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[waldron] 07/2/2009 11:08

Storm Moving on Spain's Windmills to Slam Power Price (Update3)
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By Gianluca Baratti

Feb. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Windmills owned by Iberdrola SA and Acciona SA, the world's biggest operators, may generate a record amount of electricity in Spain next week that will slash local power prices, calculations from Bloomberg weather data show.

An Atlantic Ocean storm is forecast to blow winds averaging 17.6 miles an hour across the peninsula. Lighter breezes, at 13.6 miles an hour, were enough to set the previous record output three weeks earlier. The extra supply then cut power prices 11 percent.

"This will push the spot market lower next week," Manuel Palomo, a Citigroup Global Markets analyst in Madrid, said in an interview. Palomo covers Spanish generators Iberdrola, Endesa SA and Acciona, which own or run wind farms in five continents.

Spain and Germany, the world's biggest wind-energy markets after the U.S., have changed the dynamics for wholesale power trading by forcing sellers to read weather reports. Because their fuel is free, wind turbines undercut traditional generators that burn coal, natural gas and oil.

The wind-speed measurements are calculated from a composite of forecasts for Castile-La Mancha and other regions, weighted by Bloomberg in proportion to the number of turbines in each zone.

Wind has become a bigger factor in Germany and Spain because they both subsidize rates for the renewable energy and give producers preference to sell in wholesale markets. Utilities that acquire power, from Essen-based RWE AG in Germany to Union Fenosa SA in Madrid, must buy any available wind and solar power before tapping fossil-fuel plants.

Carbon Versus Wind

The two governments' financial incentives spawned an investment boom that's helping wean both nations from carbon-based combustion, a source of greenhouse gases that warm the planet.

In Germany, swings in wind speed can move power prices as much as 10 percent.

"Wind power can produce 15 to 20 gigawatts sometimes, which is the equivalent of turning several nuclear power plants on and off at one time," Chris Panton, senior energy trader in Prague at KIH Energy Trading GmbH, said today by telephone.

After adding 11 percent more wind-power capacity last year, Spain's one-day production record was broken on Jan. 23. On that day winds swelled across the nation, propelling turbines to generate 221 gigawatt-hours, or 27 percent of national demand for homes and businesses.

The Atlantic storm next week is forecast to blow winds across the plains of Spain at 29 percent faster than in the previous record-output week of Jan. 19-23.

Crude Effect

CIMD SA, a Madrid-based broker, offered yesterday to buy power for working days next week at no more than 37 euros a megawatt-hour, one of its brokers said. That's 11 percent below this week's average price. A megawatt-hour supplies about 1,500 Spanish homes for 60 minutes.

London-based broker ICAP Plc said power for 24-hour delivery on Feb. 9 fell 4.3 percent today to close at 37.80 euros a megawatt-hour, a 15-month low.

Daily prices have already fallen more than 40 percent in the last six months, reflecting the plunge in crude oil this year. Rates utilities pay for natural gas, Spain's second-largest fuel for power plants, are linked to oil in supply contracts.

While gusty days can lower prices for generators, they prefer them to still days, when their turbines make no money at all.

Wind power in Spain is a relatively high-margin business. Generators get paid a premium for wind energy, money on top of the fixed price set by the wholesale "pool" market that's paid to all kinds of plants -- from coal and oil to gas or nuclear.

The premium is as much as twice the rate of conventional power traded on the pool exchange.

Castile-La Mancha

Nearly two-thirds of wind generation is concentrated in three parts of Spain. They are Galicia, in the northwest, and the central regions of Castile-La Mancha and Castile & Leon, according to data from local trade group Asociacion Empresarial Eolica.

Iberdrola and Acciona, with wind farms in four continents, are the biggest wind-energy companies, followed FPL Group, of Juno Beach, Florida, according to the Brussels-based Global Wind Energy Council.

The regional wind data is provided to Bloomberg by San Francisco-based Custom Weather.

To contact the reporter on this story: Gianluca Baratti in Madrid at [e-mail]

Last Updated: February 6, 2009 11:43 EST

[waldron] 04/2/2009 11:10

Renewable energy

Air force one
Feb 3rd 2009
From Economist.com

America has become the world leader in wind power


IN ONE policy area, at least, there is good news for President Barack Obama: his pledge to find alternative energy sources to wean America off its dependence on foreign oil is already being put into action. Last year America ramped up wind-power capacity to 25 gigawatts (GW) in 2008, overtaking the previous leader, Germany, according to new data from the Global Wind Energy Council. America added 8.4GW of installed power in 2008, more than any other country. China is also investing heavily in wind power, nearly doubling its capacity for the fourth year running. Global capacity grew by 29% last year, the highest annual increase for six years.

