NEWS

PES Wind: Europe6

BuSiNESS ThrEaTEuropean wind market set for Chinese offensive, says bankThe European wind turbine manufacturing industry has “little meat left on its bones” and is heading for a “critical” 12 months in 2013, according to international financier Rabobank.

In its latest quarterly renewables report, the Dutch bank said that 2012 would be “a defining year in the survival” of major players in the market, such as Vestas and Gamesa.

Rabobank states that Chinese turbine makers will make more of an impact in the European market and even predicts that the market domination of Chinese solar panel manufacturing will be repeated in the wind sector.

“The outlook is likely to deteriorate and see European wind turbine manufacturers be swept aside in the same way as European solar PV manufacturers,” said the bank.

It added: The price differential between a European and Chinese wind turbine is 30-to-40 per cent, which is larger than the quality differential, in our view. We therefore expect Chinese competition to intensify in the market.

“European wind turbine manufacturers are looking at a tough few years to come.”

FurThEr BLOWVestas scraps UK plantThe company has shelved plans to build one of Europe’s largest offshore-turbine factories in southeast England as the wind industry calls for clarity on subsidy programs.

Vestas and the Port of Sheerness announced the decision to scrap plans for the facility in Kent recently in a website statement. The Aarhus, Denmark-based company had intended to develop its biggest offshore turbine, a 7-megawatt machine, at the plant, creating 2,000 jobs.

The announcement is a blow to U.K. efforts to attract the largest turbine makers as it seeks to build 18 gigawatts of offshore turbines by 2020. Britain, overhauling its energy market to spur clean-power investment, proposed an Electricity Market Reform bill in May that includes replacing an offshore- wind subsidy

with “contracts for difference,” which set long- term prices for power and are so far only in outline form.

The lack of detail on the new contracts fuels uncertainty for wind investors, Gordon Edge, policy director at industry group RenewableUK, told a committee of lawmakers this week.

Doosan Power Systems Ltd. said in April it abandoned a 170 million-pound ($265 million) plan to develop offshore wind turbines in Scotland, citing economic difficulties in Europe.

Even with output costs that exceed onshore wind, gas-fired power and coal-fed generation, offshore wind is of “strategic national importance” as the government works to meet

demand, curb emissions and add jobs, Energy Secretary Ed Davey said last week.

“Vestas’s strong commitment to the development of both the offshore and onshore wind industries is not affected by this decision,” said Chief Sales Officer Juan Araluce. The company said more than a year ago that construction at Sheerness, a port southeast of London, was dependent on regulatory certainty and sufficient orders for its V164-7.0 model.

“The problem with the draft EMR legislation is not that it’s half-baked,” RenewableUK’s Edge said June 19. “It’s the fact that it’s only going into the oven now, so the cooking time is very short. The risk is that we’ll end up with something that’s burnt on the outside and soggy in the middle.”

PiONEEriNG POrTuGaLCountry installs its first floating wind turbinePortugal has had its first offshore floating wind turbine installed, five kilometres off the coast of Agucadoura. The tower stands at 54 metres tall, weighs 1,200 metric tonnes, and adds two megawatts to the nation’s energy grid; enough to power 1,300 houses.

The floating foundation upon which the turbine sits is called the WindFloat and was developed in a collaboration between Vestas and Energias de Portugal (EDP).

Ditlev Engel, the CEO of Vestas, said that “floating foundations are one of the solutions with the highest potential for harvesting wind in deeper waters and the WindFloat project was a highly interesting possibility for us to help explore this area within offshore wind.”

The WindFloat has mechanisms which help it maintain its balance and position in the large waves far out at sea where the water depth exceeds 50 metres and the wind resources tend to be better. Since its installation was completed the turbine has already resisted the harsh environment of the Atlantic, including waves of up to 15 metres.

Following the success of this wind turbine EDP want to use the WindFloat to build a large windfarm near the city of Povoa do Varzim, they are just waiting for funding from the European Union.

Pedro Valverde, the project manager at EDP, said that “after the prototypes are fully tested, we start with the commercial phase in two years’ time, with the objective of starting to have some return on the investment.”

FLOaTiNG WiNDPilot power project seeks EU fundsInvestors in the world’s first floating wind turbine are seeking European Union funding to build five more off the coast of Portugal following the success of initial testing of the device.

The wind power generator, which cost 20 million euros ($25.3 million), floats over deep ocean waters, unlike previous offshore wind farms built in shallow waters and attached to the ocean floor.

