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Tag: wind farm

Bountiful wind, sun boost German renewable power this year

Posted on by dishanth
Bountiful wind, sun boost German renewable power this year

Germany recorded about 25% more electricity generated from renewable sources in the first three months of the year compared with the same period last year thanks to unusually windy and sunny weather, industry officials said Monday.

Preliminary calculations by the energy lobby group BDEW and the Center for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research indicate that Germany generated about 74.5 billion kilowatt hours of renewable power in the first quarter.

Renewable energy provided about 54% of Germany’s energy needs in January and February, they said.

The German government has pledged to ramp up the use of solar and wind power as part of its plan to wean the country off Russian fossil fuels because of the war in Ukraine.

But like other European countries, Germany is expected to fill part of the shortfall with fossil fuel imports from other regions of the world in the short term.

 

 

Source Independent

Huge floating wind farms are being planned off the coast of Australia

Posted on by dishanth
Huge floating wind farms are being planned off the coast of Australia

Key Points

  • At this moment in time, Australia has no offshore wind farms.
  • Floating offshore wind turbines are different to bottom-fixed offshore wind turbines that are rooted to the seabed. One advantage of floating turbines is that they can be installed in deeper waters compared to bottom-fixed ones.
  • The Global Wind Energy Council estimates that over 235 GW of offshore wind capacity will be installed across the next decade.

 

Plans for three major offshore wind developments in Australia have been announced, with two of them set to incorporate floating wind technology.

In a statement Wednesday, Madrid-headquartered BlueFloat Energy said it was looking to develop the projects with advisory firm Energy Estate, which has a presence in the Australian cities of Sydney, Canberra and Adelaide.

The proposed facilities are the 1.4 gigawatt Hunter Coast Offshore Wind Project, which would be in waters off Newcastle, New South Wales; the Wollongong Offshore Wind Project, set to have a capacity of 1.6 GW and be spread across two sites off Wollongong, New South Wales; and the 1.3 GW Greater Gippsland Offshore Wind Project, planned for waters off Victoria’s Gippsland region.

According to BlueFloat Energy, the Hunter Coast and Wollongong projects will utilize floating wind technology. The Greater Gippsland wind farm will be a bottom-fixed development.

“Offshore wind energy is booming globally and now it is Australia’s time,” Carlos Martin, BlueFloat Energy’s CEO, said in a statement.

“We are excited by the prospect of introducing the two types of offshore wind technology … into Australia, as this will enable us to harness some of the best offshore wind resources globally.”

 

It comes after a report from the Global Wind Energy Council revealed that 6.1 GW of offshore wind capacity was installed in 2020, a small decrease compared to 6.24 GW in 2019.

The GWEC’s report, published earlier this year, forecasts that over 235 GW of offshore wind capacity is set to be installed across the next decade, however, with overall capacity hitting 270 GW by the year 2030.

Australia currently has no offshore wind farms. Toward the end of November its parliament endorsed laws which authorities said would “support the development of Australia’s offshore energy industry and deliver new jobs and investment in offshore windfarms and transmission projects.”

In a statement at the time, Angus Taylor, Australia’s minister for industry, energy and emissions reduction, said the legislation would “accelerate a number of key projects already under development.”

These include Star of the South, another offshore wind farm that’s been proposed for waters off the coast of Gippsland. Those behind the project say if Star of the South is “developed to its full potential” the facility will power roughly 1.2 million homes in the state of Victoria.

 

Over the past few years, a number of firms have become involved with floating offshore wind projects.

Back in 2017 Norway’s Equinor opened Hywind Scotland, a 30 megawatt facility it calls “the first full-scale floating offshore wind farm.”

Then in September 2021, another Norwegian company, Statkraft, said that a long-term purchasing agreement related to a floating offshore wind farm dubbed “the world’s largest” had started.

Elsewhere, RWE Renewables and Kansai Electric Power announced in August that they had signed an agreement that will see them look into the “feasibility of a large-scale floating offshore wind project” in waters off Japan’s coast.

Floating offshore wind turbines are different to bottom-fixed offshore wind turbines that are rooted to the seabed. One advantage of floating turbines is that they can be installed in deeper waters compared to bottom-fixed ones.

RWE has described floating turbines as being “deployed on top of floating structures that are secured to the seabed with mooring lines and anchors.”

 

 

Source CNBC

An offshore wind farm with the ability to ‘power one million households’ is fully up and running

Posted on by dishanth
An offshore wind farm with the ability to ‘power one million households’ is fully up and running

A major offshore wind farm in the Netherlands is now fully operational, with its owners, Danish energy firm Orsted, claiming it provides enough green electricity to power one million households.