[ariane] 17/1/2009 10:19

ABB makes World Future Energy Summit 2009 debut to showcase energy-efficient solutions
ABB, the leading power and automation technology group, will make its first-ever appearance at the World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi (from January 19-21) in a bid to share its expertise with customers and industry professionals about its innovative renewable energy solutions.
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At its high-tech exhibition stand (stand no. 9120, hall 9), ABB will showcase its technologies in four key areas: solar and wind generation, long- distance power transmission, green buildings and carbon management.

More than 15,000 attendees, including top government officials, heads of global organizations, leading environmentalists and international investors from over 40 countries, are expected to attend this year's WFES event to discuss the future of renewable energy, and ABB will be a key player in this debate.

On January 19, Gunnar Asplund, from ABB's Research and Development Systems, will join the Green Energy Showcase at 4:00pm to reveal how ABB's pioneering HVDC (High Voltage Direct Current) technology can enable the development of renewable technology.

Additionally, top ABB experts will be present on its stand during the three-day summit to share their expertise on a wide array of topics, including carbon capture, HVDC Light, ABB's i-bus KNX intelligent installation system, as well as solar and wind power.

Frank Duggan, ABB's MEA region manager, who will also be present at the event, is excited about ABB's debut at the summit, and reckons ABB's innovative technologies will make a big impression on visitors.

'The world is currently facing major energy challenges and increasing concerns associated with climate change. This makes our presence at the World Future Energy Summit more important than ever, as our technologies are at the forefront in assisting stakeholders in overcoming these challenges and mitigating their effects. For example, ABB's HVDC Light technology simultaneously tackles the energy supply, efficiency and sustainability issues associated with offshore oil and gas production, which is a key industry in the region,' says Duggan.


'More importantly, ABB's recent Arabia Corporate Social Responsibility Award win highlights our commitment to offering sustainable products and solutions to the Middle East market, whilst lowering the environmental impact of our customers,'



concluded Duggan.

ABB's stand will also feature a number of intriguing exhibits, including the firm's solar tracker and the NorNed bi-pole cable - the world's longest submarine cable at 580 km route length. A model of ABB's well-known North Sea HVDC project will also be on display; the project reduced CO2 emissions by nearly 1.5 million tons per year by replacing fossil-fuel generation.

Another key display will be the firm's carbon capture plate called the 'Fourier Transform Spectrometer', which collects and transmits global CO2 and methane densities (up to 30 times daily) from an impressive 650 km above the earth.

ABB's microsite features in-depth information about ABB's energy-efficient technologies, a special 'Meet with ABB' form for journalists, customers and channel partners, and a 'Press Room' corner, featuring the latest press releases, interviews and key publications ABB will be featured in during the summit.
The new microsite also features a wind power game called 'Blackout', developed specifically for ABB. In the game you're responsible for designing wind turbines best suited for different locations - without wasting money. You either light-up the city of Metropolis or plunge its residents into darkness.

ABB is a leader in power and automation technologies that enable utility and industry customers to improve their performance while lowering environmental impact. The ABB Group of companies operates in around 100 countries and employs about 120,000 people.

[waldron] 31/12/2008 09:51

Winds of change come to country plagued by power blackoutsOne man's vision has turned demand for renewable power into a global businessRandeep Ramesh in Dhule
The Guardian, Tuesday 30 December 2008
Article history

An Indian farmer tends his land in Dhule amid wind turbines at Suzlon Energy's windfarm, the largest in Asia. Photograph: Amit Bhargava/Corbis

The forest of white windmills that make up Asia's largest wind farm can be seen from miles away. Dotted across 2,000 square kilometres of hills and villages on a basalt plateau in western India sit more than 800 turbines - generating more than 1,000 megawatts of electricity.

The towering machines, which stand 80 metres tall, cast shadows across fields tilled by man and buffalo - a stark juxtaposition of ancient and modern India. For one man, however, the windmill farm in Dhule is a fitting riposte to the critics who derided his dream to build a global green energy business from a country plagued by crippling power cuts.

