News Archive August 2021

The new 99-metre blade is designed for high-wind IEC IB sites as well as typhoon-class conditions, with extreme wind speed of 70 m/s or 156 mph, the Chinese company announced via Social Media.

Data and images from satellites can play a significant role to help countries better assess the geographical potential of renewables, identify the best locations for projects, forecast weather patterns and support long-term planning of new renewable generation capacity and infrastructure, the partners said.

“Once the Hydrogen Lab Bremerhaven is up and running, we will be in a position for the first time to measure the performance of electrolyzers in direct connection with wind energy independently of the manufacturer and validate it in the long term," says Nora Denecke, Head of department at Fraunhofer IWES and project coordinator.

Prysmian Group, the world leader in energy and telecom cable systems, today has announced the launch of a North America Sustainability Steering Committee with the purpose to further enhance the focus of the region on environmental, social and governance (ESG) efforts.

Hexicon has completed its acquisition of the Wave Hub renewable energy test site in Cornwall, paving the way for Hexicon’s first deployment of its Twinwind floating foundation technology in UK waters by 2025.

Developer Boralex has announed commercial commissioning of the Extension Plaine d’Escrebieux wind farm, located in the Pas-de-Calais department in France with a capacity of 13.8 MW.

Prysmian Group, world leader in the energy and telecom cable systems industry, has taken a major step further in their process of digital transformation and invested in the Product Information Management solution (PIM) from inriver as a foundation for their commercial strategy.

Genesis Energy and Tilt Renewables have executed a conditional 20-year electricity offtake agreement that provides for the construction of the 75MW Kaiwaikawe Wind Farm located near Dargaville, Northland, New Zealand.

Beatrice Offshore Wind Farm Limited announced that it signed an agreement to sell the Offshore Transmission Assets (OFTO) of the 588 MW Beatrice Offshore Wind Farm to Transmission Capital Partners.

UK: Renewables outrun fossil fuels

Renewables provided a record 43.1% of the UK’s electricity last year, up from 36.9% in 2019. The government document notes that this was mainly due to increased wind generation.

Joe Biden has officially been President of the US since January 2021. Hopes have been high and the question has been whether he will be able to implement his ambitious projects at all, since he is depending on the support of the Republicans. Now the first projects are being launched. But is that enough?

Ørsted CEO steps down

Declan Flanagan has taken the decision to step down from his position as CEO of Ørsted Onshore.

Schaeffler raises guidance after strong first half of 2021

Global automotive and industrial supplier Schaeffler presented its interim report for the first half of 2021 today.

Renewable energy investments skyrocket in the first half of 2021

Public market financing lifts renewable energy investments to new first-half year record in 2021

Ørsted finishes its largest onshore wind farm

The 130-wind turbine project Western Trail is located in Texas and has a capacity of 367 MW.

Siemens Gamesa stars in 'Twin Peaks'

Siemens Gamesa is set to supply 39 of its market leading SG 5.8-170 turbines to two sites totaling 242 MW in Sweden dubbed the ‘Twin Peaks’.

European experience can help the U.S.

WindEurope CEO Giles Dickson gave a testimony in front of the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Europe, Energy, the Environment and Cyber.

US Wind has announced major steps forward in the development of offshore wind energy for Maryland, including major labor agreements to support US Wind’s first major offshore wind project for Maryland, the 22-turbine MarWin project.

Lekela connects first part of Egyptian wind farm to grid

The first 20 turbines at West Bakr Wind farm have now been successfully synchronised, with the wind farm now providing power to the grid.

Offshore wind industry: Eneti acquires Seajacks

Emanuele A Lauro, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, said: “This transaction reflects the biggest step yet in our transformation into a world-class contractor for offshore wind."

Neart na Gaoithe OWF's spare export cable reaches Port of Rosyth

The spare cable was delivered to Rosyth where it was spooled from a vessel, along a cable highway and onto a carousel to be stored there for a minimum of five years.

Ingeteam and Jungle successfully collaborate on 2021 edition of BIND 4.0

The two companies are developing a web platform that analyses data obtained from sensors installed in a wind farm for predictive maintenance.