Situated 23 kilometers (around 14.3 miles) off the coast of Zeeland, in the southwest of the Netherlands, the 752 megawatt (MW) Borssele 1 & 2 offshore wind farm spans an area of 112 square kilometers. It uses 94 wind turbines from Siemens Gamesa.

In an announcement Friday, Orsted described the facility as the second-largest operating offshore wind farm in the world. The largest, Hornsea One, has a capacity of 1.2 gigawatts (GW) and was also developed by Orsted.

News of Borssele 1 & 2′s commissioning is the latest example of European countries embracing offshore wind and comes after the European Union said it wanted to increase its offshore wind capacity from 12 to 300 GW by 2050.

The “Offshore Renewable Energy Strategy” from the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, also aims for 40 GW of ocean energy such as tidal and wave power within the same time frame.

A number of major offshore wind projects located in European waters are now in the pipeline. These include the Dogger Bank Wind Farm in Britain, which left the EU in January 2020.

A 50:50 joint venture between SSE Renewables and Equinor, the Dogger Bank facility will have a total capacity of 3.6 GW once completed, making it the largest in the world.

At the end of last week, it was announced that a deal to fund the first two phases of the project had been completed. According to SSE, investment for Dogger Bank A and B will amount to approximately £6 billion (around $8 billion).

While Europe is now home to a mature offshore wind sector, the one in the U.S. is still relatively new.

The country’s first offshore wind farm – the 30 MW, five-turbine Block Island Wind Farm, which is also operated by Orsted – only started commercial operations at the end of 2016.

The next few years could see the sector develop, however, with companies starting to invest large amounts of money in schemes located off the East Coast.

Back in September, for instance, oil and gas giant BP took 50% stakes in Equinor’s Empire Wind and Beacon Wind projects, which are located off the coasts of New York State and Massachusetts respectively.

 

 

By Anmar Frangoul

Source CNBC

What Will It Take to Make Offshore Wind Viable in the U.S.?

Posted on by dishanth
What Will It Take to Make Offshore Wind Viable in the U.S.?

The benefits of offshore wind power have become indisputable. While it takes significant investment to bring these sources of power about, we can see that where offshore wind is being introduced, jobs are being created and clean, sustainable energy is being generated.

Despite these clear and appealing benefits, however, only a handful of countries have made significant progress toward embracing offshore wind in a meaningful manner. Of the countries leading in offshore wind power, just three—China, Germany, and the UK—account for more than 80% of worldwide installations. The UK leads (at 34%), and is expected to obtain one-third of all its energy from wind power by 2030 (with tens of thousands of new jobs created along the way).

So, what would it take for the U.S. to inch toward that group of leaders? With many Americans increasingly focused on clean power and broader sustainability efforts, it’s a fair question to ask. And there are a few developments and steps that would seem to make for the clearest path forward for offshore wind viability in the U.S.

 

The Block Island Wind Farm off the coast of Rhode Island began operating in 2016. It is still the only commercial offshore wind farm operating in the U.S. Courtesy: Deepwater Wind

 

Ongoing Struggles for Oil & Gas

There hasn’t been much good news in 2020, but some with interest in the clean energy movement have seen silver linings in the oil and gas industry’s struggles. As a result of decimated demand due to the coronavirus, this industry experienced a catastrophic crash in March and April. And while the movement in oil’s trading price since has shown some recovery, it’s been anything but complete. Oil is still trading much lower than it typically does, demand remains unreliable, and major producers have had to curb output to avoid further price crashes.

There are no guarantees about how all of this will play out, but some see it as the development that was needed for renewable energy to gain ground. An oil and gas industry that is even partially crippled will make way for alternative fuel and energy sources, including offshore wind power. And if the oil and gas struggles continue, we could even see meaningful shifts in energy investment.

 

Government Emphasis on Clean Energy

Without getting too far into politics, it’s important to note that government policy will play a role in any meaningful transition toward offshore wind power as well. Somewhat surprisingly, some analyses of clean energy and the 2020 election actually suggest that the industry is poised to progress regardless of outcomes. The suggestion is that there’s an inevitability to clean energy, and that in time, we’ll see more renewable options regardless of politics.

With that said, there’s no denying the fact that some in politics prioritize the transition to cleaner energy more than others. Should changes in the government this year result in more power for those who want to focus explicitly on environmental sustainability and energy-related job creation, the U.S. will have moved closer to the widespread viability of offshore wind power.