In little more than a decade, Tulsi Tanti has made Suzlon Energy into the world's fifth-largest producer of wind turbines - selling them at a couple of million dollars apiece. Company turnover last year increased by 29% to $1.8bn (£1.2bn). About 90% of Suzlon's order book is from markets outside India - largely the US, South America and China.

Despite the success, 2008 was an annus horribilis for the company. While Suzlon should have been reaping the benefits of a world hungry for clean energy, it has been hit by a triple whammy: the credit crunch sent its stock plummeting; cracks appeared in its rotor blades used by US customers, raising doubts over its technology, and the $1.6bn acquisition of Germany's Repower, a turbine maker that produces giant offshore rigs, stalled.

The turbulence has hit the company hard. Suzlon's stock price has crashed 90% since January to end up trading at just 56 rupees (80p) in December - valuing the Tanti family's 66% stake at £830m.

Tanti brushes aside these episodes, seeing opportunities where others see crises. In an interview from his Mumbai office, the 51-year-old concedes his paper fortune has been blown away by the economic storm but says the forecast for the company remains good.

Wind power producers, he says, can't keep pace with demand at a time when concern about global warming is driving governments to promote greener electricity. "Our final product is electricity and that is sold at a fixed price. Demand is growing at 5% a year globally and you need [wind power] to prevent climate change and for energy security. It's the only industry that is going to grow," he says.

Renewables

Tanti's rationale is about demand and supply. He says that by 2020, the US, Europe, China and India will want to have 20% of their power supply from renewables. The issue is about making wind power "cost competitive" with carbon sources, especially coal, which fuels 65% of India's electricity and costs at least a quarter less.

"Today wind power is just 1% of supply. It can grow to 7% by 2020. That is the maximum because industry has to find resources, material and execute projects. With greater volumes the price [of wind power] will drop ... and [governments] will ask what is the cost for pollution from carbon fuels. You will need a carbon tax. "

More worrying perhaps were the questions raised about Suzlon's key technologies. In June, Edison International, one of Suzlon's biggest customers in the US, cancelled an order for 150 turbines after cracks appeared in the rotor blades. Many began to fret - and were only reassured when the Indian company shipped out new turbines made of reinforced plastic.

Tanti says these incidents are "nothing new" for an emerging technology and that retrofitting 400 turbines in the US was the first "stiffness problem" encountered in more than a dozen years of business. The cost is only $60m, he says, pointing out that competitors have put aside similar amounts in previous years.

Suzlon's biggest acquisition has been a rollercoaster ride. The Indian company won a bidding war with French nuclear power group Areva with a $1.6bn offer for Repower, a maker of huge wind turbines.

However, the deal remains in limbo after Suzlon's initial financing deal fell apart as markets crumbled. In late December, the company announced it would pay €270m (£260m) to increase its stake to 91%, the requirement under German law to control the company. Tanti expects to be in charge by early next year.

Repower is key to Suzlon's global strategy. Tanti says that by 2020, there will be only five to six global players and to survive Suzlon needed to be big in the US, Europe and Asia. Tanti's logic was that unlike in the US and Asia, where land is plentiful, in Europe he would need giant offshore wind turbines to produce electricity. Repower's 5MW generator - double the power output of Suzlon's biggest turbine - is 100m tall and has a rotor diameter of 126m. It can only be serviced using a helicopter.

Coupled with this technology and a cost base which is 19% lower than the European company, Tanti says he can grow Repower's business five-fold in a short span.

"It will take three of four years to develop this technology and we need access to European offshore markets. We can reduce the company's cost and increase their margins and unlock value here," he says.

Few people would bet against Tanti. In 1994 he ran a textile business and bought two wind turbines to power his factories after becoming frustrated with India's high-cost, erratic electricity supply. Tanti, a trained mechanical engineer, became fascinated by the economics and technology involved.

Gap in the market

In the 1990s, western firms had little interest in India and Tanti spotted a gap in the market. He decided to leave textiles and began installing and servicing wind turbines for fast-growing companies in India. By the late 1990s he had built up a large domestic business, partly through convincing state governments to adopt a friendly tax regime for green power.

It is here that Suzlon's ascent starts, a story of a canny developing world entrepreneur who saw that India's cheap but highly trained workforce could undercut rivals abroad. His next move was into manufacturing.

