News Archive August 2022

Ireland increases offshore wind target

The Irish Government has announced to increase its offshore wind ambition. Wind Energy Ireland welcomes the decision, but also warns the planning system needs to be reformed.

Iberdrola and bp join forces to push green hydrogen production

Iberdrola and bp enter into a strategic collaboration agreement to contribute to the decarbonisation of transport and industrial sectors in Spain, Portugal and the UK.

Voltalia to build new wind farm in France

The Sud Vannier wind farm will be constructed in the Grand-Est region in France.

Eickhoff gets new up-tower crane from KenzFigee

The Heli-HookTM up-tower crane will be used to exchange gearbox components on wind turbines of leading wind turbine manufacturers with a hub height of maximum 140 meter.

Fugro will perform a marine site investigation for Vattenfall' Norfolk Boreas offshore wind farm located off England’s east coast. The planned 1.4 GW wind farm is part of Vattenfall’s Norfolk Zone.

“Existing turbines use radial-flux generators, and the current designs are reliant on rare earth magnets,” teases Andrew Hine from GreenSpur Wind. “However, we employ a unique and highly innovative axial-flux architecture that makes the use of rare-earth free magnets possible."

Iberdrola invests in Polish renewable energy projects

The preliminary agreement was signed with Augusta Energy for the acquisition of 98 megawatts includes wind and solar projects in Poland.

Next German offshore wind farm powers up

The first turbine of the Kaskasi offshore wind farm was recently commissioned 35 kilometers north of the island of Helgoland and is now feeding green electricity into the grid.

Cadeler wins Hornsea 3 gig

Cadeler has signed an agreement with Ørsted for the installation of offshore foundations at the Hornsea 3 offshore wind farm in the UK.

French renewable energy company Total Eren finished work on three wind farms in Portugal adding 52.8 MW of wind power to its portfolio of electricity generation from renewable sources.

Professio Energia and Danske Commodities sign PPA for three Croatian wind farms

The wind farms are among the first in Croatia to voluntarily leave the Feed-in Tariff (FiT) subsidy scheme.

The battery storage project marks a big step forward in the realisation of Bath and North East Somerset Council’s net zero strategy and will power the equivalent of 14,000 homes.

Octopus Energy to repower 1,000 small wind turbines

Octopus Energy has teamed up with EWT to repower up to 1,000 small wind turbines across the UK to upgrade these turbines to more powerful and tech-enabled ones.

Nexans has published its financial statements for the first-half of 2022 with record-high EBITDA, net income and ROCE performances, underpinned by strong momentum and Nexans’ transformation platform.

Global investment in renewable energy totaled $226 billion in the first half of 2022, setting a new record for the first six months of a year, BloombergNEF reports.

Ørsted inaugurates O&M Hub in Taiwan

Located at the Port of Taichung, the O&M hub is the first operations facility with green design and the largest in terms of size and offshore service capacity in the Asia-Pacific region.

Siemens Gamesa today announced decisive steps under the Mistral strategy program to accelerate the company’s turnaround after ending a challenging third quarter marked by ongoing difficulties in the wind energy industry as well as internal challenges mainly impacting the onshore pipeline.

The 'Solar and Wind Grid Services and Reliability Demonstration Program' will show how clean energy resources can address key reliability challenges facing the grid by developing and testing tools and plant functions that allow the grid to stay online amid disturbances and restart if it goes down.

President Joe Biden had originally set out to finally introduce comprehensive climate protection measures in the US. But internal party squabbles prevented his program. Now there is a surprising agreement on a slimmed-down package - but is it any good?

GEO-NET installed the first two 160 m met masts in South Africa for wind and energy yield assessments for their customer. These are the highest wind measuring masts in South Africa for wind farm development.

WindEurope welcomes Greek Offshore Wind Law

Last week the Greek Parliament approved the country’s first Offshore Wind Law – an important step towards operating the first wind farms in Greek waters.

Schaeffler: solid results in a challenging environment

Guidance for 2022 confirmed

Hexicon increases its ownership in floating MunmuBaram wind project in South Korea

Hexicon is increasing its direct ownership and buying 20 percent of the project company.

Scientists are working on a chemical process which converts sunlight, water and carbon dioxide into acetate and oxygen to produce high-value fuels and chemicals powered by renewable energy.

