The Smart Grid Innovation Hub is calling on applicants for its competition to find the best energy start-up in Ireland with a top prize of €10,000 in funding along with a range of smaller prizes for runners-up.

The hub is part of a collaborative initiative between the EirGrid Group and the National Digital Research Centre (NDRC) to promote the development of innovative smart grid solutions, with a particular focus on entrepreneurial initiatives by companies, academics and entrepreneurs in both Ireland and Northern Ireland.

This competition is for start-ups from the whole island with a smart grid solution or service which have been in business for less than three years and have received under €1 million in funding to date.

Entrants will be judged on the originality of their idea, the ability to address current and future electricity system challenges and the market opportunity & business case.

Four shortlisted entrants will get the opportunity to pitch their ideas to a judging panel of top industry professionals and noted experts in front of an audience at this year’s SEAI Energy Show on 12 March at the RDS, Dublin.

Development of renewable energy

To be considered a ‘smart grid’, an electricity network must facilitate the large-scale integration of renewable energy, utilises electricity infrastructure efficiently through the optimal use of information and communications technology (ICT) and seamlessly integrate the actions of all users connected to the network in order to deliver sustainable, economic and secure electricity supplies.

In order to make the fast-approaching deadline, entrants need to apply soon as the closing date for applications is Friday, 21 February.

Further information can be found on the Smart Grid Innovation Hub’s newly launched website at www.smartgridinnovate.com.

The world’s largest solar power plant just outside Las Vegas, Nevada, has officially begun operation and is expected to produce 392 megawatts of solar power at full capacity.

The three 450ft solar towers, known as Ivanpah, will provide enough solar electricity to provide 140,000 California homes with clean energy and avoid 400,000 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide per year, equal to removing 72,000 vehicles off the road, according to the official release from its overseers, NRG Solar.

The Google-backed facility has been in the works for a number of years now with its partners NRG and BrightSource Energy and since construction started in 2010, has received over US$1.6bn dollars in loans from the US Department of Energy.

The project is so large in fact, that it will now account for 30pc of the US’s entire solar energy output alone.

Huge contributor to the economy

Like many large-scale renewable energy projects in recent years, the construction of the towers has proved to be a major boon to the state’s economy with the creation of thousands of jobs and, at the peak of construction, employed nearly 3,000 site workers who completed more than 8.35 million man-hours.

A total of approximately US$650 million in salaries for construction and operations is expected to be paid over the next 30 years.

NRG’s president, Tom Doyle, sees the operation of Ivanpah as the starting point for what he hopes will eventually lead to total US self-sufficiency with regard to renewable energy: “We see Ivanpah changing the energy landscape by proving that utility-scale solar is not only possible, but incredibly beneficial to both the economy and in how we produce and consume energy.

“Whether it’s partnering, developing or investing, NRG will continue to provide a diverse set of solutions and technologies to get the US to the ultimate goal of providing affordable, reliable clean energy for everyone.”

While it currently hold the title of the world’s largest operational solar power plant, Ivanpah may prove to be lagging behind China’s ambition to build its own gigantic 1.1 gigawatt solar power plant in its western region of Xinjiang.

Swiss company ABB has won a contract from Dudgeon Offshore Wind, a company owned by Statoil and Statkraft, for the supply of a submarine alternating current power cable system for a new wind farm in the UK.

Under the $55m contract, ABB will design and deliver two 132kV three-core AC submarine cables measuring 42km each connecting the project’s offshore substation to the onshore cables at Weybourne Hope.

The company will manufacture the submarine cables at its high-voltage cable factory in Karlskrona, Sweden and expects to begin delivery in 2016.

Located on a 35km² site, 32km off the coast of the seaside town of Cromer in North Norfolk, the 400MW project will generate enough electricity to power more than 400,000 UK homes annually and curb CO2 emissions by 19 million tonnes over its 25-year lifetime.

The project will supply the output to onshore through a seabed cable at Weybourne Hope, and then an underground cable being built will carry the electricity to Necton, where a substation will transmit it to the grid.

ABB Power Systems division head Claudio Facchin said, “Offshore wind is a growing renewable energy resource, with Europe accounting for around 70% of new offshore wind generation capacity.