Tanti scoured the world for talent and innovations, buying up mainly European expertise. By 2000 he had set up a German research centre and bought AE-Rotor Techniek, a bankrupt Dutch company, to design rotor blades. With foreign money flowing into India, he floated Suzlon in 2005, raising $338m, and began expanding through acquisitions.

Key acquisition

A year later Suzlon bought Belgium's Hansen Transmissions, a maker of turbine gearboxes, for $566m. Hansen was a key acquisition - Suzlon got its hands on a component that was in short supply. Tanti sold 28% of Hansen's stock on the London Stock Exchange, gaining a valuation of more than five times its purchase price.

There's no doubting Tanti's global reach. The family joined forces with Arcapita, a Bahrain-based investment bank, to buy China's Honiton Energy in 2006.

He aims to build Asia's largest wind farm, exceeding his Indian one in size, in Inner Mongolia that will generate 1,650MW of wind power.

The Chinese investment will total more than $2bn.

"China has the will to do this. The Chinese government has said it wants 100,000MW to come from wind. The country has a large potential of 250,000MW. That is why we have our manufacturing there. We are a Chinese local company too."

[crystalclear] 13/11/2008 14:14

More about Antonov.

[waldron] 08/6/2008 15:35

From The TimesJune 5, 2008

Sites named for new offshore wind farms

Lewis Smith, Environment Reporter
Click here to see the map

Eleven zones around Britain's coastline were named yesterday as the best places to build the next generation of offshore wind farms.

The zones identified by the Crown Estate are expected to play a key role in enabling Britain to meet its 2020 renewables targets.

The CBI has calculated that energy companies must invest £60 billion over the next 12 years to build enough offshore wind farms to boost generating capacity by 25 gigawatts. Less than half a gigawatt capacity is already in place and only 8gw is operational or in the planning and construction stage.

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Britain has been set a target of providing 15 per cent of its energy needs from renewable sources by 2020 and ministers regard wind as one of the key areas for development. At present only 3 per cent of energy is generated from renewable sources. To meet the target at least 30 per cent of the nation's electricity, and perhaps more than 40 per cent, will need to be generated from wind farms and other renewable installations.

Environmental groups were delighted by the Government's commitment to increasing renewable energy radically. Some continue to harbour doubts, however, especially about the impact on wildlife. The Ministry of Defence is likely to have more concerns because of the effect that wind turbines have on radar capabilities. The Crown Estate and leading members of the wind-power industry said that they recognised the defence concerns and promised to do all they could to solve the problem.

Rob Hastings, of the Crown Estate, announced the 11 likely locations for new offshore wind farms at the British Wind Energy Association conference in London yesterday. He said that construction would have to start at least by the end of 2014 if they were to be generating enough electricity by 2020. Consent for the installations will need to be completed by the end of 2013 and he announced that for the first time the Crown Estate would meet up to half of the pre-construction development costs.

Work would begin immediately, he said, to begin the process of deciding which companies should lead the development of the 11 zones. The scale of the operation has been judged to be so big and expensive that each zone is likely to be awarded to a consortium rather than an individual company. Contracts are expected to be awarded by early summer next year.

Mr Hastings told the conference that the challenge of meeting the renewable target and Britain's demand for electricity was huge. "The challenge is to get an additional 25 gigawatts installed and operating in UK waters by 2020. If we don't achieve that it's unlikely we will reach our 2020 target of 15 per cent renewable energy," he said.

The announcement came six months after the decision by John Hutton, the Business Secretary, to order a strategic environmental assessment to examine how and where 25gw worth of turbines could be positioned in the seas as the third phase of establishing a network of marine wind farms.

Adam Bruce, chairman of the British Wind Energy Association, said that the third round would mean "an environmental revolution in the way we generate our electricity in this country". He added: "This year the UK will become the world's largest generator of offshore wind energy. We are the global number one."

Mr Bruce called on other users of the seas to make compromises to facilitate wind farm developments but said that he hoped to work with the MoD over problems in using radar to detect aircraft near turbines.

A spokeswoman for the MoD said: "The MoD is fully committed to government targets for renewable energy and whenever possible we seek to find a mutually acceptable solution on a case-by-case basis. The effects of wind turbines on radar are complex and the MoD has to ensure that national defence interests are not compromised."

Wind, from land and sea, is expected to overtake the nuclear industry as a source of electricity within a decade and to have increased capacity by 2013 but Mr Bruce said that the two industries would need to work side by side to maintain steady electricity generation. Britain is forecast to overtake Denmark this summer and become the world's biggest generator of electricity from offshore wind.

