This week’s WindEnergyUpdate news brief includes: Dong Energy; REpower; AEE; Siemens; First Wind; Constellation; Serco & Lockheed Martin; and Delaware University.

Dong Energy bids for 400MW offshore project 

Danish state-owned energy company, Dong Energy, has submitted a binding tender to Copenhagen-based Danish Energy Agency for the concession to build a 400MW offshore wind farm off the Danish island of Anholt in the Kattegat.

If the concession is awarded to the company, the total investment is expected to represent up to US$1.8 billion (€1.3bn; £1.2bn).

According to the Danish Energy Agency, the bidding process for the concession to build Anholt Offshore Wind Farm closed last week. The Agency received only one offer and it is now examining whether the offer is in accordance with the provisions of the tender requirements.

“The project will also fit well into our 85-15 plan to significantly increase our portfolio of renewable energy and to reduce CO2 emissions. Therefore, we found it natural to bid for Anholt offshore wind farm,” said Anders Eldrup, CEO of Dong Energy.

The first turbine would be connected to the Danish electrical grid by 31 December 2012, with final completion of the offshore wind farm scheduled for 2013.

The offshore wind farm is part of the February 2008 Energy Policy Agreement between the Danish Government and all parliamentary parties except the Danish Red-Green Alliance (Enhedslisten). 

A potential concession owner may be awarded permission for further preliminary investigations and permission to establish the wind farm. The concession owner may then be able to finalise contracts and the detailed planning.

Energinet.dk will be responsible for financing and constructing the offshore substation and for connecting the farm to the electrical grid on land.

REpower wins additSavignano wind farm contract

German turbine maker REpower Systems has signed a deal for an additional 18 2.05MW wind turbines for use in the Savignano wind farm in southern Italy. The company is currently erecting 20 such turbines at this wind farm. 

Repower has signed a contract with Daunia Savignano, a subsidiary of the Italian Tozzi Group, for the supply of 18 wind turbines. The REpower MM92 type each have a hub height of 80 metres and a rated output of 2.05MW.

The capacity of the Savignano project is to be expanded by 36.9 MW from the end of 2010 via the 18 new turbines; it is planned that these should be fully commissioned by the first quarter of 2011. The wind farm will then have an output of 77.9 MW.

TRE&P, a subsidiary of Tozzi Holding for renewable energy projects, is the majority shareholder in Daunia Savignano. The company had already concluded two contracts last year with REpower for a total supply of 31 wind turbines, 20 of which were destined for the Savignano wind farm.

REpower and Tozzi have a second joint project involving 11 wind turbines, in Sicily.

Tozzi Group is investing in systems for the production of renewable energy, both as a producer and as an EPC contractor. To date, the group has installed 171 MW in operational wind farms, with a further 190 MW under construction. It plans to reach install of 600 MW by 2014.

AEE restructures

The Spanish Wind Energy Association (AEE) has strengthened its management team in order to combat the emerging challenges the industry is facing.

Sergio de Otto, communications director of the Association since 2006, has become the head of the new External Relations Division while Ramon Fiestas, who has been up to now the Secretary General of AEE, is the Legal Advisor.

Heikki Willstedt, will now head the newly established Energy Policy Division, Sonia Franco is the new communications director, and Carmen Mateas joins as Secretary of the Board of Directors.

The management team is completed by Alberto Ceña, who continues to be technical director of the Association along with José Donoso, who was re-elected as the AEE’s president last February for two years.

Texas and Northwest lead US wind growth

More than 10,000 MW of wind power was installed in the U.S. last year, raising the total installed capacity to over 35,000 MW — about 1.8 % of all electricity generated in the country, according to the annual report of the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA).

Wind provided 39% of all new generating capacity in 2009, while all renewable energy sources provided 10.5% of the U.S. power mix in 2009.

Nine turbine manufacturers with manufacturing facilities on U.S. soil are now present on the U.S. market. There were 39 new, announced, or expanded manufacturing facilities in 2009 and the total number of online facilities is now well over 200.

State-by-state, the U.S. continued to see strong growth in Texas and the Northwest. One up-and-coming area of growth in 2009 was the Midwest states of Indiana and Illinois. Texas again installed the largest amount of new capacity, driving it past the 9,000-MW mark in total installations.

Iowa now has a total of 3,670 MW installed, consolidating its position as number 2, behind Texas and ahead of California. With several large wind farms added, Washington and Oregon pulled ahead of Minnesota to round out the top five states.

Iowa leads in terms of percentage of electricity from wind power, deriving 14% of its power from the wind.

AES enters Poland, acquires U.K. firm

Generation and distribution company AES Wind Generation, a wholly-owned subsidiary of U.S., Virginia-based AES Corporation, has acquired U.K.-based wind developer Your Energy (YEL).

The acquisition of YEL includes a development pipeline of more than 300 MW of which AES will begin construction on 48 MW by the end of 2010.

The move follows the completion of AES Wind Generation’s first U.K. wind project, 22 MW North Rhins in Scotland, which achieved commercial operation in January 2010.

AES also has signed an agreement to acquire a 51% stake in a wind portfolio from Polish wind developer, 3E.  AES expects to begin construction on approximately 34 MW in 2010 and 120 MW in 2011.

Together, the investments will add more than 700 MW to the firm’s European pipeline, requiring US$400 million of AES equity over five years. Of that amount, US$120 million of AES equity will be invested to bring 200 MW into construction by the end of 2011.

