Renewable Eng. Share Discussion Threads

[pc4900074200] 10/4/2004 17:46

The Telegraph.

Mayflower administrator aims to raise £20m from ship sale.
By Christopher Hope, Business Correspondent (Filed: 10/04/2004)

The administrator at Mayflower Corporation is hoping to raise more than £20m from the sale of the bus and coach company's 14,000 tonne wind turbine installation ship, the Mayflower Resolution.

Forty of 60 staff at Mayflower Energy - the subsidiary that owned the ship - lost their jobs when it went into administration after Mayflower's collapse last week.

Nick Dargan, Deloitte's administrator, said the Resolution is attracting "considerable interest" from 44 separate buyers. He has set a deadline for bids of next Friday.

Mr Dargan said he was hopeful of completing a sale by the end of this month. "The energy business has great potential but is non-core to the group's ongoing operations," he said.

The Resolution only arrived at its permanent berth in Middlesbrough last week - by chance on the same day that Mayflower went into administration.

It is the largest ship of its type in the world and represented a bold attempt to take part in a new industry of building wind farms off Britain's coastline.

The ship's unique selling point is that it can install up to 10 turbines without going back to port, in about two weeks. Measuring 428ft long by 125ft wide, it is able to rise more than 100ft out of the water on six stilts ranging from just 10ft to 115ft deep.

The Resolution has two cranes, able to lift weights of 300 tonnes and 50 tonnes respectively. It also comes with a remote, underwater vehicle which can lay cables and plough trenches on the sea bed.

The ship was ordered by Mayflower in 2002 from the Shanhaiguan Shipyard, Qinhuangdao, about 200 miles east of Beijing. It was finally delivered to Mayflower in February, over-budget and nine months late.

Graham Webster, an analyst at Rowan Dartington who has followed Mayflower for years, said that the Resolution was symptomatic of the company's problems.

Mr Webster estimated its true cost was about £40m, including staffing and other costs - far outstripping Resolution's initial £22.5m estimate. He pointed out that Mayflower's cash crisis, which triggered its collapse last week, was caused by the company's £196m debt. Mayflower had also agreed to repay bank loans - £70m in January 2005 and £90m in January 2006.

He said: "That £40m that they invested in the energy business could have been the difference between saving them and not saving them. Without that £40m of debt they might just have pulled through. The ship was a classic example of why it all went wrong."

Mayflower should not have been risking so much capital on technology that was outside its core expertise, when the company was already heavily indebted after the £269m cash acquisition of rival Dennis in 1998, Mr Webster said.

The Resolution arrived in British waters in mid-February from its Chinese yard and began "planting" turbines off North Wales' coastline for National Wind Power. That contract finished on March 23.

The ship found her berth in Middlesbrough on March 30. She was due to have embarked on a new contract off Great Yarmouth on Thursday, but never left port.

It was named after Captain Cook's ship which explored new horizons in the late 18th century. Some 18 wind farms are planned for the UK coastline and the Resolution might yet have her day - but not under Mayflower's flag.

pc

[maywillow] 07/4/2004 09:03

LONDON, April 6 (New Ratings) — Analyst Michael Nielsen of Jyske Bank maintains his “buy” rating on Vestas Wind Systems (VWS). The 12-month target price is set to DKK115.

In a research note dated April 2 and published this morning, the analyst mentions that Vestas Wind Systems is poised for robust orders growth in the next few months. Jyske Bank also expresses its optimism regarding the company’s additional global market share gains by 2005.

[maywillow] 07/4/2004 09:02

LONDON, April 6 (New Ratings) — Analyst Michael Nielsen of Jyske Bank maintains his “buy” rating on Vestas Wind Systems (VWS). The 12-month target price is set to DKK115.

In a research note dated April 2 and published this morning, the analyst mentions that Vestas Wind Systems is poised for robust orders growth in the next few months. Jyske Bank also expresses its optimism regarding the company’s additional global market share gains by 2005.