Richard Lambert, of the CBI, said that the industry would need to invest £60 billion in offshore wind farms alone. He said that it would be difficult for companies to find the money and it would place "a heavy burden on the economy" but he was confident that the industry would rise to the challenge.

Industry leaders welcomed the commitment to expanding offshore wind. Captain Peter Hodgetts, director of SeaRoc, said: "I'm certain that today is going to be a real watershed for our industry. I think we have an extraordinary future."

Robin Oakley, of Greenpeace, said: "Offshore wind is a 21st-century, frontier technology that can deliver clean electricity to every home in Britain and secure our energy supplies for years to come. Our country could be the Saudi Arabia of offshore wind - and John Hutton knows it."

[resourcer] 04/6/2008 20:30

The government has today announced plans for a huge increase in offshore wind power.

[resourcer] 04/6/2008 20:27

Launch of Renewables Subsidiary

RNS Number : 6954V
Ramco Energy PLC
02 June 2008

Ramco Energy plc
("Ramco" or the "Company")

Launch of Renewables Subsidiary

Ramco is pleased to announce that it has participated in the formation of a new
subsidiary, SeaEnergy Renewables Limited ("SeaEnergy"),
in which it has an 88 per cent. interest, with the founding management team owning the
remaining interest.

SeaEnergy has been created to exploit the global opportunities for large scale offshore
wind farm development. SeaEnergy has assembled a
leading offshore wind farm development team; which will now, with Ramco's support, bring their
combined extensive offshore expertise to the
development of deep water offshore wind farms.

The SeaEnergy team has decades of experience in the offshore oil and gas industry and most
recently completed the Beatrice Wind Farm
development for Talisman Energy and Scottish and Southern Energy. Ramco will also provide the
team with corporate and project finance
expertise as well as the experience of building and managing large consortia to develop and
support projects of the magnitude required for
large-scale offshore wind farm developments.

The team, through the Beatrice Wind Farm development, have delivered a series of "first
ever" feats never before attempted in offshore
wind farm development, including:

* The first ever use of the world's largest wind turbine (5MW) offshore

* The first ever use a "jacket" subsea structure for an offshore wind turbine

* The first ever deployment of a wind turbine in deepwater (45 metres)

* The first ever assembly of a turbine, tower, rotor, and blades onshore for
installation in one piece offshore
SeaEnergy's strategy is to develop, project manage, own and operate large-scale offshore
deepwater (20m - 50m) wind farms, with
significant generating capacity. This market is growing significantly with the wind industry
growing at 10-15 per cent. globally, and new
aggressive renewable energy targets mandated across the EU. SeaEnergy has already identified a
number of potential opportunities which the
team are looking to develop, initially these are expected to be in the EU.

Steve Remp, Chairman of Ramco, said:

"I have been searching for the right entry point to the marine renewables business since
first realising the enormous future potential
that this industry has. With the Beatrice wind farm team in place, I believe SeaEnergy has
the key to start to unlock that potential.

There is a real opportunity for Scotland to capture a lead in offshore wind technology in
much the same way that it has in the offshore
oil and gas industry. There is no reason why the growth in offshore wind can't pick up the
slack as offshore oil and gas declines in the
years ahead.

SeaEnergy will be working hard to make that happen."

2 June 2008

ENQUIRIES:

Ramco Energy plc
Steven Bertram Managing Director 01224 748480

John East & Partners Limited
David Worlidge 020 7628 2200

College Hill
Nick Elwes 020 7457 2020

www.ramco-plc.com

This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

END

NRAKGGFKVGLGRZM

[waldron] 23/5/2008 13:01

US DoE says 20 pct of country's electricity could be generated by wind power




LONDON (Thomson Financial) - The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has
released a report saying that using wind power to generate 20 percent of the
United States' electricity is achievable without new technological
breakthroughs.
By accelerating the growth of wind power, consumption of natural gas could
be reduced by 11 percent and consumption of coal by 18 percent annually,
providing a reduction of 825 tons of carbon dioxide emissions linked to global
warming annually, the '20 percent Wind Energy by 2030' concluded.
According to the DOE's report, the growth rate needed to reach this target
would pose challenges for the wind energy industry, but would be achievable.
The wind industry has attracted many new entrants, including traditional
utilities, smaller wind developers and oil companies.
Last week, a renewable energy company founded by billionaire T. Boone
Pickens placed an order for 667 wind turbines from General Electric Co. as part
of a $2 billion start-up of what is slated to become the world's largest wind
farm.
"It's time for America to change the way we think about wind power," said
Bob Lukefahr of BP North America.
[e-mail]
ra/rfw

