This week’s Wind Energy Update news brief includes the following companies and organisations: PensionDanmark, Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners; EDF Energy, EDF Energies Nouvelles, EDF Energy Renewables; Samsung Heavy Industries, National Renewable Energy Centre, The Energy Technologies Institute; The Crown Estate; Beatrice Offshore Windfarm, SSE Renewables, Repsol Nuevas Energias UK, The Highland Council; CBD Energy.

Weekly Intelligence Brief: 17 – 24 June, 2013

Cape Wind bags $200m pension fund commitment

Pension fund PensionDanmark has chosen to fund a conditional investment commitment of $200m in American offshore wind farm, Cape Wind.

The commitment for the project will be made through the Copenhagen Infrastructure I fund, which is managed by Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners. The initiative is in the form of a mezzanine loan. The plan is to close the deal to construct the wind farm this year.

Cape Wind has been approved for construction in the Nantucket Sound off the coast of Massachusetts.

As per the information available, the first season of the project, in which the investment is expected, covers 101 of the turbines. The commitment is conditional upon a final investment decision to be made by the end of the year. The project is to feature up to 130 Siemens turbines of 3.6 MW each.

The project will be financed through a combination of equity from investors and loans from banks and other institutions. The Japanese Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ is expected to coordinate in debt financing for the project.

Milestone for Teesside offshore wind farm

The construction phase of the 62MW Teesside offshore wind farm, a project that is owned jointly by EDF Energy and EDF Energies Nouvelles and managed by their joint venture EDF Energy Renewables, has been completed. All 27 turbines have been installed and 13 of them are already generating electricity.

The project is EDF Energy Renewables’ first UK offshore wind farm.

The company began construction of the offshore wind farm between the mouth of the River Tees and Redcar in February last year. The wind farm is located 1.5km from the shore at its closest point.

The company is also currently involved in pre-planning application consultation on a proposed offshore wind farm, Navitus Bay, near the Isle of Wight, in a joint venture project with Eneco.

Samsung gets ready to test 7MW offshore wind turbine

Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) is to test the drive train for its 7MW offshore wind turbine at the National Renewable Energy Centre (Narec) in Northumberland, this summer.

The SHI nacelle is being shipped to Narec where it will be used to commission the 15MW rated independent wind turbine nacelle test facility. This will be followed by a six-month programme of testing where its performance will be monitored under simulated offshore operating conditions.

The development is being termed as a major boost for both the UK government and Narec.

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

Crown Estate: offshore construction times shorter

The Crown Estate is ready with its first report on all UK offshore wind farms which are operational or nearing construction.

The publication, Offshore Wind Operational Report 2013, highlights that the time required to construct each offshore wind turbine has decreased as the sector matures. Installation times over the past decade have gone down from an average of 20-30 days per turbine to five to 10 days.

The report also mentions that O&M initiatives are evolving with a stronger focus on preventative maintenance

in order to ensure better control over when turbines are taken off line and reduce the likelihood of unplanned interventions.

The total offshore wind farm output for 2012 was 7.5 TWh.

Last year, the industry installed more new offshore wind power capacity than ever before, with over 1 .3GW coming fully online. In 2013, almost 1GW of capacity is expected to be added to the grid. Plus, there are six offshore wind farms which have received planning permission but which have either to make the final decision to invest or to begin construction. In all, they have the capacity to add a further 1.7GW to the grid.

BOWL welcomes Highland Council decision

Beatrice Offshore Windfarm (BOWL), a joint venture partnership formed between SSE Renewables and Repsol Nuevas Energias UK, has welcomed The Highland Council’s North Planning Applications Committee decision to raise no objection to the proposed Beatrice offshore wind farm, situated in the Outer Moray Firth.

The ruling represents another major step forward in the consent process for the development, following Moray Council’s decision to approve the project’s ‘in principle’ onshore transmission works in February this year. BOWL submitted an application to Scottish Ministers in April last year for consent to develop the Beatrice offshore wind farm. If approved, the wind farm will generate up to 1,000MW of renewable energy.

The offshore element of the project now awaits a final consent decision from the Scottish Government. The final decision from Scottish Ministers is expected towards the end of 2013.

Crown Estate seeks info on proposed leasing areas

After announcing new leasing processes to provide seabed areas for testing and demonstration of offshore wind, The Crown Estate has chosen to engage with stakeholders regarding the same.

The entity is asking for information from stakeholders about seabed areas which are relevant to the leasing processes and are inviting stakeholders to register to provide information and to receive updates on the leasing process. Until Friday 12 July, stakeholders can register with The Crown Estate to be engaged in the leasing processes.

The information provided by interested organisations will be used for decisions which are to be finalised about awarding seabed rights for testing and demonstration activities.

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

McGowan: “UK must wise up on solar and wind power”

Clean-tech entrepreneur Gerry McGowan has expressed his concern for the future of clean technologies in the United Kingdom over what he referred to as “the country’s declining investment in, and commitment to, developing clean energy generating infrastructure”.

“With UK investment in renewable energy at its lowest point in seven years, I’m deeply concerned at the lack of foresight and planning for future energy resources,” said McGowan, who heads renewable energy projects developer CBD Energy. He mentioned that the UK currently seems to be focused on developing other forms of generation which will need to be highly subsidised, and will be financially costly to develop. He recommends that the plan should be to nurture the available wind and solar resources.