United States: Offshore wind forecast quadrupled

The U.S. has a maximum turbine capacity of 4,150 GW from offshore wind resources, drastically up from the 1,010 GW from all sources in 2008, according to the latest report from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) that assesses the electricity generating potential of offshore wind resources.

NREL, the U.S. Department of Energy's primary national laboratory for renewable energy and energy efficiency research and development, says the report’s estimate is based on the latest high-resolution maps predicting annual average wind speeds, and shows the gross energy potential of offshore wind resources. It summarises the offshore wind resource potential, based on map estimates, for the contiguous United States and Hawaii, as of May 2009.

The primary method used to present the offshore wind resource data are maps that categorise the resource by annual average wind speed at 90m above the surface. The resource maps extend from the shoreline out to 50 nautical miles (nm) offshore.

Exceptions to the 50 nm mapped distance are the Great Lakes that were mapped in their entirety for the offshore resource and Massachusetts, where the computed resource did not extend 50 nm from the edge of the Nantucket Island and Martha’s Vineyard in southeastern Massachusetts. The offshore maps for some states do not extend 50 nm because of state and administrative boundaries.

The 90 m average wind speeds were calculated in several ways depending on the available height of the older preliminary and final map data.

The report, however, does not exclude any regions unsuitable for wind development because of environmental, human use, or technical considerations. The database was developed using Geographic Information System (GIS) techniques, and includes offshore wind resource characteristics such as wind speed, water depth, and distance from shore.

The database is designed to be an evolving product with its elements subject to modification and change. The offshore wind resource is anticipated to undergo notable change as new updated resource maps are completed.  

The mid-Atlantic states, from Rhode Island to South Carolina, will be the next group of states to be mapped and validated. The database will be modified to include the new information from this region upon completion of the maps.  

The database will continue to be periodically updated as additional offshore mapping projects are finished along the Atlantic coast of Florida, the Gulf coast, the Pacific coast, and Alaska. The database will eventually contain the wind resource for all 50 states.

Incorporation of environmental exclusions and ocean-use factors impacting offshore wind development will be included in future editions of the database.

Image credit: NREL

Wind to account for 14% of EU electricity generation by 2020

Wind would account for 136GW or 41% of all new installations in the EU  - by far the largest of any power technology, according to the European Commission.

The commission, in its new EU energy scenarios in the “EU energy trends to 2030” report, expects 333 GW of new electricity generating capacity to be installed in the EU in the decade from 2011 to 2020.

The Commission expects 64% of new capacity to be renewable energy, 17% gas, 12% coal, 4% nuclear and 3% oil, and in all, wind energy to produce 14% of EU electricity by 2020. Currently 80 GW of wind energy capacity is installed in the EU, producing 5% of the EU's electricity.

The European Commission is convinced that there is a huge potential for wind energy in Europe, including offshore wind.

“However, we are also aware of the significant obstacles the industry faces in meeting its targets. Europe needs a Europe-wide electricity grid and inter-connectors between Member States, and properly functioning electricity markets, to cope with larger amounts of wind power. Planning processes for wind farms also need to be streamlined,” said Christopher Jones, European Commission director, New and Renewable Sources of Energy, Energy Efficiency and Innovation.

“The European Commission recognises that wind power will play a very significant role in the European electricity system by 2020, in line with current market reality, EU legislation and industry expectations,” said Christian Kjaer, CEO of European Wind Energy Association (EWEA).

He explained that this meant that wind energy will provide electricity for the equivalent of 120 million EU households by 2020.

Compared to its previous scenario from 2008, the commission has increased its expectations for EU wind energy capacity in 2020 by 85% from 120 GW to 222 GW - very similar to EWEA's 2020 target of 230 GW. For 2030, the European Commission almost doubled its expectations for wind energy to 280 GW, compared to 146 GW in its 2008 scenario.

However, the EWEA, expecting 400 GW of wind power in 2030, is surprised that the Commission scenario assumes that from 2020 there will be a drastic decrease in new wind power investments. The scenario claims that the increase in wind power capacity will slow from an annual average of 13.6 GW in the decade up to 2020 to 5.8 GW in the decade to 2030. EU wind energy capacity increased by more than 10 GW in the EU in 2009.

“I find it unrealistic that after 20 years there would suddenly be a dramatic decline in wind power investments especially given the new scenario’s high expectations for offshore wind energy up to 2020,” said Kjaer.

According to the Association, by 2020, most of the EU’s renewable electricity will be produced by onshore wind farms.

“Europe must, however, use the coming decade to prepare for the large-scale exploitation of its largest indigenous resource, offshore wind power. We must stop thinking of electrical grids as national infrastructure and start developing them - onshore and offshore - to become European corridors of electricity trade. And we must start developing them now,” said Kjaer.