[energyi] 31/3/2004 21:23

GE is so big,
even this good news wont matter, I think

[maywillow] 31/3/2004 08:41

LONDON (AFX) - GE Energy said it has been selected as the turbine supplier
for the first large-scale wind power project in Taiwan.
It said the 39-megawatt project is part of a 10-year plan by Taiwan Power Co
to promote wind energy, in accordance with the government's goal to increase the
use of renewable energy and reduce CO2 emissions.
Financial details were not provided.
GE will provide 26 of its 1.5-megawatt wind turbines through Chung-Hsin
Electric & Machinery Manufacturing Corporation of Taiwan, the turnkey contractor
for the project.
The machines will be installed at three locations: three turbines at the
Third Nuclear Power Station on the southern end of the island, three turbines at
the Tah-Tarn Power Station and the remaining 20 turbines along the Tao-Yuan
Kuan-Yin coastline. The latter two sites are on the northwestern coast, about
100 kilometers south of the capital city of Taipei.
Once completed, the project is expected to generate about 100,000 megawatt
hours annually for an estimated 21,000 households, GE said.
Overall, Taipower plans to erect 200 wind turbines along the island's
western corridor over the next 10 years, it said.
Groundbreaking is scheduled to begin in 2004, with project completion
expected by the spring of 2005.
[e-mail]
jfr

[maywillow] 31/3/2004 08:39

LONDON (AFX) - GE Energy said it has been selected as the turbine supplier
for the first large-scale wind power project in Taiwan.
It said the 39-megawatt project is part of a 10-year plan by Taiwan Power Co
to promote wind energy, in accordance with the government's goal to increase the
use of renewable energy and reduce CO2 emissions.
Financial details were not provided.
GE will provide 26 of its 1.5-megawatt wind turbines through Chung-Hsin
Electric & Machinery Manufacturing Corporation of Taiwan, the turnkey contractor
for the project.
The machines will be installed at three locations: three turbines at the
Third Nuclear Power Station on the southern end of the island, three turbines at
the Tah-Tarn Power Station and the remaining 20 turbines along the Tao-Yuan
Kuan-Yin coastline. The latter two sites are on the northwestern coast, about
100 kilometers south of the capital city of Taipei.
Once completed, the project is expected to generate about 100,000 megawatt
hours annually for an estimated 21,000 households, GE said.
Overall, Taipower plans to erect 200 wind turbines along the island's
western corridor over the next 10 years, it said.
Groundbreaking is scheduled to begin in 2004, with project completion
expected by the spring of 2005.
[e-mail]
jfr

[waldron] 30/3/2004 08:52

LONDON (AFX) - GE Energy said it won turbine supplier contracts in France
and Canada, at the Global Windpower 2004 trade fair yesterday.
Financial details were not disclosed.
GE said it is supplying 30 wind turbines for two projects in France that
will total 45 megawatts of new wind power capacity, which will represent an
increase of nearly 20 pct in the country's installed wind capacity.
Both of the new projects will provide power to Electricite de France, it
said.
GEsaid it has also been selected as the turbine supplier for the
30-megawatt Magrath Wind Power Project in southern Alberta, Canada.
GE will provide 20 of its 1.5-megawatt wind turbines for the project.
[e-mail]
jfr/cmr

[waldron] 30/3/2004 08:50

LONDON (AFX) - GE Energy said it won turbine supplier contracts in France
and Canada, at the Global Windpower 2004 trade fair yesterday.
Financial details were not disclosed.
GE said it is supplying 30 wind turbines for two projects in France that
will total 45 megawatts of new wind power capacity, which will represent an
increase of nearly 20 pct in the country's installed wind capacity.
Both of the new projects will provide power to Electricite de France, it
said.
GEsaid it has also been selected as the turbine supplier for the
30-megawatt Magrath Wind Power Project in southern Alberta, Canada.
GE will provide 20 of its 1.5-megawatt wind turbines for the project.
[e-mail]
jfr/cmr

[bbmuppet] 30/3/2004 01:30

E,

Any ideas on Chinese FCT Market exposure?

Thanks

BBM

[energyi] 29/3/2004 21:17

yep.
Empire is on the GEO thread already

[karzy] 20/3/2004 19:08

www.puc.state.nv.us/ELECTRIC/propgen.pdf, hope I copied that right. Firm called Empire Energy building a site in Nevada plus oil intersts went up 14% yesterday.

[energyi] 20/3/2004 17:55

thnx, Karzy.
I think that is the new name.

I am think of starting a Geopower Thread

Do you know any other co's in that sector?

[karzy] 20/3/2004 17:27

Or Nevada Geothermal Power maybe!

[energyi] 20/3/2004 17:05

COULD IT BE...??
Nevada Geopower (v.NGP)?


Formerly called:
Continental Ridge Power Development Agreement Accepted
NEWS RELEASE August 22, 2001
Continental Ridge has received conditional approval from the Canadian Venture Exchange of an agreement with Blue Mountain Power Company Inc. whereby Continental Ridge is granted an exclusive option to acquire a 60-per-cent interest in the Blue Mountain geothermal development project in north-central Nevada (see news in Stockwatch May 30, 2001). Continental Ridge will be the project operator.