Deutsche Windtechnik wins approval of world's first ADLS at an offshore wind farm

This makes Germany's Nordergründe the first near-coastal offshore wind farm in the world to have its light emissions reduced to a minimum

The combined agreements for the output of 250 MW of renewable generation capacity will result in the purchase of more than 660,000 megawatt hours (MWh) of electricity per year, BASF said.

Hollandse Kust Zuid delivers first power

The Dutch offshore wind farm delivered power to the Dutch electricity grid despite still running in a testing phase.

Maryland invests in offshore wind workforce training

The State of Maryland has announced to invest $22.9 million federal investment in the state’s offshore wind workforce training.

Ping and Cerulean Winds want to form a joint venture to deploy and operate a floating wind turbine, which will power the Sevan Hummingbird Floating Production Storage and Offloading vessel.

Tata Power commissions hybrid power project in India

The first hybrid project developed by Tata Power consists of the recently commissioned 225MW solar farm at Noorsar and existing wind assets of 96MW in Rajasthan, India.

Australia passes new Climate Change Bill

The newly elected Government off Australia has initiated a Climate Change Bill that will enshrine into law an emissions reduction target of 43 per cent from 2005 levels by 2030.

Statkraft and Deutsche Telekom sign PPA in Germany

Statkraft will supply an average of 150 GWh of wind power per year for the years 2023 to 2028 from wind farms with a total capacity of over 150 MW.

Australia announces six regions for potential offshore wind farms

The new government is keeping the speed high and has announced six proposed regions that have world-class offshore wind energy potential.

Several renewable energy advocacy groups have welcomed the Senate passing of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, hoping for a clear sign against climate change.

Emergency measures in France

The French Government tries to boost its renewable energy assets because of the current energy crisis.

Seán Manley, country director for Natural Power Ireland, said: “Natural Power is delighted to be working with Statkraft again to manage the Moanvane project through the construction phase."

Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind reaches approval from Virginia State Corporation Commission

CVOW's schedule calls for construction to be complete in 2026, when it can generate enough clean energy to power up to 660,000 homes.

The planned wind farm is located 15km off the Angus Coast in East Scotland. The project will be Scotland’s largest single source of renewable power when built, with the capacity to generate the equivalent annual power needs of more than 1.7m homes.

The company will start early works on the Engineering, Procurement, Installation and Commissioning (EPIC) of inter-array grid cables for the Moray West offshore wind farm off the coast of Scotland.

Green instead of grey

Eneco stops selling grey power to its Dutch business customers, the company announced. Instead, every customer will only be able to buy green electricity.

“The positive reception from investors is a reflection of Innergex’s financial strength and growth prospects in Chile,” said Michel Letellier, President and Chief Executive Officer of Innergex.

European consumers want more renewable energy

A new survey finds European consumers worry about energy and highg prices. Most of them favour renewables as the fear of climate change grows.

Shell finishes acquisition of Sprng Energy group

Sprng Energy develops and manages renewable energy assets such as solar and wind farms and is based in India.

Exploring the offshore wind potential of the Philippines

AboitizPower, Clime Capital Management and Rocky Mountain Institute are launching a feasibility study on the development of up to 3,000 megawatts of offshore wind capacity.

PNE publishes half-year financial report

The developer reports a massive growth in its wind and solar pipeline.

Japan on its way to reach 2030 climate target

The country has set itself the goal of reaching 36-38% of renewable energy supply by 2030. GlobalData's new report shows, Japan is close to reaching the target.

GE Digital’s OPM Production Planning solution minimizes uncertainty to ensure reliability of power generation to meet demand, lower the generation costs and improve profitability.

Anyone who travels to the Baltic States quickly notices that the three small states on the Baltic Sea, which used to be part of the Soviet Union, no longer have much in common with their 'big brother' from Russia. This was already the case before the Ukraine war - and has now become even more acute. Now even the last common ground in the energy sector is to be cut.

Only one and a half years ago, PALFINGER MARINE secured its first offshore wind farm deal in France. Since then, PALFINGER MARINE has already received three more deals in France, delivering six jetty cranes and 64 fixed boom cranes for the renewables industry.

Ørsted established its supply chain decarbonisation programme in 2020 and began working with its strategic suppliers to decarbonise its offshore wind supply chain. Now all suppliers have to follow.

Amongst others Deutsche Windtechnik will conduct back-to-back inspections in Trianel Windpark Borkum I, Sandbank, DanTysk and Butendiek wind farms this year as part of the campaign.