Petrol has started the operation of its second wind farm in Croatia to provide green energy to 30,000 average households. Nine Nordex wind turbines will annually generate around 96 GWh of electricity.

Vestas wins Finnish order for EnVentus platform

The order includes supply, installation 21 V162-6.0 MW turbines from Vestas’ EnVentus platform for the Isoneva project in Finland.

South Kyle Wind Farm: first turbine foundations installed

Vattenfall announced that the first foundations of the South Kyle wind farm, located in East Ayrshire and Dumfries and Galloway, have been installed.

VARD to build CSOVs for Rem Offshore

The CSOVs are tailor-made for world-wide services and maintenance operations at offshore wind farms.

Vessel Taillevent too small for next generation projects

Jan De Nul sells its Jack-Up Installation Vessel Taillevent

Turkey: Growth of renewable power capacity expected

The latest report by GlobalData expects renewable power capacity in Turkey to increase from 19.07GW in 2020 to 49.31GW by 2030.

Prysmian has announced the delivery of Leonardo da Vinci, the world's most advanced cable-laying vessel. The first task will be to work on Viking Link, the world’s longest power interconnection.

The white paper also outlines how the shift from synchronous generation towards inverter-based resources (IBR) is changing the way the industry needs to plan for the secure operation of the National Electricity Market.

WindEurope: first draft of State aid rules a failure

The European Commission is revising its 2014 State aid guidelines for environment and energy.

WindEurope welcomes Spain’s Offshore Wind Roadmap which includes information on the future regulatory framework for offshore wind notably the remuneration system, administrative procedures, maritime spatial planning and grid connection regime.

The report provides new estimates of the chances of crossing the global warming level of 1.5°C in the next decades, and finds that unless there are immediate, rapid and large-scale reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, limiting warming to close to 1.5°C or even 2°C will be beyond reach.

South Korean company Hanwha Solutions announced the acquisition of the French business of renewable development company Renewable Energy System, or RES Group, as a part of its efforts to expand green energy business throughout Europe.

ACP applauds Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act

The U.S. Senate passed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act by a strong bipartisan vote.

The new collaboration sets the stage to help increase the safe, widespread deployment of key renewable, zero-emission energy sources.

PNE publishes significant increase in earnings

German project developer PNE continues to develop successfully in operational and financial terms.

Siemens Gamesa to expand blade factory in Hull

Siemens Gamesa will expand its offshore blade factory in Hull, England, more than doubling the size of the manufacturing facilities.

Ramboll wins another offshore wind contract in Asia

CLP Power has named Ramboll as the owner’s technical engineer and advisor for the pre-development phase of their Hong Kong Offshore Wind Farm.

Enel and KK Wind Solutions collaborate in retrofitting 358 turbines with CMS

KK Wind Solutions and Enel Green Power expand their collaboration by projecting to CMS Retrofit 358 turbines in various countries.

GRI Renewables to build tower facility in North Lincolnshire, UK

The site at the Able Marine Energy Park (AMEP) is expected to become the largest and most relevant marshalling port for offshore wind in the UK.

Even the researchers were surprised: The latest report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) predicts that climate change is coming much faster than before. However, you don't have to be a prophet for that, because the current news broadcasts are full of horror stories. Still, it's not enough for a change of heart....

Vietnam Wind Power 2021: Save the Date!

Is Vietnam the Next Wind Leader in South East Asia?

Rainbow colours for Ørsted

A special sight will meet Copenhageners and passers-by when they look at the three large wind turbines at Avedøre Power Station from Thursday at 22:30 CEST.

Wildcat Creek Wind Farm starts spinning

EDPR announced that its 180 MW Wildcat Creek Wind Farm, located in Texas, has reached commercial operations and is producing energy.

Scotland’s largest offshore wind farm takes another step forward as the first jacket superstructures arrived at Port of Nigg in Cromarty Firth, ahead of their upcoming installation in the deep waters of the North Sea.

