UK marks £60m investment for ports for offshore wind

As part of the U.K.’s first ever national infrastructure plan, Prime Minister David Cameron has announced an investment of £60 million to meet the needs of offshore wind infrastructure at the country’s ports.

Mr. Cameron said by upgrading British ports, the plan is to make them suitable for handling large offshore turbines.

“We need thousands of offshore turbines in the next decade and beyond - each one as tall as the Gherkin. And manufacturing these needs large factories which have to be on the coast,” Mr. Cameron said. “Yet neither the factories nor these large port sites currently exist. And that, understandably, is putting off private investors. So we’re stepping in.

 “And to help move things forward, the Crown Estate will also work with interested ports and manufacturers to realise the potential of their sites. It’s a triple win. It will help secure our energy supplies, protect our planet and the Carbon Trust says it could create 70,000 jobs,” he added.

The development emerged as the Government shared its plan setting out the infrastructure Britain needs and how it intends to unlock £200 billion worth of public and private sector investment to deliver it.

Commenting on the development, Benjamin Sykes, director of Innovations at the Carbon Trust said offshore wind is a vital technology for the UK’s energy supply and investment in UK port facilities is critical to ensuring the UK generates maximum economic benefit from the dash for wind which will see thousands of turbines installed at sea. 

“The industry offers the triple benefits of carbon reduction, energy security and new green industrial growth. The Prime Minister is right to highlight the sector’s job creation potential which we believe could reach 70,000 by 2020 and grow to a quarter of a million by 2050,” said Sykes.

Vestas’ Q3 revenue falls 5%

Vestas has reported a 5% fall in its third quarter revenue at €1,722 million against €1,814 million in the year-earlier period. Its profit after tax amounted to €126 million, a decrease of 24%.

Vestas shipped a total of 719 wind turbines, a decrease of 27% over same quarter last year.

As a result, the company has decided to initiate negotiations with the relevant parties in relation to closing down of a number of factories, primarily in Denmark, where costs are highest. Moreover, around 3,000 jobs will be abolished in connection with the adjustments.

In the fourth quarter of 2010, €140-160m will be expensed as “one-off costs” (exceptional operating items) in the income statement. This primarily will consist of write-downs of property, plant and equipment and costs in relation to lay-offs of employees.

With this, Vestas has retained its expectations for 2010 as announced in August the intake of firm and unconditional orders is expected to amount to 7,000-8,000 MW. In 2011, Vestas expects to generate a positive free cash flow after investments of a total of € 650 million.

Acciona begins construction of third wind farm in India

Spanish energy company Acciona has begun construction of the 56.1MW Tuppadahalli wind farm in Karnataka, India.

The company has marked investment worth €58 million for this project. It comprises 34 turbines each with a capacity of 1,650kW.

This is Acciona's third wind farm in India and the project is expected to come on stream next year. It will increase the company’s wind power capacity in the country to 85.8 M.W. Tuppadahalli joins the wind parks at Arasinagundi (13.2 MW), installed in 2007, and Anabaru (16.5 MW), built in 2008.

Moreover, Acciona plans to incorporate Tuppadahalli into the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) system envisaged in the Kyoto Protocol.

EWEA: Bulgaria wind energy plan "disappointing"

The European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) has said that the Bulgarian government’s ‘National Renewable Energy Action Plan’ is failing to tap the full potential of wind energy in the country.

The association reasoned that it expects the wind industry to install 3,000 MW of wind power in Bulgaria by 2020 but according to the Bulgarian government, only 1,256 MW wind power will be in place at the end of the next decade and grid access for wind power would be capped at 1,800 MW.

EWEA calculated that Bulgaria could generate between 13.5% and 15% of its total electricity consumption in 2020 from wind energy.

“There is a disappointing lack of ambition in the Bulgarian government’s energy plans”, said Jacopo Moccia of EWEA. “The government has failed to take into account Bulgaria’s excellent wind power potential. Given the problems Bulgaria has suffered with security of energy supply, Bulgaria’s own wind power is too good an opportunity to miss.”

Vestas bags California order for 55 turbines 

Danish wind maker Vestas has won a 128 MW order for 24 V90-3.0 MW and 31 V90-1.8 MW turbines from Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) for the Solano 3 project near Rio Vista, California, USA.

The utility's order includes a service and maintenance agreement that will last up to 15 years. Delivery is scheduled for the second half of 2011 and commissioning is expected in early 2012.  

