This week's WindEnergyUpdate news round-up includes: UK plans to boost UK turbine manufacturing capacity; Maryland’s offshore wind capacity; Cape Wind; Walney Offshore Windfarm; Lamprell & Fred Olsen Windcarrier; Iberdrola Renovables; Vestas & Trillium; GMS & London Array; and Vestas & Granite Reliable Power Windpark.

UK plans to keep turbine manufacturing local

The UK's liberal democrat leader, Nick Clegg, has set out a manifesto pledge to create 57,000 jobs by investing £400 million  (€461mn; US$628mn) into the upgrade of disused shipyards to facilitate the production of offshore wind turbines.

“It’s a scandal that 90 percent of the £1.75bn contract for a wind farm off the coast of Kent is going to foreign contractors, with the turbines being manufactured in Germany,” said Clegg last Thursday during the launch of the Liberal Democrat’s Green Jobs manifesto.

He added: “New off-shore turbines, with blades the size of the London Eye, need to be built and launched from modern docks, so we need to upgrade our shipyards to take advantage of this massive opportunity.”

The Liberal Democrats propose renovating and adapting facilities in seven North and Irish Sea ports to accommodate manufacture and assembly of the giant turbines needed for off-shore wind energy. The plan forms a core part of the party’s economic stimulus and job creation package.

While British ports are ideally located to host turbine manufacturers given their proximity to existing and proposed offshore wind farms, they lack appropriate docks with suitable space.

The proposals, which also include a pledge to invest £100 million (€115mn; US$157mn) in training and testing facilities at universities with specialist engineering research facilities such as Loughborough, Durham and Newcastle, would enable firms to manufacture offshore wind turbines in the UK, instead of abroad.

All port authorities with direct access to the North and Irish seas, (the crucial areas for offshore wind development), will be invited to bid for inclusion in the scheme.

Based on the cost of the recent renovation of Great Yarmouth, it is estimated that £400 million will be sufficient for the renovation of seven ports.

Maryland could be powered by offshore wind 

Maryland’s offshore wind resource is large enough to supply the state with 67 percent of its electric needs, even if using only existing offshore wind power technology (monopile,

Researchers at the University of Delaware’s Center for Carbon‐free Power Integration (CCPI) were contracted by the Abell Foundation to conduct a preliminary study of Maryland’s offshore wind power potential.

The study reveals that offshore wind could provide 179 percent of its electric needs as the industry matures and deeper water technologies become commercialised.

The resource is large enough to not only satisfy all of Maryland’s demand for electricity, but part or all of the demand in neighbouring inland states as well.

Nearly 3,000 turbines could be installed within the 0‐35m depth zone, which on average could supply 67 percent of Maryland’s electric load. From 0 to 50m depth, offshore wind has the potential to fulfil 133 percent of Maryland’s load.

If fully developed out to 1000m depth, offshore wind power has the potential to generate over 179,000 Gigwatt‐hours (GWh) per year.

Only Maryland’s oceanic waters were considered, not the potential for wind power in the Chesapeake Bay. The study area did not go beyond 1,000 m to keep the results tied to existing offshore wind technologies.

Cape Wind to drive down electricity prices

Cape Wind will reduce wholesale electric prices for the New England region by US$4.6 billion over 25 years, according to a new report.

The report, prepared by Boston-based economic consulting firm, Charles River Associates, for Cape Wind Associates, found that Cape Wind, a 468 MW offshore wind power project planned for Nantucket Sound, will place downward pressure on the wholesale clearing price of electricity by reducing operations of higher priced and polluting fossil fuelled units.

The principal findings of the analysis found that Cape Wind’s electricity production would lead to a reduction in the wholesale cost of power averaging US$185 million annually over the 2013-2037 time period, resulting in an aggregate savings of US$4.6 billion over 25 years.

With Cape Wind in service the price of power in the New England wholesale market would be US$1.22/MWh lower on average between 2013-2037.

The output of Cape Wind will displace other generation from fossil fuelled power plants, burning primarily gas, oil, and coal. Additionally, the pumped storage hydro facilities in New England would be utilized slightly more with Cape Wind in service, allowing some of the off-peak wind generation to be stored and used during peak periods.

A small portion of the additional power from Cape Wind also displaces imports, or contributes to exports, for a reduction in total net imports to New England.

Cape Wind has been undergoing a comprehensive review by 17 Federal and State agencies over the past eight years with successive environmental reports providing a very positive review.

Walney’s construction imminent

Construction of the Walney Offshore Windfarm is expected to commence as soon as the construction plans have been officially presented, according to the joint venture.

Prior to construction work commencing, three public exhibitions will be hosted. A team of experts and senior members from the project will be on hand to answer questions and to explain the construction proces. The exhibitions will be held this month in Cumbria, Lancashire and North Wales.

During 2010-2012, Dong plans to construct phase I and II of the Walney Offshore Windfarm. Each phase comprises 51 turbines with a total capacity of approximately 370MW.

The farm is situated 15km west of Barrow in Furness, Cumbria. The development includes foundations, turbines, export and array cables, offshore substations and onshore connection to grid.