Continental Ridge must pay $50,000 (U.S.), incur $1.7-million (U.S.) in exploration expenditures and issue 600,000 shares to BMPC over a three-year period to be vested. The first 200,000 shares have been issued. The remaining 400,000 shares will be issued in two equal instalments over the next two years with each issue subject to the approval of independent board members of Continental Ridge and acceptance by the CDNX.

The Blue Mountain geothermal development project has the potential to produce competitively priced, "renewable" electric power for target markets in northern Nevada, California and the Pacific Northwest. Geothermal plants currently supply about 12 per cent of Nevada's electrical demand demonstrating the viability of geothermal turbine technology. According to industry studies, Nevada has the potential to produce an additional 2,500 megawatts of geothermal power. To illustrate the economic potential, a 100 MW geothermal power plant at the Blue Mountain geothermal site would generate 832 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of energy per year yielding gross sales of $70-million (U.S.) per year based on a price of eight cents/kWh for electricity.

@:

[energyi] 20/3/2004 16:57

TIP (from Paul Van Eaden)
Can you work out what it is???

Since the world is not going to use less energy in the future I am quite interested in that sector. I already own a few uranium exploration companies, but that market is both small and has become expensive; it seems like every investment banker I meet wants to do a uranium deal. That notwithstanding, uranium may actually be one of the better commodity plays, especially given Cameco's (world's larges uranium producer) predictions about the uranium market.

There is a real push in the United States to find alternative energy sources, especially renewable forms of energy. One kind in particular seems very attractive: geothermal power generation. I have devoted almost a decade to understanding mineral exploration; geothermal development is similar to mineral exploration in many respects. Even the potential rewards of proving up a viable geothermal project are comparable to finding an economic mineral deposit.

There is a small Canadian company developing a geothermal project close to the mining operations in north-central Nevada. The project is close to infrastructure, the mines need power, Nevada has many existing geothermal power plants – so we are dealing with proven technology – and there is a demand for renewable energy.

@:

[grupo guitarlumber] 17/3/2004 09:42

PARIS (AFX) - L'Air Liquide SA said it has won a gas supply order from
SunPower Corp of the Philippines, a producer of silicon solar energy cells.
Financial terms of the contract were not disclosed. SunPower is a unit of
US-based Cypress Semiconductor Corp.
[e-mail]
js/wf

[energyi] 16/3/2004 18:32

PLUG?
$6.90-7.00 looks Key Support

[energyi] 15/3/2004 16:09

NPOWER
was at the Ideal Home exhibityion in Earls Ct., as a sponsor.

They are offering Gren Energy electricity at the same price as normal
electricity, as a promotional deal. This cost them a premium, as
a "renewable power"

BUT how would anyone know? (if they ovesold their quota?)

[pc4900074200] 15/3/2004 09:55

The Scotsman. 15-03-2004.

Threats over wind farm delays
ROB GRIFFIN

SCOTTISH Power warned yesterday that planning constraints on its wind farms in the UK could see it channel more of its resources to similar projects in the US.

The electricity supplier has become increasingly frustrated with the time taken for UK wind farm projects to be approved.

A spokesman pledged last night that the current schemes it has planned for Scotland - at Whitelee near Glasgow and Black Law near Edinburgh - would still be completed despite the delays.

But he admitted that future investment projects could end up heading towards the US where regulations were more relaxed - although he stressed the group wasn't planning to switch immediately.

The Whitelee project, he said, has been in the hands of planners for two years, which had delayed the creation of construction jobs in the area.

He said: "We are committed to these projects in Scotland but it's just a shame it is taking so long to get approval. It could mean that more money will be invested in the US than over here because it's happening at a faster rate."

It is understood that the wind farm applications have been subject to objections from both the Ministry of Defence and BAA, the airports operator. They are reportedly concerned that the turbines may potentially interfere with radar systems.

A working party, set up by the Department of Trade and Industry, is believed to be examining the issue and should, hopefully, come up with some practical suggestions.

The Whitelee scheme, based at Eaglesham Moor, near Glasgow, is expected to be one of Europe's largest wind farms. If approved, the site is likely to feature 140 turbines - enough to power 150,000 homes. It will cost around £150 million to complete.

Black Law, which was recently granted planning permission by the Scottish Executive, consists of a six-turbine wind farm being built about 20 miles west of Edinburgh. This project is expected to cost £130m and will be built on a disused open-cast mine near the village of Forth in South Lanarkshire.

It is expected to provide enough energy to power 80,000 homes and reduce emissions of carbon dioxide by 280,000 tonnes each year.