Northland Power has confirmed the successful completion of its previously announced acquisition of a Spanish operating portfolio of onshore renewable projects from Helia Renovables.

Gordonbush Extension wind farm officially opened

Scotland’s Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero and Energy, Michael Matheson, visited the SSE Renewables-owned onshore wind farm for the opening.

Aker Offshore Wind and Mainstream Renewable Power have together been selected as the preferred bidder to acquire an initial 50 percent stake in Progression Energy’s 800MW floating offshore wind project.

Ampelmann, the Dutch offshore access provider, has signed 13 contracts in European offshore wind in the first half of 2021. With these contracts, the company enables the installation and maintenance of wind farms by providing motion compensated gangway solutions for both personnel and cargo transfer.

As part of the MWS services, ABL’s scope of work will include providing expert technical review and approval of documents, operations and vessels.

European Energy and EIG Global Energy Partners (EIG) have closed a facility of EUR 130 million for the green energy construction of wind projects in European Energy’s rapidly growing renewables business in Lithuania.

SAWEA mourns loss of CEO

The South African Wind Energy Association (SAWEA) mourns the loss of Ntombifuthi Ntuli, CEO of SAWEA.

Ignitis Group enters Latvian market

The Ignitis Group is entering the renewable energy market in Latvia and is acquiring three wind farms that are currently under development.

While thermal welding offers benefits, it also requires adding within the blade a metal heating element—which can attract lightning. As a result, a team of NREL researchers invented a new lightning protection system to keep the novel thermoplastic materials safe.

BOEM completes environmental review for South Fork Wind

BOEM plans to issue a record of decision on whether to approve the proposed project in October.

Wood Mackenzie: wind turbines prices to rise

Wood Mackenzie expects wind turbines prices to rise by up to 10% in the coming months due to various challenges.

Middle East: project pipeline for renewable energy projects surges

While the development of conventional power generation plants stalls in the region, renewable energy projects are on the rise.

ACP urges BOEM to speed up New York Bight leasing process

The American Clean Power Association has issued a statement to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.

The company aims to electrify and decarbonise the ammonia plant at Herøya, enabling large-scale green ammonia production. HEGRA is short for HErøya GReen Ammonia, and is co-owned by Yara, Aker Clean Hydrogen and Statkraft each owning one third.

Sembcorp Marine completes offshore wind farm substations for Hornsea Two

Sembcorp Marine has successfully completed the fabrication of two offshore substations for Ørsted's Hornsea Two Offshore Wind Farm.

Spain: Herrera II complex up and running

Iberdrola has begun commissioning the Herrera II wind complex in Castilla y León, the company has announced.

RenewableUK's CEO Dan McGrail said: “While we welcome positive steps like the new Net Zero Hydrogen Fund, overall the strategy doesn’t focus nearly enough on developing the UK’s world-leading green hydrogen industry.

Construction start for two Polish onshore wind farms

Developer GreenVolt has started the construction of two wind farms in Poland with an installed capacity of 50 MW.

The two major political parties in the U.S. have been irreconcilably opposed to each other, especially since Donald Trump's presidency. The issue of climate change in particular has caused heated debates in the recent past, with many Republicans simply denying it - in line with Trump's stance. However, this position seems to be slowly crumbling.

Under the MOU, the companies will bring together their complementary engineering capabilities, and extensive track records in their respective fields, to enhance the range of services and technologies they offer customers.

Norway’s fund for climate- and energy technologies, Enova, is NOK 10 million and will fund part of the engineering and planning activities in second half of 2021 providing a sound foundation for an investment decision

Vineyard Wind Selects Jan De Nul for Inter-Array Cable Supply and Installation

Contract will Create 40 New Full Time U.S. Jobs in Training and Installation of Cables

Fugro to deliver geophysical investigation for Germany's BSH

Fugro will perform the positioning and sub-bottom profiling recording and interpretation, and Fraunhofer IWES will focus on the seismic survey and interpretation.

HOMER Energy by UL has announced that registration is now open for its ninth annual Microgrid and Hybrid Power International Conference, which will occur virtually between Oct. 12-14, 2021.

