Wind Energy and renewable energy blog

UK Government Publishes Electricity White Paper and Renewables Roadmap

The Government today published a new Electricity White Paper and a Roadmap for Renewables to 2020.

The Electricity Market Reform White Paper sets out measures to attract investment, reduce the impact on consumer bills, and create a mix of electricity sources including gas, new nuclear, renewable energy and carbon capture and storage.

The Renewables Roadmap published alongside this outlines a plan of action to accelerate renewable energy deployment to meet the target of 15% of all energy by 2020.

Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change Chris Huhne said:

Concerned Response to UK Electricity Reform Proposals

UK electricity reform proposals to abolish the Renewables Obligation in place of a new Feed in Tariff have been met with a concerned response.

The new UK electricity reform ‘Feed in Tariff with Contract for Difference’ (FIT CFD) announced last week is set to replace the Renewables Obligation (RO) for renewable energy projects built after 2017. More costly renewable energy technologies such as offshore wind energy are expected to receive a premium rate.

The government is also proposing fast- tracking the next adjustment to the RO to apply from Spring 2013. The announcements have caused unease in the UK renewables sector, although the market reform changes will not necessarily apply to Scotland and Northern Ireland.

US Gears Up for Offshore Wind Energy

This week saw US politicians taking action to encourage offshore wind energy along the US Atlantic Coast.

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced a new initiative dubbed ‘Smart from the Start’ with the purpose of selecting the best sites for offshore wind farms. The initiative is based on regulatory change designed to speed up the permitting and leasing of offshore wind sites leading to speedier wind farm delivery.

UK Offshore Wind Ambition Steps Forward

The UK electricity regulator has this week launched a tender for offshore wind farm grid connections. The move takes the UK’s offshore wind energy ambitions a step further towards delivery.

Transmission links to 2.8 Gigawatts of offshore wind farms are to be put out to competitive tender with the winning bidders to be announced in summer next year.

The Ofgem tender is the second tender round for offshore wind farm high voltage transmission links worth an estimated £1.9 billion (over US$ 3 billion). The tender is aimed at cost effectively incentivising the building of the necessary grid infrastructure to connect 6 UK offshore wind farms to the onshore grid network.

Prime Minister Confirms Offshore Wind Energy Fund

Prime Minister David Cameron has confirmed today that the government will not cut the port infrastructure fund designed to help bring on stream facilities for offshore wind energy around the UK.

David Cameron said “We need thousands of offshore turbines in the next decade and beyond… To help secure private sector investment in this technology, we’re providing up to £60 million to meet the needs of offshore wind infrastructure at our ports. And to help move things forward, the Crown Estate will also work with interested ports and manufacturers to realise the potential of their sites. It’s a triple win. It will help secure our energy supplies, protect our planet and the Carbon Trust says it could create 70,000 jobs.”

Brown Praises Siemens Offshore Wind Energy Work

The UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown visited the Siemens facility in Manchester this week and took the opportunity to speak of the bright future for the company in the offshore wind sector.

The tour involved visiting the facility that has carried out work on offshore wind energy. There were alse demonstrations of technologies used in the oil and gas sector, power stations and other industries.

Brown praised the work of Siemens in the UK and pointed to its crucial role in the future of UK wind energy and renewables.

Conservative Energy Policy Goes Live

The Conservatives want to put in place an offshore wind energy grid and “take the poison out of onshore wind” according to their energy policy released this week.

Shadow Prime Minister David Cameron says the Conservative policy paper “Rebuilding Security” sets out the party’s would-be programme for a reform of British energy policy. They say their policy would facilitate action to combat the looming collapse in energy supply from 2013-2017 and 12 action points are outlined.

To encourage renewable energy, the Conservatives say:

China Pilots Battery Storage Project

The Chinese State Grid company is to join the energy storage seekers this year according to state news agency Xinhua this week.

The State Grid is set to build a pilot integrated renewable energy power storage system this year utilising battery technology. The demonstration project is to be built in Zhangjiakou, Hebei and speculators predict the build costs will be circa 20 billion yuan ($2.9 billion).

3rd Round of UK Offshore Wind Farms Announced

The Crown Estate has today announced the 3rd round of UK offshore wind farms. It comes as no surprise that the big winners are giant consortiums made up of globally operating utilities and companies with offshore experience. The winners will be taking on unprecedented challenges with sites up to 195km offshore and water depths of up to 80 metres.

The largest zones at Doggerbank (9000 Megawatts) and Norfolk (7200 MW) go to consortia giants Forewind and East Anglia Offshore Wind. Forewind is made up of RWE renewables, Scottish and Southern Energy, Statoil and Statkraft. East Anglia Offshore Wind is Scottish Power Renewables and Vattenfall Vindkraft.

Eddie O’Connor’s Mainstream Renewables and Siemans bagged the 4000 MW Hornsea zone, whilst SeaGreen Wind Energy Ltd equally owned by SSE Renewables and Fluor, won the Firth of Forth Zone.

Eon and Dutch utility Eneco were left with the smaller south of England coast sites off Brighton and the Isle of Wight.

Prime Minister, Gordon Brown MP said: “Our policies in support of offshore wind energy have already put us ahead of every other country in the world. This new round of licences provides a substantial new platform for investing in UK industrial capacity. The offshore wind industry is at the heart of the UK economy’s shift to low carbon and could be worth £75 billion and support up to 70,000 jobs by 2020.”

Floating Wind Turbine Future

It appears that floating wind turbines are set to become a reality in the near future if the signs of a newly emerging supply chain are anything to go by.

