Atlantic states lag behind Europe and China in offshore wind

A coordinated effort by government and the market is still needed to propel proposed wind projects  along the US' Atlantic coast across the finish line. According to a report released by National Wildlife Federation, referring to the up to 6GW of offshore wind projects proposed along the Atlantic coast, major data gaps for the Atlantic Ocean still exist and site-specific impacts need to be evaluated.

A coordinated, comprehensive, and well-funded effort is needed to address these gaps and improve the permitting process, says the report.

Of the 6 GW total, approximately half of the offshore wind projects have taken concrete steps forward on issues such as leasing, permitting, and power contracts. Specifically, 2.84 – 3.25 GW of offshore wind projects have been proposed while an additional 2.47 – 3.22 GW of projects are advancing.

The report highlighted that the vast wind resources of the Atlantic Ocean have not been tapped. In contrast, European countries have 948 turbines installed at 43 offshore wind farms and are producing over 2.3 GW. This report calls on government and stakeholders to create the political climate and economic conditions necessary to jumpstart the offshore wind industry in the Atlantic Ocean. The report says Atlantic states already lag behind Europe and China. The race, however, is far from over. States up and down the Atlantic coast have just joined the race: wind monitoring buoys are being deployed in South Carolina; Cape Wind in Massachusetts has its critical federal approvals; and Maine has broken ground on a deepwater testing facility.

Some of the key findings include:

• The European Union and China’s offshore wind goals dwarf those of the US. The European Union and the European Wind Energy Association have set a target of 40 GW of offshore wind by 2020 and 150 GW by 2030. China has established a target of 30 GW of offshore wind by 2020. The US Department of Energy recently proposed the development of 10 GW of offshore wind by 2020 and 54 GW by 2030.
•  At over 212 GW of prime offshore wind potential, the Atlantic Ocean can become a major source of clean energy. A September, 2010, National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) report classified 1,283.5 GW of total potential offshore wind in the Atlantic Ocean. NREL further classifies 212.98 GW of offshore wind potential in shallow waters with high wind speeds after environmental and socioeconomic factors are taken into account.
•  Every state with significant offshore wind resources from Maine to Georgia has some taken some steps forward on offshore wind. Northern states (Maine to Maryland) have the most advanced projects while Southern states (Virginia to Georgia) are quickly mobilising on a series of projects.
•  The Atlantic’s shallow water characteristics combined with excellent wind speed make it an ideal location for offshore wind farms. 93% (42 out of the 45) of offshore wind projects worldwide are in shallow waters (zero to 30 meters deep). Close to half of the United States’ shallow water offshore wind is along the Atlantic coast.

Siemens gears up for blade manufacturing in Canada

Ontario’s first-ever wind blade manufacturing plant is going to be set up in Tillsonburg. The new plant is being built by Siemens Canada as part of its agreement to supply 600MW of wind turbines to Samsung C&T and development partner Pattern Energy.

The blade factory will be established in an existing 253,000-square-foot facility, located on 40 acres, that was originally opened in 1975.

This is Siemens’ first manufacturing plant for wind turbine components in Canada and represents an investment in excess of C$20 million. The factory is expected to produce all of the wind turbine blades for Siemens projects in the province. Siemens currently has eight projects with a capacity of around 950 MW commissioned or underway in Ontario and Manitoba.

Renovations to the Tillsonburg facility will begin later this month with the facility expected to be production ready in October 2011. The blades manufactured at the new facility will be for Siemens’ 2.3-MW wind turbines.

The Tillsonburg blade plant is part of a C$7 billion investment by Samsung and its partners - the largest single investment in renewable energy in provincial history - and comes only a day after the announcement of a new wind tower manufacturing plant in Windsor. This plant will be built and run by a new Ontario-based subsidiary of CS Wind. The plant will use 100% Ontario steel for the construction of wind turbines.

As per the information provided by the Canadian Wind Energy Association, Canada currently has 3,549 MW of installed wind energy capacity. Ontario is the provincial leader in installed wind energy capacity with 1,298 MW (one-third) of wind energy development. Quebec and Alberta follow at 663MW and 656 MW respectively (one-third), and Canada’s remaining seven provinces together account for the remaining one-third.

ABB to link Belgian wind farm to grid

Power and automation technology group ABB has won an order worth $125 million from the Belgian company C-Power NV to link a wind farm 30 kilometers off the coast of Belgium to the mainland grid.

The transmission link is part of an expansion of the Thornton Bank wind farm and ABB will be responsible for the system engineering, design, supply and commissioning of the offshore substation and the platform that will house it as well as the underwater and land-based cable systems.

The wind farm is expected to be operational in 2013.