The offshore wind turbines of the future are set to produce molecules instead of electrons. Self-sufficient units comprising a wind turbine and an integrated electrolyzer produce green hydrogen on an industrial scale and save the costs of connection to the grid. This vision is now intended to become a reality in a German project.

The development of net zero hubs around the UK has proved a key plank of the country’s strategy towards achieving net zero by 2050. Scotland, which has a 2045 net-zero target, could advance its ambitions by establishing a net zero hub on the Firth of Forth, Wood Mackenzie says.

Kype Muir Wind Farm to be extended

UK’s first onshore wind farm with 200m-tall turbines gets an extension.

Asia Pacific: PPAs to play significant role for decarbonisation

Corporate renewable PPAs are starting to play a bigger role in Asia Pacific’s decarbonisation efforts, says Wood Mackenzie.

Chinese unveil world's largest hybrid-drive offshore wind turbine

MingYang Smart Energy has unveiled the MySE 16.0-242 turbine, designed to operate in high wind IEC IB, including typhoon class IEC TC.

Two new publications from the ongoing Wind Farm Noise Study in Australia take another step towards improving wind turbine noise assessment methods, guidelines and wind turbine design to make wind energy more acceptable to surrounding communities.

The independent Strategic Investment Assessment (SIA) report names five main recommendations with a focus on bringing the manufacture of floating offshore wind platforms to Scotland.

The contract for the necessary converter technology for the section between the grid interconnection points of Brunsbüttel in Schleswig-Holstein and Leingarten/Großgartach in Baden-Württemberg was signed today.

RWE reorganises business divisions

RWE decided to seperate offshore and onshore activities

The American Clean Power Association (ACP) and the U.S. Energy Storage Association (ESA) today announced that ESA’s member companies approved the merger to join ACP effective January 1, 2022.

Collaboration formed for Japanese floating wind farm

Kansai EPCO and RWE have signed an agreement to jointly study the feasibility of a large-scale floating offshore wind project off the Japanese coast.

New project to address effects of offshore wind farms on marine ecosystems

The British project known as ECOWind wants to understand how marine ecosystems will respond to the continued growth of offshore wind.

Deutsche Windtechnik's entry into the offshore market will increase the competition in the British service sector, and this will have a positive effect on British offshore wind energy as a whole.

Prysmian Group, world leader in the energy and telecom cable systems industry, announced today it is investing $85 million in major equipment and technology upgrades at plants in North America, enabling the company to meet growing production needs for telecom customers.

Scotland to create green, sustainable jobs

SP Energy Networks has launched its biggest recruitment drive this century and joins the Scottish government and other companies in educationg workers for renewable energy jobs.

Vestas wins two projects in Poland

Vestas has received two wind farm orders in Poland totalling 50 MW.

Developer Eurowind Energy has announced to enter the U.S. renewable energy market by establishing an office location in California. The company wants to be ready for developing projects next year.

With the right torque wrench, both speed and process reliability can be ensured in the assembly and maintenance of wind turbines. We recommend electric or battery-powered torque wrenches to manufacturers and service companies in the wind industry, because there are clear advantages over hydraulic torque wrenches.

Axpo signs largest PPA in eastern Europe

The 7-year deal with CEZ’s onshore wind farm is Axpo’s largest in the region to date and covers more than 4 terawatt hours (TWh) of electricity production.

U.S. clean power sector grows at record pace

The U.S. set a new record for clean power sector installations in the second quarter - and there's no end in sight. Still, the industry is sending cautionary words towards Washington.

GE Renewable Energy and PKN ORLEN announced today that they have signed a MoU to explore ways to work together to support the development of offshore wind projects in Poland.

American Clean Power welcomes Congressional budget resolution

The House of Representatives passed a measure advancing the Congressional budget deal.

Van Oord hands over Baltic Eagle cable contract to TKF

TKF will supply inter-array cables for the Baltic Eagle offshore wind farm located in the German Balic Sea.