Gamesa to triple China investments on doubled sales forecast

Spanish wind turbine firm Gamesa plans to triple its China investments by 2012. The company plans to expand and adapt its manufacturing centres for the development of its new turbine systems.

Gamesa has so far invested a total of €42 million on facilities in China and plans to invest over €90 million between 2010-2012, bringing its total investment in the country to over €130 million.

Gamesa's forecasts indicate that in 2011, the Chinese market will account for more than 30% of its total MW sold (vs. 15% in 2009), which implies a doubling of sales in China within two years – between 800 MW and 1,000 MW.

The company has broken ground on its sixth manufacturing centre in China, a factory in the province of Inner Mongolia which is designed for the assembly of nacelles for the G8X-2 MW turbine model, and will have annual production capacity totaling 500 MW. The plant is set to begin operating in 2011. 

It has another factory under development in Jilin province in northwest China and four manufacturing centres in the province of Tianjin, which is home to the company's largest manufacturing base outside of Spain.

When the factories in Jilin and Inner Mongolia come online, Gamesa will have a production capacity in China of 1,500 MW per year.

As of June 2010, Gamesa had a wind farm project pipeline in China totalling 2,675 MW at varying stages of development, but this figure has climbed to 3,185 MW in the past two months.

The company recently signed new strategic agreements to develop and supply 1,315.3 MW of wind capacity between 2010 and 2013. The agreements, which Gamesa signed with two power companies in China, Guangdong Nuclear Wind and Datang Renewable Power, call for the company to supply its Gamesa G8X-2.0 MW and G5X-850 kW turbine systems.

Gamesa and Guangdong will jointly develop and build wind farms in the provinces of Liaoning (576 MW) and Heilongjiang (450 MW), at which Gamesa will also install the G8X-2.0 MW turbines it will manufacture at its plants in China.    

Vestas blade detachment due to oversight

Vestas has confirmed that a manually produced prototype blade manufactured for its V112-3.0 MW prototype fell off recently was not subjected to the company’s normal verification and reliability testing programme.

A seven-metre part of the manually produced prototype blade – one of the first three blades manufactured for the V112-3.0 MW prototype programme –fell in Lem, Denmark while running tests.

The company explained that manually produced prototypes always involve a significant higher risk of failure than by automated production processes.

The wind major found a manufacturing mistake caused by a human error during the manual production process of the blade and the management of Vestas Technology R&D has decided that Vestas’ internal investigation will be followed up by a third party, external, expert investigation.

The company emphasised that once the V112-3.0 MW turbine has been put into serial production, “this kind of failure will not be possible in Vestas’ automated manufacturing process.” 

The V112-3.0 MW turbine, and consequently the blade, was released for sale in the middle of August 2010 following a comprehensive test programme validating the design inclusive of the blade design.

Vestas stated that the design has thus been certified according to global industry standards, and therefore Vestas’ conclusion is that the failure cannot originate from a design flaw.

 
Iberdrola to channel investment into the UK

Spanish power utility Iberdrola will invest €4.8 billion in renewable energy projects in the United Kingdom over the next two years.

The company indicated that that two-thirds of the investment earmarked for the UK will be for Scotland, primarily to develop wind farms, smart grids and carbon capture (in the event that ScottishPower wins the British Government’s public tender process to construct a commercial-scale CCS facility at its Longannet plant).

Iberdrola also highlighted that the start-up of offshore wind farms ranks among the company’s key projects in the future. Iberdrola Renovables and Vattenfall have, for example, been awarded the rights to construct the largest offshore wind farm in the world – 7,200 MW.

The company also has an additional 2,300 MW in the pipeline in the UK, including the 500-MW West of Duddon Sands wind farm (developed in partnership with Dong), the construction of which will commence in 2012.

In March this year, Iberdrola shared its plans of setting up an Offshore Wind Division to be headquartered in Glasgow. The division will develop a major portfolio of offshore wind projects awarded to the company totaling close to 10,000 MW around the world.

The new division is to be incorporated into ScottishPower Renewables, the company’s UK business unit. The division will have three departments: operations and maintenance, business development and commercial.

754MW of new wind energy capacity in Canada by end of 2010

Canada is projected to close 2010 with 754 MW of new wind energy capacity representing CAD$1.7 billion in new investment.

This additional capacity is expected to bring Canada’s total installed wind energy capacity to 4,073 MW, according to the Canadian Wind Energy Association (CanWEA).

“Building on the growth in 2010, we can also state with a high degree of certainty that 2011 will be a record year for wind in Canada with more than 1,000 MW likely to be installed,” said Robert Hornung, president of CanWEA.

Canada currently has 3,499 MW of installed wind energy capacity. Ontario leads with an installed wind energy capacity accounting for 1,248 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.

RWE Innogy and nkt cables ink Gwynt y Môr deal

RWE Innogy and nkt cables GmbH have signed a €35 million contract for the manufacture and delivery of high-voltage sea cable for the 576 MW Welsh offshore wind farm “Gwynt y Môr”.