In the first phase of its development, six wind turbines with a capacity of 30 MW were built and temporarily connected to the mainland by ABB. The second and third phases of the project involve adding 48 wind turbines to the wind farm and permanently connecting all three phases, taking its overall capacity to 325 MW.

The wind turbines will be connected via underwater medium-voltage cables to the offshore transformer station where the voltage will be boosted to 150 kilovolts (kV) and connected to the mainland grid. The electricity will be fed into the grid at the Slijkens high-voltage substation located at Bredene, about 3 km inland.

Narec appoints Natural Power for EIA

The National Renewable Energy Centre (Narec) has appointed renewable energy consultancy Natural Power as the environmental impact assessment (EIA) coordinators for the offshore elements of its Offshore Wind Demonstrator Scheme.

Natural Power will deploy expertise from a wide range of its consulting and management departments on the project including the ecology, technical and marine departments. The development team has been working with Narec since June and is already well underway coordinating the environmental impact survey work.

The Demonstrator will be located offshore from Narec’s Blyth headquarters, and will enable turbine manufacturers to develop novel approaches across the supply chain for new technologies that will aid the delivery of Round 3 and Scottish Territorial Water offshore projects. It will provide facilities for the testing and demonstration of prototype and pre-production turbines, with the opportunity to also study alternative foundation types, construction methods and remote monitoring.

The scheme consists of up to 20 pre-consented ‘pods’ at which tenants may deploy their prototypes, demonstration turbines and foundations and these pods will be in up to four rows, increasing in distance offshore and with water depths of approx 20m, 35, 45 and 55 meters to allow testing of alternative installation methods and foundation types.

 
Skykon to suspend payments

Cash-strapped Skykon, a supplier of customer specified tower, composites and offshore solutions to wind turbine manufacturers, has been refused a new loan by its biggest creditor, Danish bank Amagerbanken.

Skykon, based in southwest Scotland, filed for a suspension of payments at the end of October. The company had then stated that the wind turbine industry is project based and very cyclical, and it is currently being affected by a number of negative factors in the wake of the financial crisis.

“These effects have also impacted Skykon to the effect that we are in a very cash-strapped situation,” said CEO Jens Pedersen.

Nordex bags another order from EverPower

Nordex USA has secured an order for a 75 MW wind power project using its 2.5 MW N100 wind turbines from EverPower Wind Holdings.

The contract includes a five-year maintenance and service agreement, as well as the delivery, commissioning and testing of the wind turbines. This is Nordex’ second contract with EverPower. In 2009, EverPower installed 25 Nordex N90 2.5 MW high-speed wind turbines at its Highland Wind Farm, a 62.5 MW project located in Cambria County, Pennsylvania.

EverPower currently has advanced stage wind power projects in New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Washington totaling 600 MW of capacity targeted for construction within the next three years.

EverPower develops, owns and operates utility-grade wind farms and sells the electricity to local utilities.

 
REpower inks pact with Energiekontor U.K.

REpower UK has inked a pact to supply 21 wind turbines to wind energy company Energiekontor U.K.’s wind farm at Withernwick in Yorkshire and Hyndburn wind farm on Oswaldtwistle Moor in Lancashire.

The company will be supplying nine of REpower’s MM82 turbines to Energiekontor U.K.’s wind farm at Withernwick in Yorkshire and 12 to Hyndburn wind farm on Oswaldtwistle Moor in Lancashire.

The turbines at these sites have a rated capacity of 2.05 MW per turbine. The total capacity for both wind farms will be 43.05 MW.

Construction is due to start in the second half of 2011 for Hyndburn and the first half of 2012 for Withernwick. The sites are scheduled for completion in 2012.

The Energiekontor Group has built 74 wind farms to date, comprising of over 450 wind turbines and a total power output of around 500 MW.

Gamesa, Eolia Renovables sign deal for Mexico

Spanish wind maker Gamesa and Eolia Renovables de Inversiones are to jointly develop several wind energy projects in Mexico, for which Gamesa will supply all of the turbines, totaling 324 MW in installed capacity.

The delivery will be composed of 162 G9X-2.0 MW turbines, to be brought to the 164-MW Eoliatec del Istmo and 160-MW Eoliatec del Pacífico projects in the state of Oaxaca.

The turbines are scheduled for delivery between 2011 and 2013. The deal calls for turnkey construction of the wind farms, including turbine supply, transport, assembly, erection and start-up, and operation and maintenance services during the turbine warranty period.

Gamesa already has a significant presence in Latin America, where it has installed more than 200 MW of wind energy in five countries. The new contract brings its agreements/orders to 740 MW in Honduras, Brazil, Costa Rica and Mexico.

Also in Mexico, the company this year signed a long-term agreement (10 years) to supply 100% of the turbines for wind farms the Cannon Power Group plans to develop in Baja California (combined installed capacity of 1,000 MW).