[waldron] 11/5/2008 10:08

Wind power

Blowing at sea
May 7th 2008
From Economist.com

Turbines that can be used out in the deep blue sea

SWAYWINDS sweeping across New England, in the north-east of the United States, blow at an average of about 4 metres per second (m/s). But a few hundred metres offshore they blow more than twice as fast. This increase in speed is found offshore in much of the world. But although engineers know how to build turbines to turn offshore wind into electricity, they can do that only in waters up to about 40 metres deep. Wind-turbine towers are pounded deep into the seabed, or anchored in massive blocks of sunken concrete.

Now wind power could be taken into deeper waters. Building offshore wind farms is expensive: a turbine can cost at least 50% more than one built on land. But the stronger winds out at sea can generate more revenue: a wind of 10m/s can produce five times as much electricity as wind blowing half as fast, and this greatly favours building more offshore wind farms, says Walter Musial, a senior engineer at the National Wind Technology Centre, a government research lab in Boulder, Colorado. Yet just 300 to 400 offshore wind turbines have been built worldwide, most of them in British or Danish waters. None have been built in America. The main reason why there are so few is that people think they ruin the view and spoil the immediate offshore area.

Typical is a project known as Cape Wind, based on plans by Energy Management, an American company, to build 130 turbines 9.6km offshore in Nantucket Sound, Massachusetts. Although it is backed by a number of green groups, local opposition has been fierce. Jim Gordon, Energy Management's boss, says "visceral" local protests have delayed the project by at least three years and cost his company millions of dollars.

But what if the turbines could be put much farther out to sea? A growing number of experts say new technology now makes floating turbines feasible, which means they could be sited a long way from land. Devices known as "floaters" are already used to support more than two-thirds of the 4,000 or so oil and gas rigs in the Gulf of Mexico, says Paul Sclavounos, a marine engineer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. With finance from ConocoPhillips, Mr Sclavounos is developing a turbine floater for the windy North Sea. He says the engineering obstacles have, for the most part, been overcome. The big task left is to keep costs down.

Mr Sclavounos expects an industry making floating wind turbines to flourish in about five years. Many experts think it may take longer, but few doubt it will happen. Sites for more turbines on land can prove just as controversial, suitable locations for fixed-base shallow-water turbines are limited and a new generation of massive turbines need to be placed no closer than a couple every square kilometre.

SWAY, a company based in Bergen, Norway, is developing turbine floaters for installing in 150 metres of water. The firm, partly funded by Statoil, Norway's energy giant, estimates that each will cost about as much as a fixed-base turbine placed in 30 or 40 metres of water. Its design uses a hollow, buoyant cylinder that extends down from the tower for about 100 metres underwater. It is weighted at the bottom to keep the tower from heeling in heavy winds. The cylinder is anchored to gravel ballast on the sea floor. SWAY plans to float a full-scale prototype in 2010.

In December a company called Blue H Technologies, based in Oosterhout, Netherlands, placed a half-size prototype turbine about 20 km off the coast of southern Italy in water 108 metres deep. It uses a broad flotation framework known as a "tension-leg platform", which is similar to that used to float oil rigs. Construction of full-size floating turbines for the site has now begun. The company has had to convince Italy's naval-certification agency that a floating turbine could withstand a "100-year wave"-which in that part of the world amounts to a 9.7 metre wall of water. When it blows at sea, it can blow very hard.

[grupo guitarlumber] 05/4/2008 07:32

ABB Technology Gives Offshore Wind Farms New Capabilities
4/4/2008




Zurich, Switzerland, - One of ABB's largest orders in 2007 came from a unit of E.ON, Germany's biggest utility, for technology that will link the world's largest offshore wind farm to the German power grid. "The project is unique," said Karl-Heinz Lampe, Managing Director for E.ON Netz Offshore.

Valued at more than $400M, it will use ABB's HVDC Light technology, a high-voltage direct current solution that enables the transmission of large amounts of power underwater and underground, with minimal impact on the environment.

"A rectifier station has never been built on its own platform in the North Sea before," Lampe said. "Besides being 130 kilometers out to sea and connecting 80 wind turbines – the world's largest offshore wind farm – the station will also transmit power to a receiving station on land via undersea cables and landlines."

