Sulzer Schmid and ENERTRAG Betrieb have teamed up to provide a new wind turbine blade inspection solution that integrates ENERTRAG Betrieb’s lightning protection systems (LPS) testing solution with Sulzer Schmid’s unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) technology and digital inspection platform. This collaboration will enable LPS testing to be carried out at the same time as rotor…

Siemens Gamesa has upgraded its next-generation onshore wind platform increasing power output to 6.6 MW. The new SG 6.6-155 and SG 6.6-170 turbines will now offer higher individual power, with hopes to deliver a lower Levelized Cost of Energy (LCoE) for customers. Both turbines can now offer greater annual energy production made possible in part…

American Electric Power‘s 287-MW Maverick Wind Energy Center in north-central Oklahoma has begun commercial operation. Located southwest of Enid, Oklahoma, Maverick is one of three wind projects that compose the North Central Energy Facilities, which will provide 1,485 MW of clean energy to customers of AEP’s Public Service Company of Oklahoma (PSO) and Southwestern Electric…

ONYX Insight has launched a new hardware solution that predicts where and when costly pitch bearing failures occur in wind turbines. This type of failure is a significant problem in the wind industry. Pitch bearings connect the rotor hub to the blades and experience high loading during the life of a turbine. There are many…

The first phase of construction is underway at EEW-AOS monopile manufacturing facility that will include a 110,100 sq-ft monopile welding plant, located at the Port of Paulsboro Marine Terminal in Gloucester County, New Jersey. This offshore wind manufacturing facility will be the largest in the U.S. and will be able to build 400-foot long, 2,500-ton…

Offshore planners and operators can now take advantage of a new tool that supports the safe and efficient execution of operations on offshore energy assets. DHI launched Metocean Risk Ops, a workability assessment application that offers access to weather window and downtime analyses to support the operation and maintenance of offshore wind farms, installations and…

Siemens Gamesa has released the RecyclableBlade, the world’s first recyclable wind turbine blades ready for commercial use offshore. With this technology, separation of the materials in the blade is possible at the end of its lifetime, enabling recycling into new applications. The first six 81-m long RecyclableBlades have been produced at the Siemens Gamesa blade…

By Hitachi ABB Power Grids Wind power is one of humanity’s biggest hopes for an affordable, carbon-neutral energy future, being one of the preferred technologies – alongside solar – for energy companies to invest in. Although wind power is abundant on land, we must go to the seas and oceans to satisfy our current and…

By Anthony Allard, Executive Vice President and Head of North America, Hitachi ABB Power Grids Placing electricity at the heart of the reset The impact of the global COVID-19 pandemic has presented North America with a golden opportunity to focus growth investments on modernizing its aging energy infrastructure. The North American electricity grid, whose origins…

United Way of Long Island received $250,000 from Bank of America to pilot a new workforce development program ‘Power Up Wind, Solar & Renewables.’ The training will lay the foundation and create a pathway for participants to secure careers in the renewable energy industry. It will simultaneously advance economic mobility, as well as help shape…

Pemamek LLC, North American subsidiary of Finland-based Pemamek Ltd., specializes in modular customized proven automated welding systems for large offshore wind energy platforms, and its products and services are available to the emerging North American offshore wind market. Difficult-to-weld components comprising monopile and floating platform bases can be joined by combining a customized selection of…

By Jonah Ury, senior associate; and Dan Kyle-Spearman, associate director; The Renewables Consulting Group Offshore wind has seen a remarkable cost reduction and growth over the last 30 years since the commissioning of Orsted’s 4.95-MW Vindeby Offshore Wind Farm, the first offshore wind project. Floating offshore wind, the next evolution of offshore wind technology, consists…

RWE Renewables has started commercial operation on its 125 MW onshore Cassadaga Wind Farm located in Chautauqua County, New York. The system is powered by 27 Nordex and 10 Siemens Gamesa turbines and has the capacity to provide clean energy for more than 37,000 households. Cassadaga is RWE’s 29th onshore wind farm in the U.S.…

Offshore wind joint development partners Ørsted and Eversource are planning the construction of the first American-built offshore wind substation, which will be deployed at the developers’ South Fork Wind project serving New York’s Long Island. Kiewit Offshore Services will design and build the substation for the 132-MW South Fork Wind project — New York’s first…

Offshore wind tower manufacturing venture Marmen Welcon arranged a partnership with Smulders, a European steel construction company, to manufacture transition pieces for the U.S. offshore wind market. The facility will be located at the Port of Albany in New York and will manufacture the support structures for offshore wind towers. It is expected to be…

By Marcel Schreiner, Global Segment Director, Freudenberg Sealing Technologies’ Energy Sector The offshore wind energy industry is on the cusp of a significant transformation, fueled by increased demand for clean energy sources, technological advances and improved efficiencies. Based on projects currently under construction, annual installations of offshore wind turbines are predicted to grow from 6…

The potential for unlimited generation of clean, renewable energy makes offshore wind turbines a modern choice for global power production. While there are many benefits to offshore wind turbines, building them at sea poses some unique challenges during the transport and construction process. Construction at sea is a demanding task, and transporting the immense components…

Forecasts for offshore wind installation on the East Coast of the United States point to an immediate need for investment in standardized safety and technical training, says the Global Wind Organisation (GWO), the industry-owned non-profit responsible for wind technician training standards. GWO has forecast that over 25,000 people will require basic entry-level standard training to…

By Martin Sørensen, director of alliances, WindESCo As the wind industry continues to scale-up globally, now is the time to reimagine how key players within the sector interact with each other, learning lessons from industries such as rotorcraft — where the correct functioning of complex gearboxes and rotating blades is a matter of life and…

The Department of the Interior announced today that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is seeking public input on a commercial-scale wind energy facility that is proposed to be constructed on BLM-managed public land in southern Idaho, approximately 25 miles northeast of Twin Falls. The Lava Ridge Wind Energy Project has the potential to generate 1,000…