EDP and Seattle-based Principle Power, partners in the project, said the pilot produced 1.7 gigawatts of energy per hour (GWh) on average since its blades started turning six months ago, enough to supply power to 1,300 families.

“This was a great success, our calculations have proved right, and the unit performed as predicted. But this was a conservative design. Next time we will be more optimistic,” Principle Power Chief Executive Alla Weinstein explained.

The pilot sits six kilometres off the coast of the windy town of Povoa do Varzim, close to Porto in northern Portugal.

It is 54 metres tall and weighs 1,200 tonnes, with a turbine from Denmark’s Vestas and backup from Repsol and other local partners. Its capacity at 2 megawatts (MW) is just below the average of offshore wind turbines in Europe, which was 3.6 MW at end-2011, according to the European Wind Energy Association.

Passing on power is a knotty deal

Each wind turbine project comes with its share of challenges. We know the key to finding workable solutions lies in the collected experience and know-how across markets. Global Wind Power has erected more than 400 MW internationally with local employees based in all the countries where we are active. This enables us to transform your future wind turbine project from concept to reality.

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www.peswind.com 7

EurOPEaN aDVaNCEGE supplies turbine technology for Swedish wind farmTriventus Wind Power AB will use GE’s wind turbine technology to power a new 27.5-megawatt (MW) wind farm project being constructed near Falkenberg on the west coast of Sweden. As per the deal, GE will supply Triventus with 10 of its 2.75-103 wind turbines. GE Energy will deliver the wind turbines to the project site during the first and second quarters of 2013. GE Energy also will provide maintenance support to the units under a five-year service agreement.

The wind farm is scheduled to begin commercial service in the second quarter of 2013. When operational, the wind farm will generate enough renewable electricity to power the equivalent of 7,500 houses. Like other Swedish wind farms, Triventus will be supported through the country’s green certificate support system.

According to the Swedish Wind Energy Association, in order to comply with the

European Union’s Renewables Directive, Sweden is working to expand wind farm installations throughout the country. The Triventus project is located close to two other wind farms that also are powered by GE’s wind turbines.

Triventus Wind Power Managing Director Linda Pålsson says, “Given Sweden’s need to expand the role of wind energy, GE’s wind turbine technology has a proven track record of reliability and efficiency to ensure our project is successfully implemented on schedule.”

Stephan Ritter, GE’s general manager for renewable energy in Europe, notes, “With the 2.75 turbine, Triventus is investing into a technology that is built on the proven 2.5 platform. The solid design of this platform ensures high availability rates and with that supports the country’s renewables targets in the long run.”

Passing on power is a knotty deal

Each wind turbine project comes with its share of challenges. We know the key to finding workable solutions lies in the collected experience and know-how across markets. Global Wind Power has erected more than 400 MW internationally with local employees based in all the countries where we are active. This enables us to transform your future wind turbine project from concept to reality.

Read more about us at www.globalwindpower.com

Trust your Grid Connection to us

globalwindpower.com

Turning Wind into Value

POLiSh PuSh14 MW wind farm opensRWE Innogy has announced that it has started operations at the onshore Krzecin wind farm in Poland. The commissioning of the 14-megawatt wind farm brings the company’s total wind energy capacity in Poland to 122 MW.

“Onshore wind power makes a significant contribution to the expansion of renewable energies in Poland, not least as a result of the excellent wind power locations and the attractive business environment,” said RWE Innogy’s Chief Executive Officer Hans Bunting in a statement. “We also want to invest in the expansion of wind energy in Poland, operating some 300 megawatts of capacity by 2015.”

RWE Innogy operates four onshore wind farms in Poland. A 39 MW wind farm is under construction and should go into service early next year.

The company said there’s enough wind power at the Krzecin wind farm to meet the energy demands of 15,000 households and avoid around 30,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year.

NEWS

PES Wind: Europe8

iriSh SaLEViridian sells 10 farms to Irish fundEnergy company Viridian has sold a controlling stake in its wind farm assets to the Irish Infrastructure Fund for an undisclosed sum. The portfolio consists of 10 wind farms – two located in Northern Ireland, both of which will be commissioned later this year, and eight in the Republic – which generate 104 megawatts of electricity in total.

iridian, which is owned by Bahrain company Arcapita, will retain a minority stake and continue to manage and operate the wind farms and use the electricity generated by them. The deal is the first investment by the Irish Infrastructure Fund, which was established by Irish Life Investment Managers.

