Renewable energy consultancy, Natural Power, has been developing new models for more accurately predicting wind-farm performance. According to the company, the investment in new high-performance computing has enabled the business to produce results from its most advanced computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models at wind-farm scale within five to six days. This is a large improvement over…
SgurrEnergy supports Galloper offshore wind farm to financial close
Leading renewable energy consultancy, SgurrEnergy, has supported the Galloper offshore wind farm to reach financial close. The wind farm will be located 27 kilometers off the coast of Suffolk and will generate up to 336 MW. SgurrEnergy, a Wood Group company, conducted technical due diligence by providing initial bankability feedback to the developer. This was…
DONG Energy to build the world’s biggest offshore wind farm
DONG Energy announced it will construct the 660-MW Walney Extension Offshore Wind Farm located about 19 kilometers off the west coast of Britain in the Irish Sea. The final investment decision was made after completing the site assessments, securing the necessary approvals from authorities, and signing most of the contracts for supply and installation to build the project. Walney Extension is…
Vaisala tackles transformer downtime with unique monitoring device
Vaisala, a global provider of environmental and industrial measurements, offers a unique in-oil condition-monitoring probe that provides critical early warning information to track transformer faults. The new Moisture, Hydrogen, and Temperature Transmitter -MHT410 device is designed to help power and energy utilities minimize transformer-related downtime. Vaisala has already shipped the first customer orders. High-voltage transformers are…
Google to buy Vestas’ shares in Africa’s Lake Turkana Wind Farm
Upon completion of the project in 2017, Google will acquire Vestas’ 12.5% stake in Africa’s largest wind farm, which will supply around 15% of Kenya’s electricity needs based on current generation capacity. The share purchase agreement was recently announced in Washington, DC, in connection with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s Climate and Clean Energy…
Getac offers a new tablet that’s ideal for field service in harsh environments
Getac Inc., a manufacturer of rugged computers, announced a new portable, lightweight rugged tablet for field service. The Getac RX10 incorporates some of the most advanced features and specifications needed to tackle the toughest tasks in the harshest environments like those found at construction sites and wind farms. By combining fast processing speeds with energy…
Webster funds first Connecticut wind farm
Connecticut’s first commercial wind farm is complete and has officially come online. BNE Energy, a producer of green energy, has successfully begun operations at its Colebrook South facility. The 80 acres of land at the BNE Colebrook wind farm are well situated for wind generation at over 1,500 feet above sea level. Webster Bank is…
ENVISION acquires 600-MW portfolio of wind power in Mexico
Envision Energy recently acquired a controlling stake in a renewable portfolio of more than 600 MW originally developed by ViveEnergia of Mexico. As part of the agreement, Envision aims to commission its first wind farm by the end of 2016. “Mexico is one of the most promising markets in the Americas for wind-power generation in the coming decade, not…
Spinning Spur 3 wind project reaches commercial operation
EDF Renewable Energy recently announced that the 194-MW Spinning Spur 3 Wind Project located in Texas reached commercial operation three months ahead of schedule. The clean electricity generated from the Spinning Spur 3 Wind Project will be provided to two municipal utilities, Georgetown Utility Systems and Garland Power & Light, under long-term Power Purchase Agreements. The…
Siemens to add an additional 173 MW to Clyde onshore wind farm in Scotland
Siemens has received an order for the supply, installation and commissioning of 54 direct-drive wind turbines. The SWT-3.2-101 turbines will add another 172.8 MW to SSE’s Clyde wind farm in South Lanarkshire, Scotland. Siemens will also be providing long-term service for the new Clyde Extension project. With an existing capacity of 350 MW, Clyde is…
Borkum Riffgrund 1 offshore wind plant is officially inaugurated
Borkum Riffgrund 1 offshore wind-power plant has officially been inaugurated. The project includes 78 Siemens wind turbines, each with a capacity of 3.6 MWs and a rotor diameter of 120 meters. These turbines will supply around 320,000 German households with eco-friendly electricity. Siemens is also providing service and maintenance for the turbines for an initial period…
One Wind secures service contract for 165-MW Texas wind farm
Eon WindElectric, a Canadian-based wind farm Independent Service Provider, has rebranded its corporate identity, including adopting a new company name: One Wind. This new identity was developed to reflect the company’s focus, growth, and expanding presence in the United States. One Wind has secured its first major service contract in the U.S. and will supply…
Siemens receives major order for 151-MW wind project in the U.S.
Siemens has been awarded an order from Apex Clean Energy to supply, support installation, and provide long-term service for 66 wind turbines for the Grant Wind project in Grant County, Oklahoma. The Grant Wind project follows an announcement earlier this year that Siemens will provide turbines, service, and financing for Apex Clean Energy’s Kay Wind…
Siemens to provide long-term service at the Bison Wind Energy Center in North Dakota
Siemens has signed a long-term agreement with the U.S. energy company Minnesota Power to provide service and maintenance for 149 D3-platform wind turbines installed at the Bison Wind Energy Center, located near New Salem, North Dakota. Under terms of the agreement, Siemens will provide 10 years of service and maintenance for the D3 turbines installed…
Ensuring continuous wind-farm operations in harsh environments
Michael A. Stout | Vice President of Engineering Falcon Electric The aim of wind-farm operators is to ensure optimal performance and consistent power generation, and maintain the safety and reliability of each turbine. With these goals in mind, there are a myriad of electrical and electronic components to consider for safe turbine operation that include blade-pitch…
SgurrEnergy completes key role for German offshore wind farm
Renewable energy consultancy, SgurrEnergy, attended the official opening ceremony of the 288-MW Butendiek offshore wind farm in Husum in early September. SgurrEnergy, a Wood Group company, has been involved in the German offshore wind farm since 2011 and has completed construction monitoring services on behalf of the project lenders. The Butendiek wind farm, located approximately…
Duke Energy acquires 50% stake in Texas’ Mesquite Creek Wind Farm
Duke Energy Renewables has acquired a 50% stake in Mesquite Creek Wind, a 211-megawatt (MW) wind-power project near Lamesa, Texas, through its joint venture partnership with Sumitomo Corp. of Americas. The acquisition increases Duke Energy Renewables’ Texas wind capacity to more than 1,200 MW. Global food manufacturer Mars Inc., best known for its candy products, is…
German community wind farm banks on radio-shielding wind turbines from Siemens
The receiving stations of Deutsche Flugsicherung (DFS), the company in charge of air-traffic control for Germany, are an important part of the wireless communication infrastructure of the aviation industry. One of these radio navigation stations, close to the village of Löwenstedt in Germany’s northern state of Schleswig-Holstein, supports communications of pilots aloft. At first, it…
First U.S.-Mexico cross-border wind farm officially opened
The first U.S.-Mexico cross-border wind farm was recently inaugurated in Tecate, Baja California. Constructed on approximately 5,300 hectares (13,100 acres) of leased land near the city of Tecate, the project consisted of designing, building, and operating a wind farm with 47 wind turbines, each with a nominal capacity of 3.3. MW, as well as the construction…
Iberdrola breaks ground on North Carolina’s first industrial-scale wind farm
For the first time, wind power is lifting off in North Carolina. Governor Pat McCrory joined business and community leaders in Elizabeth City this week to break ground on North Carolina’s first industrial-scale wind-power project. Spanning farm fields in Pasquotank and Perquimans counties, the Amazon Wind Farm U.S. East, powered by Iberdrola Renewables at Desert Wind,…