AES brought three of its projects into commercial operation throughout Europe during the first quarter of 2010, including the 35 MW St. Patrick project in France, the 22 MW North Rhins project in Scotland, and the 156 MW St. Nikola at Kavarna project, Bulgaria.

AES has approximately 1,700 MW of wind capacity in operation globally, and its current development pipeline includes approximately 6,000 MW of projects across Asia, Europe and North America.

Riffgat offshore project to use low-impact foundations

The preliminary license for one of the first commercial wind farms in German waters has been issued. Oldenburg-based utility EWE and the ENOVA Group filed an application for a construction permit and operating license for the Riffgat offshore wind farm in the North Sea and anticipate approvals in the second half of this year.

The Riffgat wind farm will be erected 15 kilometers northwest of the north Frisian island of Borkum. Initial civil work on the six square-kilometer site is scheduled to commence next year.  

The monopiles designed for this project will use a special type of junction between the foundation and the wind turbine, which, according to EWE and ENOVA, could lower the environmental impact of anchoring the turbines.

Siemens Energy is to supply 30 wind turbines to the project. Siemens will install, connect and commission the wind turbines - each rated at 3.6 MW- and maintain them for an initial period of five years.

First Wind completes Stetson Wind expansion

First Wind, an independent U.S.-based wind energy company, has completed the 26 MW expansion of its Stetson Wind project in Maine.

The first phase of the Stetson Wind project commenced operations in January last year. In March 2009, First Wind received approval from Maine’s Land Use Regulation Commission (LURC) to build the 26 MW expansion or second phase of its Stetson Wind project. During the first phase of the project, the company spent about US$50 million with Maine-based businesses.

Combined with the first phase of the project, Stetson Wind is now an 83 MW facility.

Last year, Harvard University also announced that it would purchase half of the power generated by the Stetson Wind II facility as well as the associated Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs).

The expansion comprised the construction and operation of 17 additional  GE 1.5 MW wind turbines, bringing the total to 55. The expansion was managed by Reed & Reed and created around 200 construction jobs.

Constellation buys Criterion Wind project

Baltimore, Maryland-based Constellation Energy has signed a deal with Clipper Windpower to acquire the Criterion wind project in Garrett County, Maryland and to purchase 28 Clipper Liberty 2.5-MW wind turbines for the project.

The 70 MW project will be developed, constructed, owned and operated by Constellation. It will create up to 125 new jobs.

Commercial operation of the wind energy facility is anticipated by year-end.

The project has entered into a 20-year power purchase agreement with the Old Dominion Electric Cooperative for energy and renewable energy credits produced by the wind facility. Old Dominion is a not-for-profit wholesale power provider serving public electric cooperatives in Maryland, Delaware and Virginia.

New radar resolves offshore wind interference

UK-based Serco and global security firm Lockheed Martin have partnered with the Ministry of Defence (MoD) to introduce a new radar technology into the UK Air Defence System that is resistant to the interference generated from wind farms.

The new radar technology is expected to remove a significant planning obstacle to the roll out of future off shore wind power.

Focusing on the proposed development in the Greater Wash area off the coast of East Anglia, the partnership will commence by introducing a Lockheed Martin TPS-77 radar at Remote Radar Head (RRH) Trimingham to coincide with the opening Scira's offshore wind farm at Sheringham Shoal.

Serco will provide a solution to mitigate the impact of the wind farm on air defence radar coverage right across the Greater Wash.

Earlier this month, it emerged that Renewable energy trade association, RenewableUK, in conjunction with the wind energy industry and the Ministry of Defence (MoD), will install a joint government and industry-funded radar system to monitor the Greater Wash.

The Association also confirmed a deal between the MoD and the wind energy industry. RenewableUK mentioned that with this system, the objections by the MoD to the development of several offshore wind farms could now be lifted. The objections pertained to five offshore wind farms, representing £7 billion of investment with the potential to deliver more than 3,000MW of wind energy.

Researchers demonstrate possibility of stable wind generation

Researchers from the University of Delaware and Stony Brook University have highlighted that offshore wind power output can be made more consistent by choosing project development locations that take advantage of regional weather patterns and by connecting wind power generators with a shared power line.

In their latest study, these researchers have mentioned that transmission systems carrying power from renewable sources, such as wind, should be designed to consider large-scale meteorology, including the prevailing movement of high- and low-pressure systems.

Stabilising wind-generated electricity would enable wind power to become a much larger fraction of electricity sources, said the paper’s lead author, Willett Kempton, professor of marine policy in UD's College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment and director of its Center for Carbon-free Power Integration.

The research team demonstrated that geographical considerations and design can minimise the impacts of local weather on power fluctuations.

The researchers analysed five years of wind observations from 11 monitoring stations along the U.S. East Coast from Florida to Maine. Based on wind speeds at each location, they estimated electrical power output from a hypothetical 5MW offshore turbine. After analyzing the patterns of wind energy among the stations along the coast, the team explored the seasonal effects on power output.

The researchers found that each hypothetical power generation site exhibited the expected ups and downs, but when they simulated a power line connecting them, the overall power output was smoothed so that maximum or minimum output was rare. In the particular five-year period studied, the power output of the simulated grid never stopped completely.

CAPES, a Brazilian research council, and Delaware Sea Grant College Program funded the study.