The Hywind, a 2.3 megawatt (MW) floating wind turbine made by Siemens, combines technologies from both the wind farm industry and the oil and gas sectors, and was installed in June of this year. It is being tested off the coast of Norway for two years. Since the installation of the turbine new products are starting to emerge which would be dedicated to the technology.

The video below shows a specialist barge which could be used to transport and put into place floating wind turbines. This is but a small indicator of the potentially huge benefits of offshore wind energy when it comes to new business and green collar jobs.

Framework Deal for Repower Wind Turbines Signed

It was announced this week that German wind turbine manufacturer Repower signed a deal with French utility EDF for the supply of wind turbines for five wind farms in Canada.

The framework agreement is for the supply of turbines totalling a capacity of 954 Megawatts for wind farms in Quebec, developed by Saint-Laurent Energies, a company part owned by EDF.

With a shortage of wind turbine supply across the globe still causing the wind energy industry problems, companies are seeking out framework deals with turbine manufacturers, sometimes even before they have planning consent. Framework deals have the benefit of providing more certainty, especially for financially marginal projects – even if overall the wind farm operator does not make significant savings.

Although there were 35 new Chinese wind turbine manufacturers entering the market last year, it will be some time until these turbines have been tested and proven in the European, US and Canadian marketplace. With the offshore wind energy market set to expand at unprecedented rates over the next few years, it seems that the global turbine supply shortage will not be remedied quickly.

Wind Energy Association’s Offshore Ambition

This European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) video has been produced for the European Offshore Wind Conference being held in Stockholm this month.
EWEA say that offshore wind energy has the potential to power Europe 7 times over and that the industry is growing 28% a year. A European wind energy “supergrid” would help create the [...]

Utilities with Financial Muscle win Offshore Wind Energy licenses

Although not officially announced by the Crown Estate, the next round of huge UK offshore wind energy sites have been informally allocated to wind energy developers behind the scenes.

The 10,000 Megawatt Doggerbank area over 50miles east of northern England is rumoured to have been ringfenced for the consortium giant made up of RWE npower, Scottish and Southern Energy, Statkraft and Statoil Hydro known under the umbrella “Forewind”.

Scottish Power and Vattenfall are believed to be favourites for 5000 Megawatts in the wider Wash area, off the Norfolk coast.

Second Call for Offshore Wind Demo Projects

The UK Government announced its Second Call for offshore wind energy demonstration projects today. The Second Call has, according to the Government a value of £10 million (US $16.4m) ring fenced for the deployment of offshore wind.

The Offshore Wind Demonstration Call is being administered through Solutions for Business, a Government support vehicle for new products. The aim of the funding is to stimulate and encourage the development and demonstration of offshore wind technologies and components for larger multi-megawatt wind turbines.

The UK Government desperately wants the wind farms in UK waters within the 2020 timeframe to meet its climate change commitments. Bids must be received by 28 August 2009. Application forms, guidance notes and the call for proposals are on the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) website.

£1 Billion Loans for UK Wind Energy Projects

The UK Government today announced plans to allocate £1 bn (US $1.6) of loans to wind energy companies through part – state owned banks.
After announcing that offshore wind energy would recieve double the financial incentives in the budget earlier this year, the Government has stepped in again to help smooth the path for struggling [...]

£10 Million Offshore Wind Technology Fund up for Grabs

The Department of Energy and Climate Change opened its doors yesterday to offshore wind energy research and development companies with bids for a share of a £10 million (US $16m) offshore wind technology fund.

The fund is aimed at stimulating the development of next-generation offshore wind energy technologies to try and achieve large scale delivery around the UK before 2020.

The Government has high hopes for offshore wind, relying heavily on the technology to meet its climate change commitments.

World’s Biggest Wind Farm – ‘London Array’ Will Be Built

DONG Energy, E.ON and Masdar announced yesterday that they will invest 2.2 billion euros in the 300 turbine + London Array project 12 miles off the Kent and Essex coasts in the UK.

The announcement means that the first phase of the world’s largest offshore wind farm will go ahead. The onshore work for the 1000 megawatt project is due to start in early 2011.

Norfolk Green Party Fight For Offshore Wind Farm

Norfolk County Council green party members were not happy this week when Norfolk’s planning and highways committee registered an objection to the 620MW Race Bank wind farm off the North Norfolk coast, 27 km from Blakeney Point.

The company proposing the scheme – Centrica (who owns British Gas in the UK, Direct Energy in the US, SPE in Belgium and Oxxio in The Netherlands) was awarded an agreement for lease from the Crown Estate in 2004 for the development of an offshore wind energy project at Race Bank beyond territorial waters. Centrica submitted an application for the Race Bank project to the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) in January of this year.

UK Budget 2009 – Consumers To Pay the Price for Offshore Wind Energy

The UK Chancellor – Alistair Darling announced today the budget report for 2009.

The Chancellor – claimed “there will be help now to get people back into work quickly, and support businesses and homeowners facing problems.

Secondly, there will be measures to support investment in the growth and green industries of the future – while, as the recovery takes hold, ensure our public finances are sustainable.”

Moving onto offshore wind energy – “We must build on Britain’s status as the world leader in offshore wind power generation.

Salazar Holds First Offshore Energy Public Meeting

Secretary Salazar believes that US offshore wind energy resources could lead America’s Clean Energy Revolution. Today he held the first of a series of public meetings to consult on a new offshore energy plan.

At a previous meeting with 25x’25 America’s Energy Future – a group seeking to reduce America’s carbon emissions – he said “More than three-fourths of the nation’s electricity demand comes from coastal states and the wind potential off the coasts of the lower 48 states actually exceeds our entire US electricity demand“.