At present, there are no wind farms along Germany's coasts. Land-based wind power accounts for about 7 percent of the country's electrical production, which makes Germany the leading wind-power nation in Europe. The government aims to double wind-power capacity by 2020, and a large part of the additional power is expected to come from offshore farms.

"Politicians here in Germany are following the project NORD E.ON 1 with special interest and it has also drawn considerable attention from abroad," Lampe said.

Wind-power engineering company BARD Engineering is building the wind farm in an area known as Borkum 2 – one of four areas set aside for offshore wind-power clusters in the German North Sea. The 80-turbine farm is scheduled to enter service in 2009 with a combined output of 400 megawatts (MW), and Lampe believes that new wind farms in the North Sea could be producing 3,000 MW as early as 2011.

Many new development plans have emerged since a law in December 2006 that requires German grid companies to connect German wind farms as soon as they are ready to be put into service, and to bear the costs of the necessary connections. This has reduced costs for wind-power developers by 25 to 30 percent and has significantly accelerated the growth of wind farms, Lampe said.

20 to 25 new wind parks
According to Lampe, there are now concrete plans for 20 to 25 farms in the four German North Sea wind-power clusters, known as Borkum 1 and 2, Helgoland and Sylt. Current plans will see German offshore wind farms providing a total of 12,000 MW by the year 2020.

"Each of the four wind-power clusters will need a separate connection to the grid," Lampe added. "We also need to increase the grid connection capacity as early as the next cluster connection. The HVDC Light installation that will be put in service in the autumn of 2009 is rated at 400 MW, but we have to increase this quickly to between 1,400 and 1,600 MW for each cluster."

There are even plans to build German wind farms in the Baltic, for example in Krieger's Flak, near Trelleborg, an economic zone shared by Sweden, Denmark and Germany. The Swedish utility Vattenfall is also investigating the feasibility of building a 128-turbine wind farm in this area.

Good supplement
But for the new offshore wind power system to be developed further, national and cross-border infrastructure for power transmission must be improved to accommodate the large quantities of electrical power generated when winds are high. And when the wind is light, it must be possible to access supplemental power sources that are easy to regulate.

Power from the North Sea wind farms could be supplemented with hydropower from Norway. This is one of the reasons for a preliminary study being carried out by E.ON Netz and Norway's Statnett on a planned high-voltage link between Germany and Norway.

NorNed, a project connecting the electrical grids in Norway and the Netherlands via a 580-kilometer HVDC cable, will be put in service later this year. This will enable greater use of Norwegian hydropower and further development of wind power in Europe.

Beyond these projects, there are also plans for a "super grid" of undersea transmission cables that includes both links between wind parks and onshore grids, and between the countries around the North Sea. This is still a vision, but it was not that long ago that large-scale offshore wind-power production was just a vision.

SOURCE: ABB

[grupo guitarlumber] 07/3/2008 17:15

New wind farm to power 3 million homes
Date : 07/03/2008 @ 16:55
Source : TFN


New wind farm to power 3 million homes




MOJAVE, Calif. (AP) - Southern California Edison announced Friday that it
was breaking ground on a desert wind farm that could provide power for upwards
of 3 million homes by 2013, predicting that it will be the largest wind
transmission project in the country.
Officials estimate that the Tehachapi Renewal Project will eventually
provide 4,500 megawatts of electricity. The project will harness the wind that
blows through the Tehachapi Mountains about 100 miles north of Los Angeles.
Michael Peevey, president of the California Public Utilities Commission,
said the project will create the single largest power block of wind energy in
the country.
"Our action today represents a critical step in alleviating the transmission
constraints that have limited our ability to access substantial wind resources
in the Tehachapi region," he said in a statement.
Currently the country's largest wind farm is the Horse Hollow Wind Project
in Texas that provides 730 megawatts, according to Edison spokesman Steve
Conroy.
Construction was expected to begin on March 11. The first few phases include
building two new substations near Mojave and Monolith and several new
transmission lines that are expected to be operational by 2009.
The project is part of Edison's five-year, $5 billion transmission expansion
program. Edison provides power to 180 cities in central, coastal and southern
California outside Los Angeles.
In January, the city of Los Angeles broke ground on the 8,000-acre Pine Tree
Wind Project in the same area. That project is expected to produce enough
electricity to power 56,000 homes when it is complete in 2009.
Wind energy currently makes up just over 1 percent of all the power used in
the U.S. but is the nation's fastest growing energy source, according to the
American Wind Energy Association.

