Continuing its dramatic growth in renewable energy, Duke Energy has raised its 2020 renewable energy goal by 33%. The company expects to own or purchase 8,000 MW of wind, solar, and biomass capacity by 2020 – a 33% jump from the old goal of 6,000 MW established in 2013. “Duke Energy is accelerating the pace of our renewable…
Utility-scale solar surpasses wind in California for first time in 2015
Recent analysis from Vaisala, a global leader in environmental and industrial measurement, reveals that in 2015 energy from grid-connected, utility-scale solar plants surpassed wind for the first time in California. While this is an exciting milestone for the solar industry, the rise of solar also brings with it a demand for better forecasting information to…
PREP Wind Farm generating power for Pantex
The Texas Panhandle has some of the world’s best winds for creating renewable energy, and the wind farm at the Pantex Plant is taking advantage of those winds — generating up to 60% of the energy needs of the plant in an inaugural program, mandated by the White House. In 2013, construction on the one-of-a-kind wind…
Gamesa secures several wind orders for the supply of 198 MW in India
Gamesa, a global technology provider in wind energy, continues to consolidate its leadership position in the Indian wind-power market, emerging as the number one OEM for the third year running in 2015. Now the company has four new orders for the supply of 198 MW in total. The first contract encompasses the supply of 50 G114-2.0 MW…
GE reaches milestone with 50,000 MW of global wind installations
GE Renewable Energy announced it now has more than 50,000 MW of onshore wind turbines installed across the globe. The company reached the milestone in the first quarter of 2016, largely thanks to its recent acquisition of Alstom’s renewable energy unit in November 2015. GE’s global wind footprint, which now extends to more than 35…
Siemens receives order for 102 turbines for offshore wind-power plant
Siemens has received a major order for its offshore wind-power business: the company is to supply, install, and commission 102 wind turbines, each with a capacity of 7 MW and a rotor diameter of 154 meters, for the East Anglia ONE project. The customer is ScottishPower Renewables, a subsidiary of Iberdrola S.A. The 714-MW wind-power…
Siemens introduces Digital Services for Energy, powered by Sinalytics
Experts say that the digital universe will double in size every two years and that by 2020 will reach 44 zettabytes, or 44 trillion gigabytes, containing nearly as many digital bits as there are stars in the universe (source: IDC). With advanced analytics, this Big Data is being transformed into smart data, revolutionizing business models…
Romax awarded 35th A-DA certificate for wind-turbine gearboxes
Romax was recently awarded a 35th design assessment, or GL A-DA, certificate for its NFAIC High-Precision Transmission 3.3-MW gearbox. Certificates were awarded for wind gearboxes used in turbines ranging from 1.5-MW to over 5-MW. The 35th certificate is related to a unique 3.3-MW turbine that has an integrated drivetrain, which provides a more compact structure…
Northern Power Systems offers fully integrated energy storage system
Northern Power Systems, a next-generation renewable energy technology company, announced the release of a new product that enables developers and end-users to acquire a fully integrated energy storage system tailored to their needs in terms of power and energy. The Northern Power ESS (Energy Storage Solution) features the advanced FP2000 FlexPhase power-conversion system that has…
Moventas to offer multi-brand gearbox service portfolio in the UK
Moventas Gears UK, formerly DB Wind UK, is in the final stages of refurbishing and upgrading its Huddersfield workshop in West Yorkshire. The gearbox specialist has made a capital investment in a 3.6-MW load test rig, flexibly designed to accommodate Moventas’ multi-brand service approach. Supported by the UK government, the Huddersfield upgrade is part of…
Nordex granted certification for aviation obstruction lighting system
With the market launch of its solution for a needs-based aviation obstruction lighting system, Nordex is taking a major step toward boosting the acceptance of wind farms among nearby residents. In March 2016, Nordex and its development partner were granted certification for their needs-based aviation obstruction lighting system. Nordex plans to begin serial production starting…
Siemens wins order for offshore wind-power plant in the German Baltic Sea
Siemens has received an order for the supply, installation, and commissioning of 60 direct-drive offshore wind turbines, each with a capacity of 6 MW. The customer for the project is a consortium between the German power provider E.ON based in Essen, and the Norwegian oil and gas company Statoil headquartered in Stavanger. When the project…
Turkey sees elevated wind speeds after lull
Vaisala, global provider of environmental measurement and renewable energy consulting services, has published a report that analyzes wind performance across Turkey for the past two years. The results reveal that in the Aegean and Marmara region, which accounts for nearly 75% of the country’s installed wind capacity, 2014 was a low year with wind speeds 5 to…
Designing sustainable infrastructure
When it comes to environmental building standards, LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) has become the most widely used third-party verification organization for “green” buildings. Developed by the U.S. Green Building Council, LEED-certified projects earn points based on environmental efficiency standards. For example, a building might reduce emissions by using less energy, less water,…
AWS Truepower continues growth of due diligence & consulting services teams
AWS Truepower, an international leader in wind and solar energy consulting and engineering services, announced that it has added a number of key staff to its due diligence and consulting services teams on the heels of a very successful 2015 that saw increased worldwide demand for its services. David Coffey joins AWS Truepower’s Due Diligence…
This is Generation Wind: A sneak peek at WINDPOWER 2016
May 23 to 26, 2016 Ernest N. Morial Convention Center New Orleans, Louisiana www.windpowerexpo.org Wind produced over 190 million megawatt-hours of power in the United States last year, and the country continues to hold number one spot in the world for wind energy production. Driven by recent tax credit extensions and upgraded transmission infrastructure,…
Nordex connects two new U.S. wind projects to the grid
At the beginning of the year, two new projects with Nordex turbines started operation in the United States: “Thunder Spirit” in North Dakota with 43 N100/2500 turbines and “Fair Wind” in Maryland with 12 WTGs of the same type. Prior to these projects, the American administration approved the extension of the Production Tax Credit (PTC)…
Gamesa to install its turbine output-boosting program, Energy Thrust, at 54 Iberdrola wind farms
Gamesa, a global technology provider in wind energy, has reached an agreement with Iberdrola for the installation of its Energy Thrust software, which boosts turbine efficiency and production ratios at wind farms — with capacity of 1,602 MW. Under the terms of the agreement, the upgrade software will be installed in wind turbines made by…
Vestas partners with Inspectools for drone inspection work in North America
InspecTools, Inc. announced a strategic partnership with wind energy industry leader Vestas. Vestas has selected InspecTools’ drone inspection systems for wind turbine blades for inclusion in their BladeCare service package in North America, and the companies will work together to deploy this novel inspection method. Vestas is the global provider in wind turbine manufacturing and…
SgurrEnergy supports Canadian wind portfolio to financial close
A portfolio of wind projects in Canada has reached financial close, after SgurrEnergy provided lender’s technical due diligence to support the financing process. SgurrEnergy, a Wood Group business, supported project sponsor InstarAGF Asset Management, with lender’s technical due diligence on the Zero Emissions Developments (ZED) wind energy portfolio. The scope consisted of an energy yield…