All blades for the Solano 3 project will be produced at Vestas’ blade factory in Windsor, all tower sections will be manufactured at Vestas’ factory in Pueblo, the nacelles for the V90-1.8 MW turbines will be assembled at Vestas’ factory in Brighton, and the V90-3.0 MW nacelles will be assembled in Denmark.

Sacramento, California, SMUD, a community-owned electric utility, has also supplied the SMUD 23 V47-660 kW turbines for Solano 1 in 2005 and 29 V90-3.0 MW turbines for Solano 2 in 2007.

RWE Innogy commissions wind farm in France

Renewable energy project developer RWE Innogy has commissioned its new onshore wind farm Saint-Christophe-du-Bois/Le Longeron in France.

The commissioning has happened after one year’s construction time.

Located in north-western France, the 8 MW wind farm comprises four Vestas wind turbines of 2 MW each.

The volume of investment amounts to € 11 million. The turbines stand a maximum of 125 metres high, and feature rotors 90 metres in diameter.

This is the company’s fourth wind farm in France. Combined with its wind farms at Tourville-la-Chapelle, Gouchaupré and Criel-sur-Mer in Normandy and 14 hydroelectric power plants, the company holds a portfolio producing about 81 MW in France.  

Siemens, Enel Green ink framework agreement

Siemens has concluded a framework agreement with Enel Green Power for the supply of up to 260 wind turbines for several wind farms in Europe.

The total capacity of the onshore turbines is 600 MW for various wind farms throughout Europe.

The agreement with the subsidiary of the Italian utility Enel S.p.A. provides for delivery of the turbines between 2011 and 2014 and includes an option for delivery of a further 600MW of wind turbines. The pact also includes maintenance of the turbines.

Enel Green Power requires these turbines for its wind farms in Italy, France, on the Iberian Peninsula and in Greece, Romania and Bulgaria.

Siemens secures Dan Tysk contract

Siemens has bagged an order to supply 80 wind turbines for the Dan Tysk wind farm off Germany's North Sea coast.

The 288 MW project is being and implemented as a joint venture by Vattenfall and Stadtwerke München (SWM). Swedish state-owned utility Vattenfall recently shared that the Dan Tysk offshore wind farm will entail investment of over €1 billion. The North Sea wind farm will be situated roughly 70 kilometres to the west of the German island of Sylt.

Vattenfall will be responsible for the construction, which will begin in 2012, and the operation of the wind farm. The amount covers the development to completion at the end of 2013 to early 2014.

Siemens is contributing wind turbines, each with a capacity of 3.6 MW and a rotor diameter of 120 meters, as well as providing maintenance services.

Moreover, Siemens has announced the launch of a completely new business in Germany- the maintenance of grid connections between the mainland and wind farms on the high seas.

The company has received its first order from grid operator TenneT to provide services for the mainland connections of two North Sea wind farms, according to a company statement.

Siemens will maintain the power lines and transmission systems linking two TenneT wind farms, HelWin1 northwest of Helgoland and BorWin2 near the island of Borkum, to the mainland. The lines are between 85 and 125 kilometers long.

Dogger Bank construction plans unveiled

The Forewind Consortium, comprising RWE Innogy, Scottish & Southern Energy (SEE) and the Norwegian energy utilities Statoil and Statkraft, has shared plans for the first construction development of Dogger Bank Offshore Wind Farm.

Dogger Bank, which is being described as the biggest offshore wind farm project in the world, is a sandbank approx. 120 miles (200 km) off the east coast of England.

The whole project has been divided into four stages, where each stage would further have three developmental phases. Currently the specific location in the sandbank’s southern section has been announced. The location would be some 125-180 Kms off the Yorkshire coast, covering 2000 Km. The water depth here would be 30 meters, and in this space the installation of the wind turbines generating 1400 MW is to be carried out.

Also, from here on, the Consortium expects to see the actual development work in the form of wide-ranging environmental studies. Research will focus, for instance, on bird migration routes, on the structure of the seabed and on the animal and plant life in this area.

As well as setting up the actual wind turbines, the planning also covers the construction of substations at sea and on land and the laying of submarine high-voltage cables that will take the electric power from the sea to the end user on land. For the first construction phase of the Dogger Bank wind power plant, a grid connection point will be set up at the existing substation in Cottingham, Yorkshire.