[pc4900074200] 17/2/2008 08:24

Thanks waldron. I must say that I had not seen that.

Thanks for the link.

Hope you and yours are are all keeping well.

pc

[waldron] 17/2/2008 08:12

Huge Olympic wind turbine planned
One of the UK's tallest wind turbines is to be built to provide power for the London 2012 Olympics.
Plans for the 393ft (120m) structure, which will be the turbine nearest to London, will be unveiled by the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA).

The turbine will be located at Eton Manor in the north end of the Olympic site in east London.

It will power street lighting and housing and will continue to produce energy for about 20 years.

The ODA said the turbine would be a visible symbol to its commitment to staging the most sustainable Olympic Games ever.

Story from BBC NEWS:


Published: 2006/10/12 06:49:53 GMT

[pc4900074200] 17/2/2008 07:41

I have a question regarding wind generation, which may be able to be
answered by other posters on this board, as I have not seen any mention
or discussion anywhere else, even in the media and wonder if anyone
else has any knowledge of the answer to my question?

We are shown the 2012 Olympic site [in graphic form] being developed
to the east of London each time there is any news or controversy to be
told about the up-and-coming Olympics?

The scene with the Stadiums, Olympic village and wide-open areas of green,
etc, look beautiful?

My question is this, How are the utilities going to be powered?

Not once have I seen a wind generator shown in that vast area of green in the graphics?

Just down the road at Dagenham there are two wind generators being used by
the Ford Motor Company to power their plant. [Surplus sent to the national grid]. So it is known that the area around the Thames has sufficient thermal movement to power wind generators.

So, with all that area of open space, with-in walking distance of Dagenham, not
showing wind generators to power the new Olympic site?

Or, are there plans for generators and we have not been informed yet?

This would be a scoop for Britain, The 2012 'Green' Olympics, powered by wind?

pc

[charlie] 10/12/2007 12:48

What are the UK listed companies I can buy in this sector please?

[ariane] 09/12/2007 16:54

UK govt to unveil plans to expand offshore wind energy
Date : 09/12/2007 @ 16:34
Source : TFN


UK govt to unveil plans to expand offshore wind energy




LONDON (Thomson Financial) - The UK government tomorrow will unveil plans to
expand Britain's offshore wind power generation.
Energy Secretary John Hutton said ministers are considering proposals to
allow companies to develop up to 25 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2020, in
addition to the eight gigawatts already planned.
Hutton said the plans would depend on the outcome of an environmental impact
study of the seas around the UK, dubbed the Strategic Environmental Assessment
(SEA).
"If we could manage to achieve this, by 2020 enough electricity could be
generated off our shores to power the equivalent of all the UK homes" he said.
"This could be a major contribution towards meeting the EU target of 20 pct
of energy from renewable sources by 2020."
Hutton will announce the proposals as he launches the SEA in a speech to the
European energy industry in Berlin.
The so-called first-round of offshore wind farms, in 2001, comprised a
number of small demonstration projects. The second round, in 2003, resulted in
the award of options for leases for larger scale projects in three designated
areas: the Thames Estuary, the Greater Wash and the Northwest.
Based on current plans under the first and second leasing rounds, about
eight gigawatts of capacity could be operational by around 2014, including the
one gigawatt London Array, the largest planned offshore wind farm in the world.
The proposal for a possible third round, and further regular rounds, of
offshore wind development to be announced tomorrow would open up the vast bulk
of the UK's continental shelf to large-scale development, allowing 25 gigawatts
of extra capacity and potentially generating power for up to 25 mln homes by
2020.


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ar1/vs

[waldron] 02/12/2007 19:01

Siemens' wind power division to increase FY sales by over 30 pct - division head




FRANKFURT (Thomson Financial) - Siemens AG expects to increase sales from
its wind power division by significantly more than 30 pct in the current
business year, division head Andreas Nauen told weekly Euro am Sonntag.
He expects the division's EBIT margin to reach a double digit level this
year after about 9 pct last year.
"We are continuing to win market share. By 2011 we want to be one of the top
three in the industry," Nauen said, pointing to the construction of off-shore
wind parks as a field of promising opportunities.

[e-mail]
jcs/jlw