France to float offshore wind tenders worth €10b

France plans to issue a tender for 3,000 MW of offshore wind farms that would contract a value of €10 billion next month, reports Bloomberg.

It is being reported that the French government will next month launch a tender for contracts to build 600 offshore wind turbines around the French coast.

The zones are still being studied and no decision has been made about which will be included in the tenders.

AFP reported that the first wind turbines resulting from this tender are not due to be up and running before 2015.

France aims to have a total offshore wind capacity of 6,000 MW by 2020.

In spring 2009, the government had notified several regions including Brittany, Pays de la Loire, Haute-Normandie, Aquitaine and Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur to establish, for each coastline, a forum for consultation and planning bringing together all stakeholders.

Vestas scales back layoffs in Denmark

Following extensive negotiations with employee representatives, Danish wind maker Vestas has agreed to lay off only 154 employees in its Vestas Nacelles and Vestas Blades facilities, instead of the 300 lay-offs announced last week.

The announcement was made last week in connection with the quarterly results for the second quarter. The need to scale down resulted from delayed order intake on several projects for delivery in second half of 2010.

The announcement indicated that a total of 300 employees would be laid off and the introduction of a work-sharing scheme to take effect at some factories.

Vestas Blades will lay off 55 production workers from a total of 1180 employees on August 31 and September 1 while Vestas Nacelles, Viborg, was to terminate the services of 76 production workers from a total of 424 employees on August 26 and 27. Vestas Nacelles, Skagen, was to see 23 production workers from a total of 151 employees to be laid off on August 26.

On a global scale, Vestas expects to have almost 3,000 more employees at Vestas at the end of the year compared with 1 January 2010.

REpower opens new technology centre

Wind technology company REpower Systems has opened its new technology centre on the Kiel Canal in Osterrönfeld in the Rendsburg-Eckernförde district.

The research and technology centre will house around 470 employees from research and development, technical support and service. Previously, these departments were located at sites in Rendsburg, Büdelsdorf and Husum.

The centre has approximately 11,700 square metres of floor space. Besides research activities and further development of the REpower wind turbines and products, the worldwide service and maintenance of onshore and offshore turbines will be organised from the Osterrönfeld location. It will remotely monitor the company’s global fleet of more than 2,500 wind turbines 24 hours a day.

Scotland’s offshore wind sector to generate 28,000 jobs

Scotland's offshore wind industry could create 28,000 direct jobs and generate £7.1 billion of investment over the next decade, according to a new report by Scottish Renewables.

The study also suggested a further 20,000 posts could be created indirectly.

IPA Energy + Water Economics (IPA) was commissioned by Scottish Renewables and partners to undertake the study Scottish Offshore Wind: Creating an Industry.

The goal of this study was to understand the potential scale of the offshore wind sector and the economic effects related to offshore wind capacity and industry development in Scotland. To this end, IPA modelled a range of scenarios for Scottish offshore wind industry development out to 2020.

The report outlines four scenarios for the industry’s future growth (ranging from 1.3GW to 10.6GW) and warns that significant value and employment will only be achieved with strategic investments in grid, port facilities and the necessary skills provision. Failure to do so could result in Scotland developing only a fraction of currently leased sites, with the delivery of only 900 jobs.

The quantitative analysis considered four scenarios, assuming high, medium or low offshore wind project development and varying levels of industrial development in Scotland.

Jenny Hogan, director of Policy at Scottish Renewables, highlighted that there is no room for complacency and the other parts of the UK and ports all over Europe are all fighting tooth and nail to secure investment and the economic benefits that offshore manufacturing and associated activity will bring.

“While Scotland has fantastic resources and facilities, if we are to attract major inward investors and grow the supply chain, we need to develop key ports and manufacturing facilities, as well as securing necessary grid connections and upgrades. And if we are to grow employment to these levels over the next 10 years, we need schools, colleges and universities to focus on delivering the skills that this new industry requires,” said Hogan.

U.K., Norway to encourage the wind energy industry to exchange info

Energy ministers from the UK and Norway have agreed to encourage the wind energy industry to exchange information on the development of offshore North Sea wind energy projects in order to learn from each other and lower costs for industry across the entire value chain.

The pact was formalised in a ministerial statement signed by British energy minister Charles Hendry and his Norwegian counterpart Terje Riis-Johansen recently in Stavanger, Norway.

The agreed priorities for UK and Norway cooperation include:

• Support and follow closely the work of National Grid and Statnett on the feasibility study for an interconnection between the UK and Norway.
• Work together to encourage uptake of renewables and access to green energy in developing countries, including through REEEP (The Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnership) and IRENA (the International Renewable Energy Agency).

Overall, as per the joint ministerial statement on climate change and energy security, the two nations have agreed upon identifying the growing potential for North Sea marine renewable energy projects to bring new investment and green job opportunities and to strengthen energy security in the region.

Finavera signs deal with Scottish and Southern Energy

Canadian wind developer Finavera Renewables has signed an agreement with SSE Renewables (Ireland), the Republic of Ireland renewables development division of Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE), to sell a majority interest in its wholly owned Gate 3 grid connection from Eirgrid to SSE for €8.4 million.

The €8.4 million consideration is payable in staged payments.

Finavera, which has signed a series of agreements for the co-development of the 105 MW Cloosh Valley Wind Project in County Galway, Ireland, shared that it has also signed a co-development agreement (CDA) with SSE and Coillte, the state-owned commercial forestry and renewables company, to jointly develop the Cloosh Valley project. Coillte is the landowner at the project site.

Finavera will retain a 10% equity interest in the project and will participate in all project development functions and activities. It is expected that the cash generated from this agreement will provide additional financial flexibility to the company as it completes the pre-construction development of its four B.C. wind projects.

Once completed, the project will generate long-term cash flows for the company under its 10% holding.  

Other than Finavera, the remainder of the holding (90%) is now split equally between SSE and Coilte.

XEMC Group considers Northern Ireland for manufacturing facility

XEMC Group’s wind-energy unit, XEMC Darwind BV, may locate a £95 million European turbine assembly plant and blade factory in Northern Ireland, according to a report by Bloomberg.

Xiangtan Electric Manufacturing Corporation (XEMC) Group, the Chinese company that bought Dutch wind-turbine maker Darwind BV last year, is studying both Northern Ireland and Holland as possible locations for two plants. The company has said it will reach a decision by end of November, following a three-month feasibility study.

At the Ireland location XEMC Darwind aims to make 200 direct drive (gearless) turbines per year and create 600 jobs by 2016. Alongside a 2.5-megawatt capacity machine for onshore wind farms, the company is developing the 5-megawatt version for the offshore market.