Last December, Scottish and Southern Energy acquired a 25.1 percent stake in the Walney project from Dong Energy while Dong retained a 74.9 percent stake in the project.

Lamprell inks contracts with Fred Olsen Windcarrier

UAE-based engineering services company, Lamprell, has bagged two new contracts from Fred Olsen Windcarrier fr the construction of two specialist turinbe installation jack up barges.  

The contracts have a combined value of US$320.4 million (€235mn; £204mn).

Each engineering, procurement and construction contract is for the design, construction and delivery of a Gusto MSC NG-9000 design self-elevating and self propelled offshore wind turbine installation vessel.

Both vessels will be constructed at Lamprell's Jebel Ali facility and will be delivered in Q2 and Q3 of 2012.

The design weight of each jackup vessel exceeds 14,000 tonnes. The vessels are equipped with dynamic positioning, high-speed jacking systems, an 800Te crane and a rotary propulsion system that allows the vessels to sail at a speed of 12 knots.

Each unit includes accommodation for 80 personnel and has a payload capacity in excess of 5000Te.

In addition to the contracts for these two units, Lamprell and Windcarrier have executed an option agreement for two further vessels. The exercise periods for these units are 12 months and 18 months respectively.

Iberdrola Renovables acquires seven wind farms

Spanish Wind power company Iberdola Renovables has acquired seven wind parks with a combined capacity of 244 MW from Gamesa Corporacion Tecnologica for €320 million (£278mn; US$436mn)..

The company bought El Andévalo (Huelva) wind farm from Gamesa.

The deal is part of an agreement between the two companies in 2005 in which Iberdrola Renovables said it would buy a total of 600 MW in wind-power-generating capacity from Gamesa in the southern Andalusia region.

The El Andévalo wind facility, situated between the towns of El Almendro, Alosno and Puebla de Guzmán in the south of Huelva province, has capacity of 244 MW divided between seven wind farms: Majal Alto (50 MW) El Saucito (30MW); El Centenar (40 MW); La Tallisca (40 MW); La Retuerta (38 MW); Las Cabezas (18 MW) and Valdefuentes (28 MW).

All these wind farms feature Gamesa’s G90 and G58 wind turbines, with unit capacity of 2 MW and 0.85 MW respectively.

A double circuit 120-km 220 kV power line was established between La Puebla de Guzmán and Guillena to connect the wind farms to the transmission grid to improve the electricity interconnection between Spain and Portugal.

Vestas to supply turbines to Trillium

Vestas Offshore, a subsidiary of wind turbine supplier Vestas Wind Systems, will supply 740 turbines to Trillium Power Wind Corporation.

The company has chosen Vestas Offshore as its preferred supplier for all four of its offshore wind projects currently under development on the Ontario side of The Great Lakes.

Combined, Trillium Power’s four projects, Trillium Power Wind 1, Trillium Power Wind 2, The Great Lakes Array and The Superior Array total approximately 3,700 MW.

Developing Trillium Power’s four unique offshore wind sites will require private sector investment of US $14.8 billion (€10.8bn; £9.4bn) over a 10-12 year period.

Vestas will install V112 3.0 MW turbines for Trillium Power Wind 1, located 17 to 28 km off the mainland in North Eastern Lake Ontario. As part of its strategic agreement, Vestas will become the exclusive provider of up to 740 turbines, as well as a wide range of other services.

Vestas will assist Trillium Power in determining the appropriate mix of turbines to optimise the power production at each Trillium Power site.

GMS chosen for London Array’s subsea power cable installation

Global Marine Systems (GMS) along with its project partner, Visser & Smit Marine Contracting, has been contracted to install four offshore export cables and install and bury 175 array cables as part of the building of the first 630MW phase of the London Array offshore wind farm in the Thames Estuary.

The wind farm will be located around 20km from the Kent and Essex coasts in the outer Thames Estuary. The first phase will comprise up to175 wind turbines with a capacity of 630MW.

The wind farm will be connected by subsea cables to a new onshore substation that is currently under construction at Cleve Hill in North Kent.

Global Marine Systems Energy Division installs and maintains subsea power cables from landfall to offshore structures. The company has been involved in the installation of power cables for several UK Round 1 and 2 wind farm projects, as well as projects in the Netherlands, Denmark, Germany and Norway.

Vestas bags order from Granite Reliable Power Windpark

Wind turbine manufacturer, Vestas, will supply 33 V90-3.0 MW wind turbines to the US-based Granite Reliable Power Windpark.

The turbines will be delivered in the first half of 2011 and project commissioning is expected in the second half of 2011.

The 99 MW Granite Reliable Power Windpark, currently under development in Coos County, is the second – and largest – commercial-scale wind power plant in the state and is majority-owned by Noble Environmental Power.

Noble has 726 MW of wind power plants currently in operation in New York and Texas besides 1,900 MW of wind power projects in development across the U.S.

The order also includes a two-year service and maintenance agreement.

This is Vestas’ second major project in New England, USA. Vestas supplied 22 V90-3.0 MW turbines for the Kibby I project in Maine that went online in October 2009, and is currently installing an additional 22 V90-3.0 MW units for Kibby II.

Commissioning is expected in the first half of 2010.