It will also provide a massive boost to the economy and employment figures, ScottishPower believes.

Local companies will eventually be invited to tender for up to £20m worth of contracts associated with the project - which is expected to create about 120 construction jobs.

pc

[captain swing] 07/3/2004 11:49

"Bubble fusion" -- neither green nor blue but it sounds fantastic -- a technological revolution that appears out of nowhere ??



"According to the new data, the observed neutron emission was several orders of magnitude greater than background and had extremely high statistical accuracy. Tritium, which also is produced during the fusion reactions, was measured and the amount produced was found to be consistent with the observed neutron production rate."

[energyi] 03/3/2004 21:12

Here's one of the above that I've been following:

Energy Conversion: still in a downtrend

[energyi] 23/2/2004 17:39

Green energy powers ahead

THE amount of money invested globally on renewable energy is expected to grow to £25 billion a year by 2007, according to new research released today.

The study, commissioned by Scottish Enterprise, also revealed that 44 per cent of the forecasted £90bn spend between 2004 and 2007 is expected to be made in Europe.

Over the next five years, the capacity of renewable energy sources including biomass, wind, marine, solar, and hydro power was expected to rise at a combined rate of more than 25 per cent per year, the study found. The Renewable Energy Industry 2004 report, produced by consultants Douglas-Westwood, concluded that

onshore wind, with nearly £46bn in expenditure between 2003 and 2007, represented almost half of the total forecast expenditure, with biomass a strong second at 33 per cent.

Brian Nixon, director of energy at Scottish Enterprise, said: "We must see many more indigenous companies applying their skills to this market in the years ahead."

Scotland currently has about 100 companies involved in the sector.

(The Scotsman)

[energyi] 18/2/2004 22:50

WIND POWER
= = =
WIND POWER now accounts for the energy demands of over 10 million homes
around the world, and is the fastest-growing energy source... Wind turbine
installations worldwide soared by 45 percent, or 6,500 megawatts, in 2001,
bringing global total windpower capacity to 24,000 MW.

(From Wired: )
Denmark draws 13 percent of its energy supply from renewable resources, and
half of the wind turbines in the world are made by Danish manufacturers, such
as Vestas Wind Systems and Bonus Energy, which export primarily to Germany,
Spain, and the UK. A wind farm under construction in Texas, using Danish
turbines, will spin up enough electricity for 139,000 homes by the end of the
year, while avoiding 20 million tons of carbon-dioxide emissions.

Global Growth in Wind Energy
Year Capacity x $1mn/MW
1999 3900 MW : $3.9 bn :
2000 4400 MW : $4.4 bn :
2001 6300 MW : $6.3 bn :
'02e 6800 MW : $6.8 bn :
'03e 8000 MW
'04e 8600 MW
source: www.neg-micon.com Chart
(32 wind turbines with a total capacity of 53 MW. The order that has a value of just under DKK 250m = US$33mn ...or about $1 mn/ turbine and $622,000 per MW, which is cheap. On average, it costs about $1 million per megawatt to construct a wind turbine farm, compared to about $600,000 per megawatt for a conventional gas-fired power plant;)

BWEA:

PHOTO
...
Symbol. Company....... / Symbol. Company....... / Symbol. Company.
EKTG.DE Energiekontor. / VEWI.DE Vestas Wind Sys/ NDXG.DE Nordex


PTAG.DE P&T Technology / PNEGn.F Plambeck Energy/ UREG.DE Umweltkontor



...
(1)
The future was buried in the muck of the All Saints' Day Flood in Holland in 1570. It was a devastating flood in a country known for bad flooding, and the Dutch needed a machine to pump water from the land they wanted to reclaim. They used windmills. The machines had been around for some time, but the Dutch improved them and windmills saved Holland from crisis.

Jump forward 400 years and add some space-age technology, and it's not hard to see why Jaunich believes his windmills can help save Minnesota from an energy crisis that many experts see looming by mid-decade.

"It used to cost 30 cents per kilowatt hour to generate electricity from wind power in 1980, and now it's 3.5 cents per kilowatt hour," said Jaunich. "It's a very cost-competitive way of generating power. Now we're cost-competitive with every form of energy."

The 39-year-old Jaunich started Northern Alternative Energy in 1992 with an investment of about $200,000. Today, NAE operates 86 high-tech wind turbines -- 80 of them in Minnesota -- and the company is poised for its biggest expansion. NAE's challenge is two-fold, he said. "Can we build the plants fast enough to supply the electrical need, and do we have the capital necessary to supply to need? The answers are, we believe the capital is available. We'll find that out in the next few months. We are doing some capital-raising now in the financial markets. With the proper capitalization of the company, we will be able to grow rather rapidly."