Hexicon plans to build several floating wind farms around Italy

Hexicon is currently working on getting concessions for the development of floating wind farms around the coast of Italy.

Freudenberg at the WindEnergy Hamburg 2022

Freudenberg Performance Materials is introducing Freudenberg Friction Inserts, a unique technology aimed at increasing the power density of wind turbines.

Siemens Gamesa wll supply 14 units of the SG 5.0-145 turbines in the Philippines following the country’s first round of renewable energy auctions.

Louisiana gets its own offshore wind energy hub

The University of New Orleans launches the hub to spur the development of novel technologies and supplying trained professionals to the rapidly expanding renewable energy sector.

JDR to supply subsea array cables for German offshore wind farm

JDR will supply 100km of 66kV array cable that will connect the 64 wind turbines at the 900MW He Dreiht offshore wind farm.

Wind power generates one quarter of the UK’s annual electricity needs

The UK’s combined onshore and offshore wind capacity now reaches 25.5 gigawatts which is enough to power 19 million households a year.

ScottishPower Renewables starts work on East Anglia THREE offshore wind farm

East Anglia THREE, part of the East Anglia Hub, has a capacity of 1,400MW of green electricity – enough to power around 1.3 million homes.

Keppel invests in German offshore wind farm

Two of the Keppel Group's companies jointly invest in Borkum Riffgrund 2

Sweden is late to the offshore wind game, but several big announcements in the past few months hint at the possibility of rapid growth in offshore wind in Sweden in the second half of this decade

ACP CEO Heather Zichal Statement hails passing of historic Inflation Reduction Act

“History was made in Washington today."

Nordex celebrates successful July

The turbine manufacturer received orders for more than 100 MW.

ACP welcomes California's new offshore wind targets

The California Energy Commission recently adopted the nation’s most ambitious offshore wind goals, thus setting a target of 2-5 GW of offshore wind by 2030 and 25 GW by 2045.

American Clean Power Week 2022 is happening right now

The yearly nationwide celebration, organized by the ACP, showcases job opportunities and domestic clean energy security.

Taiwan’s Environmental Protection Administration has approved the Environmental Impact Assessment for Ørsted’s Xu Feng 2 and 3 offshore wind projects last week.

The newly developed Soft-Spot® foundations are being used for the first time at the 40.8-megawatt Rea Unificado wind farm in northeastern Spain. They significantly reduce construction effort and material costs and save several tons of CO2.

After criticising statements made during the Conservative leadership race, the Association for Renewable Energy and Clean Technology (REA) has welcomed Labour Party’s proposals to address the energy crisis.

Severe under-prediction of long-range wake losses by engineering wake loss models

Commonly used engineering wake models vastly underpredict energy losses due to external wakes, ArcVera reports in a new study.

Erova Energy signed PPA for Brase of Doune wind farm

The onshore wind farm which is owned by Greencoat has been in operation since June 2007 and is comprised of 36 turbines, with a total capacity of 72MW.

Schaeffler: Robust rotor and gear bearing solutions as an answer to increasing performance optimization

Schaeffler presents its new products at the WindEnergy Hamburg 2022, Hall B5, Stand 333.

“It’s official. We, at long last, have a new national policy in place that is designed to drive the transition to clean energy and address the climate crisis," Gregory Wetstone, President and CEO of the American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE) said.

“With the stroke of the pen, a clean energy future is now the law of the land"

ACP in favor of President Biden's signature for the IRA.

Mainstream vows to create 100 new jobs in Irish HQ

Mainstream Renewable Power wants to become one of the world's leading renewable energy developers by 2030.

Finnish fund invests in Croatian wind farm

The Taaleri SolarWind II fund has, together with Encro, acquired 100% percent ownership of the 111 MW Zadar wind farm in Croatia.

DEME Offshore installed French offshore substation jacket and topside

DEME’s new vessel Orion successfully installs the Fécamp offshore substation jacket and topside in France.

Skanska to rebuild U.S. Port for offshore wind energy

Skanska will redevelop parts of the Portsmouth Marine Terminal for the purpose of handling offshore wind components.

Innergex signs PPA for Boswell Springs Wind Farm

The Boswell Springs project was selected in response to a competitive solicitation in PacifiCorp’s 2020 All-Source Request for Proposals, issued in July 2020.

Pandemic effect fizzles out

The EU's greenhouse gas emissions are already almost back to pre-Corona pandemic levels. The hoped-for effect for a lasting reduction failed to materialize. Where is the EU heading?

