DOI approves Cape Wind project

U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar has approved the Cape Wind with a favorable Record of Decision for the project to be constructed on Horseshoe Shoal in Nantucket Sound off the coast of Massachusetts.

However, the US$1 billion wind farm will have to comply with binding measures to minimise potential adverse impacts of construction and operation of the facility, according to Salazar.

The project would be the first wind farm on the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf, generating enough power to meet 75% of the electricity demand for Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket Island combined.

“We hope to begin construction of Cape Wind before the end of the year,” said Cape Wind president Jim Gordon. Cape Wind completed State and local permitting in 2009.

Because of concerns expressed during the consultations, the developer has been required to change the design and configuration of the wind turbine farm to diminish the visual effects of the project. Additional seabed surveys were also required to ensure that any submerged archaeological resources are protected, prior to bottom disturbing activities.

Under these revisions, the number of turbines has been reduced from 170 to 130, eliminating turbines to reduce the visual impacts from the Kennedy Compound National Historic Landmark; reconfiguring the array to move it farther away from Nantucket Island; and reducing its breadth to mitigate visibility from the Nantucket Historic District.

The facility would occupy a 25-square-mile section of Nantucket Sound and generate a maximum electric output of 468MW with an average anticipated output of 182 MW.

The project includes a 66.5-mile buried submarine transmission cable system, an electric service platform and two 115-kilovolt lines connecting to the mainland power grid.  

Vestas’ first quarter revenue down 32%

Low capacity utilisation in the first quarter of 2010 resulted in a net loss of €82 million for wind turbine maker Vestas. The company reported a net profit of €56 million a year ago.

First quarter revenue dropped by 31.6% to €755 million. Europe accounted for 61% of revenue in the first quarter of 2010. The Americas and Asia Pacific accounted for 18% and 21% of revenue, respectively.

However, the company has maintained its full-year revenue guidance of €7 billion.

The first-quarter order intake was 1,258 MW, and the value of the backlog of firm and unconditional orders amounted to €2.9 billion at 31 March 2010. From 31 March to 27 April 2010, Vestas’ announced order intake amounted to 2,014 MW inclusive of the firm and unconditional order of 1,500 MW from EDP Renováveis.

In the first quarter of 2010, Vestas shipped wind power systems with an aggregate output of 387 MW (178 turbines) against 885 MW (490 turbines) in the first quarter of 2009. Final capacity delivered to the customers amounted to 758 MW, a decrease of 4% from the first quarter of 2009.

“The decline in revenue and earnings reflects the much lower level of activity and Vestas’ decision not to adjust its capacity further because of short-term market developments. Vestas’ capacity at year-end 2010 will be 10,000 MW”, Vestas said in a statement.

As for the outlook, of the expected orders of 8,000-9,000 MW, Vestas expects Europe to contribute nearly 50%, the Americas about 30% and Asia Pacific 20% in 2010.

Vestas now expects to recruit 3,400 employees, net, in 2010 against 1,300 as previously expected. The number of staff at year-end 2010, will thus amount to around 24,000. The accelerated build-up of human resources is primarily attributable to the launch of production in the US.

The company highlighted that higher prices coupled with far more effective production and improved quality helped to raise Vestas’ profitability.

Going forward, the company highlights new products such as the V112-3.0 MW, the V100-1.8 MW and the 6.0 MW turbine for offshore use, combined with improved productivity and quality, regionalisation and more balanced output as key drivers.

Vestas has set an internal target whereby, no later than 2015, Vestas’ EBIT margin and revenue must be 15% and €15 billion, respectively.

Suzlon targets Bulgarian market

Wind turbine manufacturer Suzlon’s European division, Suzlon Wind Energy, has formed a joint venture with wind farm operator Volkswind Bulgaria to accelerate the company’s growth into the Bulgarian wind energy market.

The JV, called DIV Wind OO, intends to combine Volkswind’s local knowledge and development experience with Suzlon’s expertise in developing utility scale projects.

Volkswind is currently operating over 40 wind farms in Germany. Volkswind Bulgaria is a subsidiary of Germany’s Volkswind GmbH, an independent power producer (IPP) in Europe.

The new company will develop projects that exclusively use Suzlon wind turbines. Suzlon says it already has a 13 MW project under construction in Bulgaria for “a leading industrial client”.

Bulgaria is expected to achieve 500 MW of wind energy capacity by the end of 2010, with a target of more than 3,000 MW by 2020.

The market is supported by competitive feed-in tariffs of approximately €0.096 for the first 2250 hours/year and €0.088 KW/h for the following hours –guaranteed for 15 years.

GE JV launches first Turkish project

Ankara, Turkey-based Gama Energy, a joint venture between Turkey’s Gama Holding and GE Energy Financial Services, is to develop its first wind energy projects in Turkey.

The two projects - the 22.5 MW Sares and 10 MW Karadag wind farms in the country’s western region - will cost a total of €54 million.

Gama Energy is developing and investing in the projects while TSKB, the Industrial Development Bank of Turkey, is arranging and leading the €44 million in debt financing.