“Ireland benefits from one of the most attractive wind resources in Europe.”

aSiaN aDVaNCEJapan’s first offshore wind farmJapan’s first offshore wind farm is set to start generating electricity in January, a government agency said, as the country looks to diversify away from nuclear power, as well as pricey oil and liquefied natural gas.

Although the 2.4 megawatt (MW) demonstration facility has been in the pipeline for years, it starts as the country’s energy landscape is shifting dramatically in the wake of the Fukushima crisis, the world’s worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl in 1986.

Japan hopes to begin building commercial offshore wind farms in several years, following the trail blazed by Europe and especially world leader Britain, which has taken advantage of its long, windy coastline.

The environment ministry has estimated Japan has the potential to eventually build a huge 1,600 gigawatts of offshore wind power capacity, though it would have to overcome a raft of technological problems to get there. The nation’s current nuclear capacity stands at 46.15 GW.

POLiSh PuSh14 MW wind farm opensRWE Innogy has announced that it has started operations at the onshore Krzecin wind farm in Poland. The commissioning of the 14-megawatt wind farm brings the company’s total wind energy capacity in Poland to 122 MW.

“Onshore wind power makes a significant contribution to the expansion of renewable energies in Poland, not least as a result of the excellent wind power locations and the

attractive business environment,” said RWE Innogy’s Chief Executive Officer Hans Bunting in a statement. “We also want to invest in the expansion of wind energy in Poland, operating some 300 megawatts of capacity by 2015.”

RWE Innogy operates four onshore wind farms in Poland. A 39 MW wind farm is under construction and should go into service early next year.

DaNiSh SPiriTDenmark to lead EU in going greenAmidst the ongoing roiling European Union debate over the organization’s crisis, politicians in Brussels have been scrambling to construct a fiscal policy that will shore up the organization’s common currency, the Euro.

At the figurative and literal end of the EU pole, Denmark is going full bore to reduce its dependence on fossil fuels, seeking to reduce the nation’s dependency on them by 33 percent by 2020 and to achieve complete independence from hydrocarbon fossil fuels three decades later, by 2050.

The “Energy Strategy 2050” contains initial policies and initiatives intended to reduce the country’s reliance on fossil fuel consumption 33 percent by 2020 before achieving complete independence from fossil fuels three decades later. One of the core elements in accomplishing this is an increased reliance on wind power, as within the next eight years numerous new wind projects, including offshore wind are scheduled to come online, bringing the total wind power contribution to Denmark’s electric supply up to 40 per cent.

The transition to renewable power from fossil fuels will not be cheap. Denmark’s Minister for Climate and Energy Lykke Friis nevertheless called the government’s commitment to renewable energy “economically responsible,” telling journalists, “No one is saying that carrying out major investments in energy efficiency and expanding our use of renewable energy is going to be free. But the alternative: Continued dependence on fossil fuels will, as all signs indicate, only become more expensive in the years to come. Converting to renewable energy will shield Denmark from the effects of increasing energy prices.”

POWEr rESEarChUK/France in major offshore wind projectMathematicians in the UK and France have won massive funding to find ways to more efficiently transport offshore wind farms. Experts in logistics from the Universities of Plymouth, Portsmouth and Le Havre are looking at reducing the cost of setting up and maintaining offshore wind farms as part of a European Union initiative.

Most container ports are not set up to handle turbine parts, which are much larger and more irregularly shaped than usual cargo – some rotor blades are 75 metres long, three times

larger than the average 20-metre container.

Dylan Jones, a mathematician at the University of Portsmouth, said: “Considerable savings could be made if logistics were better used to focus specifically on transporting wind farm parts.

“Every time someone loads their weekly shopping into the boot of their car they are using logistics to work out where to place each oddly shaped bag. The same principle can be applied to the problem of delivering enormous wind turbine parts all over Europe at the lowest cost.”

He added that while some sea ports, including Ramsgate in Kent and Ostend in Belgium, have “seized the opportunity and now use part of their port to deal with the wind farm parts, but to quantify the gains of logistic efficiency is difficult at the moment – that is part of what this project hopes to work out”.

The researchers will examine ways of co-ordinating port maintenance, driving down logistical costs and providing suitable transportation to and from the wind farms.

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Anchored by excellence.

Out-of-the-box doing requires out-of-the-box thinking.

BBC Chartering’s industrialized global transport capabilities

provide clients with the right people, skills, local expertise

and hardware to deliver cargo, service and safety with greater

reliability, quality and productivity.