Apex and Meta sign PPA for Great Pathfinder Wind in Iowa

Upon completion, Great Pathfinder Wind will support Meta’s operations under a long-term power purchase agreement for the full capacity of the project.

New York State further pushes renewable energy

Governor Kathy Hochul today announced the third solicitation under the large-scale renewable energy procurement program known as Competitive Tier 2.

The contract will involve the civil works associated with the cable installation and National Grid connection, the cable installation itself and the reinstatement of land following the installation of the HVDC cables, including tree and hedgerow planting.

Modeling wind farm conditions to win more output

Virtually all wind turbines are controlled as if they were individual, free-standing units while the vast majority are part of larger wind farm installations.

Port of Aberdeen to install new charging infrastructure

The Port of Aberdeen partners with Stillstrom to install an innovative charging hub for offshore vessels on standby.

Report: wind power booming in the U.S.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today released three reports showing that wind power remains one of America’s fastest growing energy sources and a generator of high-quality jobs.

“We can leverage our existing infrastructure and waterfront location to deliver a low-cost, low-risk offshore wind transmission system. Queensboro Renewable Express, as part of the larger Renewable Ravenswood vision, is designed in partnership with our neighbors and community, and we are excited to make it a reality," CEO says.

Ørsted and Prospect find solution for O&M workers

Prospect is recognised as the sole negotiating body for the terms and conditions of around 450 of Ørsted’s O&M staff in the UK.

Iberdrola launches market call for offshore wind farm design that protect the environment

Iberdrola proposes, as a starting point, implementing solutions that protect infrastructures and submarine cables from underwater scour.

Furgo finishes site investigation works for Arklow Bank Wind Park

Fugro gained a much clearer understanding of the seabed conditions within the lease area

JERA, together with MODEC, Toyo Construction, and Furukawa Electric Industry, has launched a subsea ground survey in Ishikari Bay, Hokkaido, Japan to prepare tests using tension leg platform floating offshore wind turbines.

Energy Island in the North Sea: public hearing starts

The Danish Energy Agency initiates a five-week public hearing concerning the environmental assessment for the plan of an energy hub in the North Sea with associated facilities.

Following a clearing process, the area east of Shetland was made available for ScotWind applicants who met the required standards but who did not secure their chosen location earlier in the leasing process.

Huisman introduces harsh environment semi-submersible drilling rig

The Harsh Environment Semi-Submersible Drilling Rig offers both significant cost and emissions reduction.

Ocean Winds was named preferred bidder for seabed lease options for two adjacent sites reaching 2.3 GW capacity, in depths that will require floating technology.

After the end of the state subsidy boom in 2014, the wind sector in Romania was in the doldrums. Now Siemens Gamesa and Eurowind Energy are jointly building the country's first subsidy-free project.

EnBW hands over full-service hybrid agreement to Connected Wind Services

Connected Wind Services Group has signed a full-service hybrid agreement for 43 Vestas V90 turbines, owned by EnBW, located in Sweden.

wpd windmanager hits 6-gigawatt mark

The operations manager expands its portfolio in the wind farm and solar farm management and reaches another milestone.

Scotland's largest offshore wind farm produces first power

The 1,075 MW Seagreen offshore wind farm produced its first power on Monday after the first of a total of 114 turbines had been commissioned.

Royal IHC wins Boskalis contract

Royal IHC has been awarded the contract to deliver an advanced modular cable lay spread (MCLS).

RES launches new in-house high voltage team

RES has today announced that it is expanding its services offering through the creation of a standalone renewables high voltage engineering services team in the UK and Ireland.

World Energy Council: optimism about speed of energy transition declines rapidly

Global leaders’ optimism about the pace of energy transition has decreased rapidly since the last poll, the World Energy Council has stated.

By lowering the costs of clean hydrogen and leveraging industry investments in clean technologies, DOE is making significant strides towards a net-zero carbon economy by 2050.

The Bengal tiger awakens - again

India has huge untapped potential for wind energy, according to a new GWEC report. When will the country begin to exploit this valuable resource?

MENCK works on UK offshore wind farm

The MHU 4400S hammer system has successfully been used in the world’s largest one part driving configuration to support the installation of the first foundations on the unnamed project.

DEME Offshore and Havfram want to support Norwegian offshore wind industry

Both DEME Offshore and Havfram plan to play an important role in the upcoming Norwegian offshore wind market by offering their services.