In total, nkt cables will produce around 83 kilometres of offshore cable. Manufacturing of these four 132 kV high-voltage offshore cables should begin at the end of 2011 and be completed in mid-2012. Each of these cables is around 20 centimetres thick.

When manufactured, the high voltage submarine cables will be taken via the Rhine to Rotterdam. A special cable-laying vessel will deliver the cables to Liverpool Bay off the coast of North Wales.

Later, these high voltage cables will transmit the energy produced by the total of 160 wind turbines of the “Gwynt y Môr” wind farm 20 kilometres to the coast, where the closest feeding point on land is located at St Asaph. Gwynt y Môr is scheduled to begin exporting energy in 2013, with the wind farm slated for completion in 2014.

Lake Erie offshore wind farm concept takes form

Lake Erie Energy Development Corporation (LEEDCo) has tapped three companies to develop an offshore wind farm on Lake Erie.

The initiative is being described as the first project of its kind in North America by LEEDCo, a regional non-profit corporation that has been leading an effort to deploy offshore wind projects on Lake Erie near Cleveland, Ohio.

The chosen companies are San Francisco-based Bechtel Development Company, Inc., Cavallo Great Lakes Ohio Wind and Great Lakes Wind Energy. Bechtel, Cavallo and GLWEnergy have formed Great Lakes Ohio Wind, LLC (GLOW), the company that will own and develop the project.

The initial project will be a five-turbine, 20 MW pilot wind farm 5-10 miles offshore of Cleveland. Construction on the initial phase is tentatively scheduled to commence in late 2012 and by 2020, LEEDCo aims to see 1,000 MW of renewable electricity being generated from lake winds.

The initiative builds on the momentum of a four-year effort by The Great Lakes Energy Development Task Force and other partners in Ohio to establish an offshore wind industry on Lake Erie, leveraging the region’s strong manufacturing base.

In May this year, GE and LEEDCo announced a long-term partnership, beginning with the development of the first fresh water offshore wind farm in the US and involving a broad range of other initiatives.  Under the new partnership, GE will provide direct-drive wind turbines to LEEDCo’s 20 MW offshore wind project in the Ohio waters of Lake Erie.

Sheringham Shoal subsea cable installation imminent

Three vessels - Atlantic Guardian, Team Oman and VOS Sympathy - will start installing the export cable that will carry the electricity from the Sheringham Shoal Wind Farm to shore.

The trio of large vessels will arrive off the north Norfolk coast to begin the preparation of the route soon.

The Sheringham Shoal Offshore Wind Farm is owned equally by Statoil and Statkraft through the joint venture company Scira Offshore Energy Limited. Statoil is the operator for the project during the development phase. Scira will be the operator of the wind farm.

First to arrive will be the 55m Atlantic Guardian which will clear the cable route of debris and any obstacles in preparation for the two export cables to be installed. This vessel is scheduled to begin work next week and it is anticipated the work will take around seven days.

The cables, which were manufactured by Nexans in Norway, comprise power and optical cables bundled together into one unit and will take around four weeks to complete. The two cables, 23 kilometres and 21 kilometres in length, weigh 77 kilograms per metre so together their total weight is 3,388 tonnes.

Once the route is cleared, the 86m Team Oman, with a 3,4000 tonne lift capacity, will lay the cable, starting from shore and working towards the site. This vessel arrived in the U.K. with the cables last week for some final modifications prior to the start of work.

The third vessel working on the cable installation will be the 79m diving support vessel VOS Sympathy, which will use the trencher TMO3 from marine engineering firm, TravOcean. It will trench and place the cable in a concurrent operation.

Vattenfall to launch Thanet offshore wind farm

Vattenfall has completed the Thanet Offshore Wind Farm, off the south east coast of England, currently the largest offshore wind farm in the world.

The official launch will take place this week, on Thursday.

Vattenfall acquired the Thanet Offshore Wind Farm project in November 2008. On completion the wind farm will comprise 100 Vestas V90 wind turbines and have a total capacity of 300 MW. The Thanet project is located approximately 12 km off Foreness Point, the most eastern part of Kent.

REpower establishes subsidiary for German market

German wind turbine manufacturer REpower Systems AG has established an independent company named REpower Systems GmbH to serve the core markets in Germany and Austria. The new company will begin operations on October 1.

Its new offices will be located at Group headquarters in Hamburg. REpower Systems GmbH will bundle sales, project management and service of onshore wind turbines in Germany and Austria.

According to REpower, The restructuring is a response to the strong growth of the company and its increasing internationalisation.

Jens Müller-Nielsen will head REpower Systems GmbH as its managing director. Before joining REpower in January 2010, he worked for Jungheinrich AG and JLG Deutschland GmbH.

In the period from January to July 2010, REpower installed wind turbines in Germany with a total output of almost 80 megawatts (MW).