“Transporting electricity from offshore wind farms to the shore and then integrating it into the grid for supply to consumers are key elements.”

In January 2014, Siemens had secured contracts worth £516m from Statoil for the engineering, procurement, assembly and offshore commissioning of 67 wind turbine generators of 6MW each as well as provide services for the project.

Pursuant to the contract, Siemens will develop the project’s design work for foundations and electrical infrastructure, with the first batch of turbines set to be ready for installation by January 2017.

In addition to this, Siemens will carry out operations and maintenance of the generators for the first two years after the installation is completed, after which it will provide technicians and other agreed services for three years.

Execution of the project, which was acquired by Statoil (70%) and Statkraft (30%) from Warwick Energy in October 2012, is subject to final investment decision in the third quarter of 2014.

An Irish renewable energy company called Mainstream Renewable Power has announced it is to begin work on eight new solar and wind projects to the tune of €3.1bn in four continents.

Headed by Eddie O’Connor, the company will begin work on the eight utility-scale projects which are to reach financial close and begin construction works later this year.

The company is one of the largest suppliers of renewable energy in the world, already providing 19GW of energy, and plans to add another 1,000MW with the new project.

As part of its plans, Mainstream Renewable Power intends to create new plants in Chile, Canada, Scotland, and South Africa, where it has already established significant projects to date.

The largest of the eight new projects will be established in Scotland, with a 450MW wind farm off the coast of Fife that is expected to start generating renewable electricity from 2017.

Three further projects with a combined capacity of 360MW will begin construction this year in a partnership with Globeleq, one of Africa’s largest energy companies.

O’Connor said the company is entering a very intensive growth phase.

“To put this into context, we are about to start building more megawatts than ESB ever put into construction in Ireland in a single year,” O’Connor said. “We put almost 300 megawatts into construction last year and we have an even larger portfolio of late-stage projects ready to go into construction next year.”

Mainstream Renewable Power has previously worked with the Irish and UK governments as part of the Energy Bridge project launched in 2008, which exports off-shore and on-shore energy from Ireland to the UK.

The European Commission’s proposal for 27% of electricity to be generated by renewables by 2030 — with no reponsibility for individual countries to meet the target — has been dismissed as a “sham” by the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA).

The association is encouraging EU heads of state to vote for binding national targets when they meet on 20 March.

The EC claims in its Impact Assessment on the policy framework for 2020-2030 that the “pull” effect of greenhouse gas reduction will lead to a renewables share of 27% in 2030 if the greenhouse gas target is set at 40%. Declaring a 27% target for the EU as a whole thus looks like fancy packaging for business-as-usual.

The European parliament responded a few days later by voting against the EC framework, recommending a separate and nation-specific renewables target of at least 30% in 2030. A letter from eight countries — France, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Ireland, Italy and Portugal — was sent to the commission advocating this approach on 5 February. Europe is split on the issue, with those countries that have built up a substantial manufacturing industry in renewables largely in favour of binding renewable targets, and those that import the required technology, or rely heavily on nuclear power, largely against.
Austria’s wind federation IG Windkraft says the EC package is a homage to the nuclear industry, which lobbied hard for a single greenhouse gas target because this could also be reached with nuclear power. The recent flurry of new nuclear project announcements across the continent now seems no coincidence despite nuclear’s expense and problems that include operational safety, security and the cost of long term radioactive waste storage.

Europe risks losing its foothold as a major competitive renewables market to China and the US if it doesn’t regain leadership on climate and green energy policies, warns a new study.

The report by Climate Strategies, a European economic research institute, says that if Europe doesn’t enact policies to tackle climate change and grow investment in renewables it will miss out on jobs and industry monopoly to competitors.

Authors attest that while the EU was bailing out its banks in the euro crisis, countries such as China, India, the US and hundreds of others, were busy investing heavily in renewable energy.

Michael Grubb, Chair of Energy and Climate Policy at Cambridge University and Climate Strategies Board member, said: “Europe cannot compete in the global economy based on cheap resources. Like Japan in the 1980s, it must compete on innovation and efficiency. Europe currently has a good position on patents across most low carbon technology sectors, but this risks being rapidly eroded. Europe is not ahead on energy efficiency, and renewable energy targets now exist in 138 countries. 66 countries, including Australia, South Korea, South Africa, Canada and Brazil have emulated the feed-in-tariffs widely used in Europe.”

