cheeseman, the ETI’s Marine programme manager and Andrew Scott, the ETI’s Offshore Wind programme manager. 

Gamesa’s offshore wind turbine makes progress in Spain 

Gamesa recently completed the assembly of the main parts (tower, nacelle and blades) of Spain’s first prototype offshore wind turbine, which has been installed at the Arinaga Quay in Gran Canary Island.

The tower measures 90m in total. The nacelle, made in Tauste (Zaragoza), measures over 12.5m long and is 4m tall and wide. It weighs 72 tonnes. Once the nacelle was hoisted onto the tower, work began to assemble the three blades, each of which measures 62.5 metres long and weighs 15 tonnes. 

The company is now focusing on turbine’s electrical assembly and grid connection work. The company expects the turbine to begin operating in the third quarter of 2013, and is targeting installation of the initial offshore units in 2014.

Seajacks, Samsung Heavy Industries sign deal 

Offshore installation contractor Seajacks International has signed a pact with Samsung Heavy Industries to build what is being described as the world’s largest offshore wind farm installation vessel, titled Seajacks Scylla. It will be delivered in the second half of 2015.

The vessel has been specifically designed to meet the demands associated with working UK Round 3, Scottish territorial waters and the other North West European markets. Seajacks also has options for the construction of an additional two units.

The vessel is based on the Gusto MSC NG14000X design.

The vessel will be equipped with a 1500t leg-encircling crane, incorporate useable deck space in excess of 5000m2, and have over 8000t of available variable load.

Work on new testing facility at NAREC progressing well 

Work on a new £50m testing facility in the UK, specifically designed for full-scale testing of large nacelles, is progressing well. This wind turbine test platform is being built at the National Renewable Energy Centre. 

The installation that GE has designed and will commission is comprised of the direct-drive, permanent magnet motor, one of the first of its kind, which will run at up to 30 rpm and with a maximum force of 14.3 million NM, according to GE Power Conversion. GE is responsible for the turnkey package for the test facility from the grid supply to the motor shaft, as well as overlooking the overall installation with the wind load simulator.

The Energy Technologies Institute (ETI) is investing £25m in the NAREC facility, through the design, development and commissioning of the test rig by GE Power Conversion and MTS Systems.

Milestone for Tata Power’s projects in South Africa 

India’s Tata Power, an integrated power utility, has completed financial closure for its 134MW Amakhala Emoyeni wind farm project through its South African JV company with Exxaro – Cennergi. 

Cennergi is 50:50 joint venture between South Africa's Exxaro Resources and Tata Power.

The company was selected as the preferred bidder for the Amakhala wind farm project and the 95MW Tsitsikamma wind farm project by the South African government’s Department of Energy last year. The projects will be located in Eastern Cape, South Africa, and are expected to achieve commercial operations in 2016. Financial closure for the 95MW Tsitsikamma community wind farm is also expected soon. 

Cennergi has tied up the entire debt requirement through a consortium of lenders, namely Standard Bank and International Finance Corporation, with Standard Bank acting as the mandated lead arranger.

The project of approximately R3,945m ($395m) is being funded through a debt equity mix of 80:20. The project financing comprises equity of R789m($80m) and term loans of R3,156m($315m).

Ulstein Idea ready with its new PGF design 

Dutch Ulstein subsidiary Ulstein Idea Equipment Solutions recently completed the delivery, installation and testing of two pile gripper frames (PGF) to Offshore Wind Force JV. The offering has been designed and built for operations in harsh weather conditions. 

The PGFs will be used by Dong Energy West of Duddon Sands (UK) and Scottish Power Renewables (WODS) for the installation of mono-pile foundations in the West of Duddon Sands Offshore Windfarm offshore UK.

The company shared that the design makes it possible to install the foundation and then grout the transition piece on top of the foundation in a singular process, optimising the utilisation of the jack-up platform’s capacity.