RES sells Turkish wind farm to Dost Enerji

The deal will also see RES take on Asset Management agreements for Dost Enerji’s existing 185MW operational portfolio of projects.

ERG to build wind farm in Kazakhstan

Eurasian Resources Group (ERG) plans to build a 155 MW wind farm in the Aktobe region.

SeisWind® 3D is designed to offer an efficient data acquisition footprint with the highest resolution to enable detailed ground modelling and interpretation of near surface geology for the safe development of offshore projects.

New US law encourages renewable investments

Rystad Energy predicts extra investments of $270 billion in the wind and solar industry spurred by the Inflation Reduction Act.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul has announced that Maine and Rhode Island are the latest parties to join a New York-Led multi-agency consortium to push for a regional clean energy hub in the Northeast of the U.S.

This achievement will put Prysmian Group in a unique position to support the forthcoming tenders for submarine interconnectors aimed at granting efficiency, flexibility and reliability of power grids.

Naturgy commissions Torozos II wind farm in Valladolid

Naturgy has commissioned the Torozos II wind farm, its second wind farm in Castromonte (Valladolid) in northern Spain.

DP Energy Australia Director and Country Manager Catherine Way said DP Energy had been looking at offshore potential in Australia for a number of years and had previously identified development opportunities within the Federal Government’s recent declaration of areas for offshore wind projects.

Goldwind starts building its own Chinese installation vessels

Goldwind has announced the construction start for its 1600 t wind turbine installation vessel in Nantong, Jiangsu Province in China.

wpd secures financing for another Swedish wind farm

KfW IPEX-Bank is financing the construction and operation of the Swedish wind farm Stöllsäterberget developed by wpd.

OX2 has sold its three planned offshore wind farms off the coast of Sweden to Ingka Investments. The projects have the potential to produce up to 38 TWh combined, once operational, corresponding to more than 25% of the electricity consumed in Sweden 2021.

Marine site investigations to start for Norway's first large-scale offshore wind farm

Fugro has been awarded a marine site characterisation contract for the planned Sørlige Nordsjø II offshore wind farm.

Acciona wins Best Performing Wind Farm Award in India

The Indian Wind Power Association awarded ACCIONA Energía's Tuppadahalli Wind Farm as 'Best Performing Wind Farm' for the year 2021-22.

World’s leading manufacturer of industrial fasteners Dokka Fasteners chose the Lithuanian port city Klaipeda as the ideal location for a new factory primarily supplying the global wind energy market.

B-REP signs PPA for locally produced wind power

The B-REP recently entered a PPA with the Mount Gellibrand Wind Farm near Birregurra, Australia for the provision of 68 gigawatt hours a year of renewable electricity.

Global government support for fossil fuels increased last year

“Fossil fuel subsidies are a roadblock to a more sustainable future," OECD and IEA warn.

The Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon supports technology development for sustainable and environmentally friendly energy production and its conversion to secondary products and is part of H2Mare.

From the 27.-30. September 2022 in Hamburg the international exhibition WindEnergy takes place. This is the best opportunity to see M-PT bolting tools live in action. Visit M-PT in hall B7 at booth 322. We are looking forward to meet you!

Mexico's renewable energy market suffers lack of government support

Since a change in government in 2018, the growth in Mexico’s renewable power sector has been slowed down significantly.

Inch Cape OWF selects Port of Dundee as pre-assembly base

Inch Cape Offshore Limited has selected the Port of Dundee as the pre-assembly and marshalling site for the construction of the 1.1GW Inch Cape Offshore Wind Farm.

Equinor praises North Sea offshore wind resources

Equinor continues to pursue a strong portfolio based on the vast offshore wind resources of the North Sea.

"We are sticking to our forecast and continue to expect a consolidated profit for 2022 as a whole at least at the level of the previous year," said Managing Director Dr Karsten Schlageter.

Not only since Russia's war against Ukraine has the Baltic Sea come more and more into focus as a location for offshore wind energy, because by now all riparian states are planning their own offshore wind farms. What was previously mainly an industrial initiative is now being given an official touch: politicians are following suit and passing far-reaching resolutions.

Main investor wanted

Are you interested in developing a wind power plant in Romania?

Kongsberg Maritime launches decision support tool for vessel optimisation

EcoAdvisor™ works by collecting and analysing real-time data from various systems onboard.