Last April, the firm won a contract from Xcel Energy to build wind turbines and a
natural gas-fired plant that will generate up to 650 megawatts of electricity.
Jaunich figures it'll cost an estimated $400 million to build the facilities necessary
for the contract, a project he hopes will be completed in 18 months.

(2)
"There's every reason in the world to pair wind with natural gas," according to Greg
Jaunich, president of Navitas, an independent power producer based in
Minneapolis. His company -- and its subsidiary Northern Alternative Energy -- are
developing several wind projects, among them an innovative 650-MW "all source"
project that combines 100 MW of wind with 550 MW of natural gas-fired peaking
capacity at dispersed but related sites in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa. Xcel
Energy is buying the facilities' output. Permitting approvals are expected this week with commercial operations by June 2002.

(3)
Currently, the U.S. generates about 0.1 percent of its power using wind-a
minuscule contribution, especially compared to Denmark's 10 percent. The
Department of Energy wants to increase wind's contribution to U.S. energy
production to 5 percent by 2020.

The problem won't be one of raw supply. According to the National Renewable
Energy Laboratory's National Wind Technology Center, North Dakota alone,
sometimes called the Saudi Arabia of wind power, has enough wind to generate
electricity for about one third of the continental U.S. "There's no shortage," says
center director Robert Thresher.

Cost, however, is an obstacle. "It currently costs three to five cents per kilowatt-hour to produce electricity using wind," says Thresher. "If we could reduce cost
below three cents per kilowatt-hour, at sites with an average windspeed of 13 mph
the cost would be competitive" with conventional power generating technologies.

Small boosts in wind speed can go a long way. Power output increases in
proportion to the cube of the wind speed. So a windmill at a site where the wind
averages 25 kilometers per hour will yield twice as much power as one sited
amidst 20 kilometer-per-hour winds. Windmills with rotors that can turn and
actually hunt for wind increase efficiency. So does smarter placement of the
windmills. Recently researchers have recommended staggering windmills rather
than placing them in rows, which create a shadowing effect.

LINK:

(4) in the UK:

A consortium, consisting of Mayflower Energy, the UK installation contractor and
Vestas Celtic Wind Technology- the leading Danish turbine manufacturer - has
secured a £74 million wind farm contract from National Wind Power.

The project involves the installation of 30 two-megawatt turbines ($74mn * 1.56=
$115mn / 60= $1.9mn / MW) at National Wind Power's North Hoyle Offshore Wind
Farm. The development, a few miles off Prestatyn and Rhyl, North Wales is one of
18 offshore wind farms planned for UK waters and will be the first to deploy
Mayflower's revolutionary turbine installation vessel, the Mayflower Resolution.



(5) US Energy Legislation

The US Senate passed the Energy Bill on 25 April 2002 with an 88-11 majority.
This legislation includes $14 billion of incentives/subsidies for the US energy
industry as a whole, including tax breaks of $2.3 billion to encourage
development of wind, solar, biomass and geothermal renewable energy sources
and $4 billion to encourage energy efficiency and the use of alternative fuels in
vehicles. The Bill also includes a further three-year extension (in addition to
last month's two-year extension) of the 1.5c per kWh Production Tax Credit (PTC)
up to 2007. Of even more significance, however, is that the Senate Energy Bill
calls for US utilities to increase their share of electricity generated from
renewable sources from approximately 2% to 10% by 2020.
-----


Here are some companies involved in the Wind Power industry:
Navitas Energy (Minn.):
Grupo Auxiliar Metalurgico SA (Gamesa), of Madrid, Spain
NEG-Micon:
Elsam: https://www.elsam.com/engelsk/default_ie.htm
AMEC BorderWind:
National Windpower (UK):
New Power Gas & Electric (NWPW):
WTC (Flexible lighter Turbines):
Ecotricity (UK):
Vision Quest Windelectric:
Sunbridge: (sask.):
MNE Thread: ML New Energy Technologies:

----------------
Renewable energy sources in the UK currently generate almost 3% of the total electricity supply, approximately one tenth of which comes from wind energy. New legislation has set targets on the generation of electricity from renewables at 5% by 2003 and 10% by 2010. Wind energy is one of the best placed technologies to help meet these targets; the UK is the windiest country in Europe with over 40% of the available resource - enough to meet the countrys' needs at least twice.

[energyi] 14/2/2004 15:53

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