DEME's Sea Installer gets crane upgrade

The upgraded ‘Sea Installer’ will be deployed for the first time at the 800 MW Vineyard Wind 1 project, one of the first large-scale wind farms in the U.S.

The updated standard includes numerous technical improvements that allow the industry to further optimize floating wind turbine structures while maintaining a sufficient level of safety.

Vineyard Wind supports local economy in New Bedford

Vineyard Wind and the New Bedford Ocean Cluster (NBOC) have launched a program to drive economic development in the region.

Norway: Two new technology pilot projects for CCS and Offshore Wind

Magseis Renewables AS has announced two new technology pilot projects for carbon capture and storage (CCS) and offshore wind in collaboration with TGS.

ABO Wind projects chosen in innovation tender

ABO Wind was successful for the third time in the third innovation tender of the German Federal Network Agency.

Start of commercial operation at RWE's Cassadaga Wind Farm

RWE Renewables has started commercial operation on its 125 megawatt onshore Cassadaga Wind Farm, located in New York.

WFO publishes Global Offshore Wind Report’s HY1 2021 update

Globally 1,627 MW of offshore wind capacity went into operation during HY1 2021.

One month before the German parliamentary elections, WindEurope and German energy associations are calling upon on Germany’s political parties to make climate protection and the energy transition a top priority.

The MAVair family includes the flexible Open Virtualised RAN (Open vRAN) where the evolved RAN architecture, designed with cloud-native virtualisation techniques, enables the RAN to flex and adapt based on usage and coverage.

8.2 Consulting AG to surveil manufacturing for Hollandse Kust Zuid offshore wind farm

8.2 Consulting AG has provided Quality and Surveillance services to Vattenfall for the Hollandse Kust Zuid 1-4 Project .

In the coming weeks, the Scottish Government will publish its Programme for Government. Ahead of that date, Scottish Renewables has listed the top priorities concerning renewable energy.

Ignitis Group sets up new executive team for renewables section

Ignitis Group plans to consolidate its renewable energy companies under one roof called Ignitis Renewables.

Statkraft and Aquila Capital sign PPAs for Finnish wind energy

Statkraft and Aquila Capital have signed their first power purchase agreements (PPAs) in Finland for two onshore wind farms.

Ramboll signs new head for its own green transition

Patrick Gilly will head the transition from the company's traditional oil & gas services to green energy.

DNV has published the world’s first recommended practice (RP) to minimize cost, warranty and liability risks and optimize wind power plant design for seismic conditions in emerging wind power markets such as Asia Pacific and the US.

Dumat Al Jandal, the largest wind farm in the Middle East, has been successfully connected to the grid in Saudi Arabia and has started producing electricity to power 70,000 homes and save 988,000 tonnes of CO2 per year.

Europe pushes boundaries of offshore wind

Europe built 1.3 GW of new offshore wind farms over January-June 2021. And 2.5 GW of new turbines were ordered, pointing to a doubling of the current build-out rate.

Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy will continue to produce wind turbines in its Chinese facilities, but will only export them, CEO Andreas Nauen told German media outlet WirtschaftsWoche.

German Federal Environment Minister Svenja Schulze sent a letter this week to 134 promotional banks and other public financial institutions in the EU, requesting their participation in this year’s European Sustainable Finance Survey.

Also, ABO Wind has reached a new level in the construction of wind farms: In Finland and Spain, the project developer brings projects with a nominal output of more than 100 megawatts to the grid for the first time.

TÜV Nord uses remote inspection for Swedish wind farm

TÜV NORD has used remote inspection methods to successfully audit the production for Vattenfall of key components by Vestas in China.

UL announced the release of Windographer 5, a wholly re-engineered version of its market-leading software for analyzing, visualizing and validating wind resource data from meteorological towers and remote sensing systems.

The Supervisory Board of Schaeffler AG has appointed Claus Bauer (55) to the Board of Managing Directors of Schaeffler AG as Chief Financial Officer (CFO), responsible for Finance & Information Technology, effective September 1, 2021, under a two-year contract.