 

Demonstrated Effectiveness and Public Buy-In

We mentioned above that the UK is already seeing significant job creation and the availability of clean power as a result of its emphasis on offshore wind. But information from overseas isn’t necessarily likely to move the American public—at least not as much as the same information at home would be. However, there is some hope of a snowball effect once offshore wind power does begin to expand in the U.S.

That is to say, if Americans see for themselves that offshore wind is a developing industry—one providing new jobs and clean, affordable energy—public demand for a focus on clean power could intensify. It may be that in a few years’ time, it will be in the best interest of government officials and related companies alike to satisfy that demand.

Investment from Key Companies

Perhaps most important of all will be significant investment from key companies in the energy sector. This may come about as a result of greater government emphasis or a declining oil and gas industry, but it’s still the step that will truly bring about meaningful advancement in offshore wind power (and, possibly, that snowball effect).

Fortunately, it’s also something we may be witnessing the beginnings of. POWER covered changes being made by Duke Energy in the Carolinas, in pursuit of net-zero carbon goals by 2050. And among those changes are the transition away from coal and significant capital investment in renewable energy sources, including offshore wind. It’s only one example, but it’s a big one, and it’s the kind of story we’ll be seeing more of when the U.S. is ready to make more of a leap toward harnessing offshore wind.

—Alyssa Regina Rose is a writer with a passion for the environment. She believes that the world needs to switch to renewable energy now and hopes that her articles help people understand why.

 

 

Source: Power Mag

Siemens Gamesa bags contract to supply giant turbines to UK wind farm

Posted on by dishanth
Siemens Gamesa bags contract to supply giant turbines to UK wind farm

Sofia offshore wind farm off UK coast in North Sea is set to have 100 262-metre tall turbines after developer Innogy signed a deal with turbine manufacturer Siemens Gamesa.

A wind farm planned in UK waters in the central North Sea is set to be the first in Europe to boast a new generation of king-sized turbines produced by Siemens Gamesa.

Developer Innogy confirmed yesterday that it had signed a preferred supplier agreement with the turbine maker for 100 of its new 14MW offshore turbines, which are 262 metres tall, or just 47 metres shorter than The Shard.

The turbines are set to be installed at the developer’s planned 1.4GW Sofia offshore wind project, which is located just under 200 kilometres from the UK coast in the shallow Dogger Bank zone of the central North Sea.

Innogy expects to start onshore work for the project at its Teesside converter station site in early 2021 with offshore construction then starting in 2023. Once comissioned, it expects the farm to generate enough low-carbon electricity to supply roughly 1.2 million average UK homes with their annual electricity needs.

The order is conditional upon Innogy taking the final investment decision, which it expects to happen the first quarter of 2021.

Minister for Energy and Clean Growth Kwasi Kwarteng celebrated the milestone, noting that the UK’s fast-growing offshore wind sector was set to play a “vital role” in the UK’s transition to a net zero economy.

“The UK has invested more in offshore wind than any other country and is already home to the world’s largest offshore wind farms,” he said. “Now the UK will be the first European nation to boast this cutting-edge turbine technology at Sofia offshore wind farm. Offshore wind will play a vital role in a future net-zero UK economy, and already supplies 10 per cent of UK electricity demand – a figure we expect to double by the middle of the decade.”

Siemens Gamesa said that the SG 14-222 model, which is 25 per cent more powerful than the firm’s next-best model, will be market-ready by 2024. Each enormous turbine will have a 222-metre diametre rotor and sweep an area of 39,000 metres squared.

Advocates of large scale turbines argue that their increased capacity helps to reduce costs and environmental impacts from new offshore wind farms, making the technology even more competitive.

Sven Utermöhlen, Innogy’s senior vice president of renewables operations offshore, said that the Sofia wind farm’s remote location, at 195 kilometers from the coast, necessitated the advanced technology.

“Siemens Gamesa’s towering 14 MW machine is a perfect match for our flagship Sofia project, together cementing offshore wind‘s central role in the world’s clean energy future,” he said. “This turbine embodies the impressive technology we need to build our ground-breaking project that is further from shore and more technically challenging than any of its predecessors.”

His colleague Richard Sandford, director of offshore investment and asset management, said the deal would have positive implications for the broader UK economy.

“It is also to be noted that the company [Siemens Gamesa] is a staunch supporter of the UK’s offshore wind sector, having shown impressive commitment to the development of its own facilities and to the local supply chain,” Sandford said. “This is of utmost importance to us as we work to support the Sector Deal commitments, particularly in relation to UK content.”

Siemens Gamesa and Innogy said the deal would lead to “significant opportunities” across the supply chain in the UK, noting that Siemens Gamesa already had more than 2,000 UK employees.

 

 

Source www.businessgreen.com

By Cecilia Keating