This week’s Wind Energy Update news brief includes the following companies and organisations: Vattenfall; The American Wind Energy Association, Xcel Energy; SgurrEnergy, Wood Group, wpd; Principle Power, Siemens Wind Power, Houston Offshore Engineering, the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, RPS Evan Hamilton, Forristal Ocean Engineering, the American Bureau of Shipping, Det Norske Veritas;Areva Wind, SgurrEnergy; Pexa

Weekly Intelligence Brief: 18 – 25 February 2013

Nod given for Kent offshore wind farm extension 

One of the first offshore wind farms built in the U. K. has been given the go-ahead for an extension. Swedish-owned energy company Vattenfall’s Kentish Flats Extension has received a development consent order last week. 

The up to 17 turbine extension will deliver up to 51MW of installed capacity and extends the currently operating 30-turbine, 90MW Kentish Flats Offshore Wind Farm. 

Kentish Flats Extension will be located approximately 8km north of Herne Bay and Whitstable in Kent. It is expected to start generating renewable power in late 2015 or early 2016. The wind farm – off the coast of North Kent - has been operational since 2005. 

Depending on the number of turbines deployed it could cost more than £150m to install the extension.

The proposed development comprises the erection of 10 to 17 wind turbines with a maximum tip height of 145m, monopile foundations, and underwater cabling to connect the turbines together and to export the electricity generated. 

U.S. electric utilities capitalise on PTC for wind power

The American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) has shared that U.S. electric utilities are focused on maximising the Production Tax Credit (PTC) opportunity to secure low-cost, fixed price wind power.

According to the association, utilities are locking in fixed-price contracts for wind power, now more cost-competitive than ever.

Citing few examples, it shared that Xcel Energy is considering adding more wind generation in Minnesota and Colorado because of the PTC extension, and Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, citing the recently extended PTC and ongoing Renewable Portfolio Standard requirements in moving forward with an RFP to be executed by June 30 for approximately 100 MW of renewable energy to take advantage of competitive market prices. 

AWEA recently highlighted that the U.S. wind energy industry had its strongest year ever in 2012. It installed a record 13,124 MW of electric generating capacity, leveraging $25bn in private investment, and achieving over 60,000 MW of cumulative wind capacity.

In last year’s fourth quarter alone, 8,380 MW were installed, making it the strongest quarter in U.S. wind power history. This was due in large part to impending expiration of the PTC. It was slated to end on December 31, 2012, but was extended by Congress on January 1, 2013, as part of the “fiscal cliff package,” the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012.

SgurrEnergy completes assignment for Butendiek project

Glasgow-based independent engineering consultancy SgurrEnergy, part of Wood Group, has completed a technical advisory workscope on wpd’s German Butendiek offshore wind farm development.

SgurrEnergy, supported by its strategic partner, Intertek-Metoc, was chosen by technical bank, KfW IPEX-Bank, and project developer, wpd, as the technical adviser for the Butendiek development.

SgurrEnergy’s 21 month pre-financial close project assessed construction risk, key financial model parameters, project agreements, interface risk, technology risk and long term operational issues.

Earlier this month, the Marguerite Fund acquired a 22.5% stake in the 288MW Butendiek offshore wind farm from renewables developer wpd, alongside two Danish pension funds, Industriens Pension and PKA, and Siemens Financial Services, each with the same equity stake (22.5 percent), with wpd holding 10 per cent.

The cost of the project is estimated to be €1.3bn. The Butendiek project is a green-field offshore wind farm located in the North-Sea in the German exclusive economic zone, 32 km west of the German Island of Sylt. 

In another recent development, Siemens secured an order from wpd group to supply and install 80 wind turbines for this project.

Project partners chosen for the WindFloat project

Principle Power has finalised its list of official project partners for the WindFloat project in Portugal. 

The list of project partners also include: Siemens Wind Power, Houston Offshore Engineering, the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, RPS Evan Hamilton, Forristal Ocean Engineering, the American Bureau of Shipping and Det Norske Veritas.

The WindFloat Pacific Demonstration Project is centred around a 30MW floating offshore wind farm, planned to be located approximately 25km west of Oregon’s Port of Coos Bay. 

A prototype of the WindFloat system has been operating off the coast of Portugal since October 2011.

More details regarding the scope of work for the project is to be finalised in the coming months.

Offshore wind measurement campaign starts 

SgurrEnergy has introduced what is being described as the “most comprehensive offshore wind energy measurement campaign ever.”

The initiative has been introduced in conjunction with Areva Wind. 

The offshore measurement campaign involves the deployment of three of SgurrEnergy’s G4000 Offshore Galion Lidar devices on an Areva M5000-116 wind turbine located in the offshore test field, Alpha Ventus, in the German North Sea. It will involve the simultaneous collection of wind data at multiple measurement points by three Galion devices. 

According to Areva, the campaign will give a detailed overview of the inflowing wind field conditions over the entire rotor area. Plus, it will be used to study wake effects downstream of the turbine to consider overall impact on the wind farm. Areva also mentioned that the deployment of the Galion from the lower level platform will enable the company to carry out power performance assessments, enabling comparison of its turbines at different locations.

Pexa introduces new wind turbine repair coatings system 

Pexa, a supplier of surface finishing materials, has launched its BASF RELEST Wind system for the coating of wind turbine blades in the U. K. 

BASF has its own whirling arm erosion test facility where paints and coatings are developed to resist the high levels of erosion encountered on fast moving turbine blade tips. The coatings system includes aerodynamic filler, gel coat and finish coat to faithfully reproduce the factory finish in the field. One of the highlights of this new system is its RepKit, an aluminium box specially selected to contain all the products necessary to effect a repair to the blade coating in situ.

The company is now focusing on developing local approvals with the U. K.-based wind turbine industry, training and certifying operators and contractors to apply the system at any of the key operational stages.

News compiled and written by Ritesh Gupta