This week’s Wind Energy Update news brief includes the following companies and organisations: EDF Energy Renewables; Technip Offshore Wind, Trianel, Areva; Gamesa; The Massachusetts Institute Of Technology; ABO Wind; U.S. Department of the Interior

Weekly Intelligence Brief: 29 April 29 – 6 May 2013

News compiled and written by Ritesh Gupta

Teesside offshore wind farm starts grid supply

EDF Energy has shared that the first three wind turbine generators at the EDF Energy Renewables Teesside offshore wind farm have now been fully commissioned and are supplying electricity to the National Grid.

As per the information available, 18 turbines have now been fully installed.

After installation, a commissioning and testing programme is being undertaken by Siemens. In all, 27 wind turbines are to be located off the coast at Redcar. The installation and commissioning programme is ongoing and on completion the wind farm will be capable of generating up to its full output of 62MW. As work progresses, further turbines will be brought on stream over the next few weeks.

Construction of the Teesside Offshore Windfarm began in February last year with the installation of turbine foundations. The turbines are to be located in a 10km2 area of seabed. Within this area, the turbines will be installed in three rows in water depths of up to 16m. 

With the completion of the Teesside scheme in June, EDF Energy Renewables generating capacity will increase to 525 MW. 

Technip initiates work on the Borkum offshore project

Technip Offshore Wind has started offshore operations on an array cable installation contract for phase 1 of the BorkumWind Farm development, located 45 kilometers to the North of the German island of Borkum, in the North Sea. 

The project, awarded by Trianel, is Technip’s first offshore wind, array cable installation project in offshore Germany.

The 400 MW project, utilising in its first phase 40 Areva M5000 turbines, will see Technip install and bury 43 array cables in a water depth averaging 28m.

Gamesa returns to profitability

Gamesa ended the first quarter of this year with €7m in attributable profit. The company stated that it is back in the black, in line with its Business Plan 2013-2015.

The company mentioned that despite the lower business volume and decline in sales, profitability ratios improved due to the enhanced project mix, the contribution by O&M, higher productivity, and the reduction in fixed costs (-26%), once 100% of the savings measures under the business plan had been implemented. Group revenues amounted to €491m in the quarter (-12% vs. 1Q 2012).

New firm orders amounted to 228 MW in the first quarter and accounted for 67% of sales guidance for 2013. 

The reduction in order intake (-67%) reflects the decline in demand in the U. S. and China, and the slowdown in projects in Europe and India due to regulatory volatility. However, the strategy of commercial diversification and the drive into emerging markets resulted in 278 MW of new orders in April, i.e. more than in all of the first quarter, boosting coverage of the guidance to 74%.

MIT to develop floating wind farm storage concept 

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute Of Technology (MIT) have reported a concept that could pave the way for electricity generated by floating wind farms to be stored and then use the same as per the requirement.

The highlight of this concept is the placement of huge concrete spheres on the seafloor under the wind turbines. These structures could serve both as anchors to moor the floating turbines and as a means of storing the energy they produce. As per the information available, one 25m sphere in 400m-deep water could store up to 6 MW-hours of power. The system would be grid-connected, so the spheres could also be used to store energy from other sources. Preliminary estimates indicate that one such sphere could be built and deployed at a cost of about $12m. 

The team, which initially set up a 30-inch-diameter prototype a couple of years ago, intends to extend its testing to a 3m sphere, and then scale up to a 10m version to be tested in an undersea environment, if funding becomes available. MIT has filed for a patent on the system.

ABO Wind opens in Inverness, plans £390m investment 

Wind energy developer ABO Wind has strengthened its presence in the United Kingdom by opening a new office in Inverness.

The new office, located at the Green House, Beechwood Park North in Inverness, will spearhead a £390m investment programme in the Highlands. The company plans to bring forward an initial five wind farm projects in the Highlands over the next three years. Details on the first two projects will be announced later this year. 

ABO Wind has already developed one wind farm in the Highlands, near Lairg in Sutherland, where three wind turbines, located on the common grazings of the Lairg Estate, have been operational since January last year. 

The company is also currently pursuing wind farm developments in North Lanarkshire, the Borders, Argyll, Perth and Kinross and Devon.

Sally Jewell to lead US DOI

Sally Jewell was recently been sworn in as the 51st Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior. In her new role, Jewell leads an agency with more than 70,000 employees.

The Interior serves as steward for approximately 20 per cent of the nation’s lands, including national parks, national wildlife refuges, and other public lands; and also oversees the responsible development of conventional and renewable energy supplies on public lands and waters.

Previously, serving in the private sector, Jewell most recently held the position of president and CEO of Recreation Equipment.