Petrofac has secured a contract from Iberdrola Engineering and Construction UK Limited (IEC) to deliver a detailed engineering design scope to support the next stage of the East Anglia I (EA1) offshore wind farm development. This is Petrofac’s second project on the EA1 development, with its Project Development group having already completed the basic engineering for IEC…
Aquila Capital acquires two German wind parks
Aquila Capital announced that it acquired two operational wind parks in Germany. The acquisitions increase Aquila Capital’s wind energy portfolio to an installed capacity of approximately 720 MW. The wind parks have an installed capacity of 34 MW and 46 MW respectively, making them comparatively large assets within the German wind market. The wind parks will…
ESS completes clearance for DONG Energy’s Race Bank Offshore Wind project
Ecosse Subsea Systems (ESS) has completed a second major seabed clearance project on behalf of DONG Energy on what will be one of the world’s largest offshore wind farms. The Scottish subsea technology specialist cleared more than 3,000 boulders at the site of the DONG Energy’s Race Bank Offshore Wind Farm, located off the Norfolk and…
Siemens to showcase new onshore wind turbines and service innovation at WindEnergy Hamburg
At the WindEnergy 2016 trade show Siemens will showcase various innovations designed to address the challenges of the energy transition, appearing under the motto: “Smart solutions every step of the way.” From September 27 to 30, the company will showcase not only breadth of existing products and solutions for the entire value chain of wind…
A wind developer’s guide to the transmission grid
By Jay Haley, PE Principal in Charge of Wind Energy | EAPC This is the second in a two-part series on wind-farm development. The first article, entitled Advice for first-time developers, was published in the June 2016 issue. It discussed some of the regulations and challenges of wind-farm site selection. While many developers put time and…
Granada awarded davit crane contract for Beatrice Offshore Wind
Bladt Industries has awarded a major contract to Manchester company Granada Material Handling to design, manufacture, deliver, and commission 30 davit crane units for the Beatrice Offshore Windfarm Ltd (BOWL) project, one of the largest private investments ever made in Scottish infrastructure. The Granada Python crane units has been specifically designed for Beatrice and the…
ACCIONA’s Ventika wind farm inaugurated in Mexico
ACCIONA Energía recently held an inauguration ceremony for the Ventika wind-power complex in Nuevo León, Mexico. With a capacity of 252 MW, it is currently the largest ever built by ACCIONA for a client. The Ventika project consists of eighty-four AW116/3000 wind turbines of Nordex/ACCIONA Windpower technology. With a nominal capacity of 3 MW, each turbine…
Ingeteam launches fixed-to-variable speed wind-power conversion system
Ingeteam, the global supplier of electrical conversion equipment, announced the launch of its new solution dubbed INGECON WIND FIX2VAR SPEED, an autonomous power-conversion system that increases the Annual Energy Production (AEP), lifetime, and grid-performance of fixed-speed wind turbines. The system better enables turbines to transform to a variable speed to best match wind conditions. With…
Drones could play a bigger role at wind farms
By Grant Leaverton, Vice President & General Manager Advanced Aerial Inspection Resources (AAIR) Commercial-grade drones are proving to be more than a novelty. Advanced optics, cameras, battery life, data analytic systems, and the ability to remain stable in strong winds means these machines can provide a valuable service at wind farms. Drone inspections of turbine towers…
Offshore wind alliance launched in New York
A diverse coalition of organizations including environmental groups, offshore wind-power developers, advocates, academics, and consultants have formed the New York Offshore Wind Alliance (NYOWA). The coalition is a project of the Alliance for Clean Energy New York (ACE NY), a non-profit organization promoting renewable energy and energy efficiency in New York. The mission of NYOWA…
You’re invited: Virginia Renewable Energy Task Force meeting
The U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) is inviting the public to its Virginia Intergovernmental Renewable Energy Task Force meeting on September 22 at the Wyndham Virginia Beach Oceanfront in Virginia Beach. The purpose of the meeting is to discuss the current status of activities offshore Virginia. BOEM’s Virginia Intergovernmental Renewable Energy Task Force…
Statoil adds to its UK offshore wind operations
Statoil and Statkraft have signed a letter of intent that Statoil takes over as operator of the Sheringham Shoal Offshore Wind Farm from January 2017. Statoil will also through this deal increase its share in the Dogger Bank projects. Sheringham Shoal is one of the world’s 10 largest producing offshore wind farms providing renewable energy…
AWEA praises Administration’s commitment to advancing U.S. offshore wind
The path to a thriving American offshore wind power industry became clearer today following the release of the National Offshore Wind Strategy by the U.S. Department of Energy and Department of the Interior. Nancy Sopko, Manager, Advocacy and Federal Legislative Affairs, made this statement on behalf of the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA): “We commend…
DOE announces new national offshore wind strategy to drive deployment
U.S. Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz and U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell announced the publication of a collaborative strategic plan to continue accelerating the development of offshore wind energy in the United States. The National Offshore Wind Strategy: Facilitating the Development of the Offshore Wind Industry in the United States could help enable 86…
U.S. deployed 41.2 MW of energy storage in Q2 2016, on pace for another historic year
According to the latest U.S. Energy Storage Monitor, a quarterly publication from GTM Research and the Energy Storage Association (ESA), the U.S. deployed 41.2 MW of energy storage in the second quarter of 2016, an increase of 126% over the first quarter of the year. Year-over-year, energy storage deployments were up just 1%. What the market lacked…
Boralex inaugurates Quebec community wind farm
Canadian-based, Boralex Inc., officially inaugurated the Frampton community wind farm in Quebec. Commissioned in December 2015, the project, which is located on private land in the Municipality of Frampton, has 12 wind turbines with a total capacity of 24 MW. It is expected to supply electricity to nearly 5,000 Quebec households every year until 2035.…
Slater Technology to fund start-up wind company with the goal of reducing O&M costs
The Slater Technology Fund announced it has committed $20,000 to Aquanis, a North Kingstown, RI-based startup developing a device that promises to improve efficiency and extend the service life of utility-scale wind turbines. With a mission of reducing the cost of wind energy, Aquanis aims to play a key role in helping the industry reach the…
Sentient Energy and Landis + Gyr announce new plug-and-play line sensors
Sentient Energy, Inc. and Landis+Gyr announced a new automated provisioning capability for Landis+Gyr’s S610 Line Sensor. As a result, this intelligent fault circuit indicator, developed by Sentient Energy, can now be deployed as a plug-and-play network component in Landis+Gyr’s Gridstream Distribution Intelligence solution. “By further automating this part of the deployment process, utilities more quickly…
World’s largest offshore wind turbine successfully installed at Burbo Bank
The first of 32, 8-MW wind turbines has been successfully installed at the Burbo Bank Extension offshore wind farm, under construction by DONG Energy in Liverpool Bay. The project is a joint partnership between DONG Energy (50%), PKA (25%), and KIRKBI A/S (25%). At 195 m, the MHI Vestas 8-MW turbines are the largest in…
TechnoCentre éolien receives funding for research on renewables & storage integration
The TechnoCentre éolien (TCE), a designated college centre for technology transfer affiliated with the Cégep de la Gaspésie et des Îles, received a significant financial package in support of its research program on the intelligent integration of renewable energy and storage technologies in microgrids. This program, which will last five years (2016-2021), will benefit from financial…