Construction of the Sares wind farm will begin this month and is scheduled for completion by the end of this year. Construction of the Karadag project is planned to begin later this year, with completion during the first quarter of 2011.

Both projects will feature GE’s 2.5 MW wind turbines. GE Energy will supply 13 turbines besides operating and maintaining them under a services agreement.

GE highlighted that Turkey’s Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources aims to generate 20% of its electricity production from renewable resources by 2020. The country has so far developed just 600MW of an estimated potential 88 GW of wind energy.

Vestas wins largest order to date

Wind turbine maker Vestas has won the largest single order ever in its history from wind power firm EDP Renováveis (EDPR).

The order for the delivery of up to 2,100 MW, includes supply, installation and commissioning of wind turbines with a total capacity of 1,500 MW to be delivered to North America, South America and Europe in 2011 and 2012. The contract includes the option to extend by an additional 600 MW in 2010 and 2011. Financial details were not disclosed.

The agreement also includes a two-year service and maintenance agreement extendable to five or ten years, with a subsequent Technical Assistance Agreement for an additional period, said Vestas.

EDPR said it struck a deal to secure half of its required wind turbines for the next two years. EDP chief executive Antonio Mexia said EDP had been negotiating the deal for more than a year but only made the decision now because the technology for wind turbines had improved and the prices had fallen.

By the end of 2009, Vestas had installed approximately 2,500 MW for EDPR, worldwide, representing around 40% of EDPR’s total global wind capacity.

In a separate development involving Vestas, the company has received four orders from a major Chinese independent power producer totalling 198 MW. The orders consist of 116 units of V52-850 kW wind turbines and 50 units of V90-1.8/2.0 MW wind turbines for the Guangdong and Shandong provinces, respectively.

NextEra to cut 2010 wind additions

Utility Florida Power & Light Company’s renewable energy development unit NextEra Energy Resources has re-evaluated the impact of current market conditions on its wind pipeline and now expects to scale down wind build additions for 2010. The estimated range has been downwardly revised to 600-850 MW from 1,000 MW of wind build for 2010.

The development emerged as FPL Group reported its first quarter results. The unit’s existing wind assets were negatively impacted by about $48 million, compared with the prior-year quarter, primarily due to a lower wind resource, according to FPL.

FPL Group reported earnings of US$386 million, compared with US$364 million in the first quarter of 2009. Quarterly results were driven by favourable weather and new asset additions at Florida Power & Light Company primarily offset by lower-than-normal wind resource at NextEra.

NextEra, based in Juno Beach, Florida, reported first quarter net income on a GAAP basis of US$367 million, compared with $228 million in the prior-year quarter. On an adjusted basis, NextEra’ earnings were $196 million.

NextEra added 1,360 MW of new wind projects since the first quarter of 2009, contributing $11.7 million in adjusted earnings. Shortly after the quarter ended, NextEra was awarded 148MW of wind projects in Ontario, Canada, as part of the province’s feed-in tariff programme.

REpower first to obtain unlimited unit certification

Hamburg-based Repower has become the first company to obtain an unlimited unit certificate from a certification authority in conformance with the System Service Ordinance (SDLWindV).

This means that variants of REpower's MM series wind turbines are now fully certified. The turbines must adhere to the more stringent SDLWindV requirements from June 30, 2011, which govern behaviour in the event of network outages.            

If the turbines fail to meet these requirements, the wind farms will no longer be permitted to connect to the network, according to the regulations of the Renewable Energy Sources Act.

The company said that unit certificates for the new generators of the REpower 3.4M104 series should be available in the fourth quarter of 2010, latest. Due to the prototyping regulation, the wind turbines of this series can be connected to the grid through the end of January 2011 without requiring a unit certificate and an expert's opinion.

Germany’s first offshore wind farm formally commissioned

Alpha Ventus, the first German offshore wind farm, constructed by a consortium of EWE, E.ON and Vattenfall Europe, has been commissioned.

With an investment of €250 million, a total of 12.5 MW wind power turbines have been erected in the Alpha Ventus test field. In addition, two types of steel foundations were used to support the wind power turbines. This is the first time such turbines have been erected and operated offshore in waters 30 metres deep.

In addition to wind power generation, Alpha Ventus will also serve as a test field for research projects concerning nature conservation, aided by the Federal Ministry for the Environment.

Fishermen’s Energy launches buoy for wind energy project

New Jersey-based Fishermen’s Energy has placed an environmental monitoring buoy off the coast of Atlantic City.

The buoy will be moored nearly three miles offshore to gather data on wind conditions.

Fishermen’s Energy is a company founded by a core group of East Coast commercial fishermen to respond to the public’s need to develop the ocean for renewable wind energy. With this initiative, the company has taken a step towards its proposed eight turbine-wind farm in state waters 2.8 miles off Atlantic City, New Jersey. It has also proposed a second phase that would locate 66 turbines oriented in a staggered grid array about seven miles offshore.

The company says its founders and partnering fishermen have comprehensive knowledge of sea-bottom conditions, marine and weather conditions, location of fish habitat, and are uniquely positioned to utilise this knowledge to create siting solutions for offshore wind facilities.