The trend of renewables growth being increasingly dominated by countries outside of Europe is evidenced in another report released today by the Global Wind Energy Council, that reveals 2013′s global cumulative installed wind power capacity growth of 12.4% was led by China and Canada.

Today’s Climate Strategies study further warns that Europe could lose its position as a pioneer of emission reduction solutions, which would also damage the region economically.

The study concludes that Europe must stay competitive on innovation and energy efficiency to attract long-term investment. It states: “Europe should remain a part of the leading pack. This not only increases its international credibility in the field of global climate protection, but also has potential to create or maintain strategic economic advantages in sectors that are growing globally. The security of supply can be increased by reducing dependence on energy imports. In addition, clear climate change policy can create an attractive environment for investment in clean technologies, particularly insofar as it reduces policy uncertainty. Such investments can create new growth sectors and much needed jobs in Europe and thus also contribute to Europe’s economic recovery.”

The study comes at a pivotal moment when Europe is debating its new post-2020 climate and energy policy package. Many clean tech businesses and NGOs agree the EU must secure ambitious energy and climate policies for 2030 to reap the economic rewards of a low carbon economy.

Tidal Lagoon Power is seeking approval for a £12bn project to develop a series of tidal energy plants in the UK that is claimed to be the world’s first tidal lagoon power plant.

The company has submitted an application, following three years of feasibility work and impact assessments, to the UK Planning Inspectorate under the Planning Act 2008 to develop the scheme.

The Planning Inspectorate will review the application before public examination and the Secretary of State for Energy & Climate Change’s determination.

Initially, the company will develop an £850m project at Swansea Bay and four more lagoons with a capacity of 7,300MW later, with an intention to supply 10% of the UK’s domestic electricity by developing these five lagoons by 2023.

Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon calls for the construction of a 9.5km-long sea wall that will capture enough renewable energy from incoming and outgoing tides. Construction is expected to start in the first half of 2015 with first power generation set for 2018.

Spanning across of 11.5km² cordoned off by a breakwater, the Swansea Bay project will have an installed capacity of 320MW, generating 420GWh of electricity annually, which is enough to power more than 120,000 homes for 120 years.

Tidal Lagoon Power CEO Mark Shorrock said the second lagoon will need minimal support compared with offshore wind, for a renewable power supply that is both long-lived and certain, while the third will be competitive with the support received by new nuclear, but comes without the decommissioning costs and safety concerns.

The £2.3bn second project will be built in Colwyn Bay and the £4bn third one will be based in the upper Severn estuary, while the company is yet to specify the locations for the remaining two projects being built at a cost of £4.5bn.

“Had we invested in tidal lagoons in the 1980s, by now, and into the next century, we would be generating cheaper power than any other form of supply,” said Shorrock.

The company, alongside a consortium of businesses including Atkins, Costain, GE, Alstom, Andritz and Voith, has spent three years developing its proof-of-concept project, while it has the commitment of Macquarie to lead the capital financing of the project itself.

Finnish energy company Fortum has committed €40m in its associated company Turun Seudun Energiantuotanto’s (TSE) new combined heat and power (CHP) plant in Naantali.

Expected to be commissioned in the last quarter of 2017, the €260m plant, which can be fuelled by biomass, coal and high-quality recycled waste, will replace the 50-year-old coal-fired power plant in the region.

Efforts are also being made to design it to operate exclusively on biomass, mainly of locally sourced wood chips transported from surroundings in a radius of around 100km to 150km.

Initially the CHP plant is expected to consume wood chips of about 0.7 million cubic meters a year and eventually up to 1.2 million cubic meters a year.

To be funded by shareholders and external financing, the project, with a capacity of 142MW electricity and 244MW heat, will significantly contribute to the growth of the local economy.

In addition to producing 900GWh electricity and 1,650GWh heat annually, the plant will create 200 permanent jobs for sourcing of the domestic biomass and 500 jobs at the peak of the construction phase.

In December 2013, the board of directors of TSE, in which Fortum has a 49.5% stake, has agreed to propose the plant investment to the annual general meeting.

Fortum heat division vice-president Jouni Haikarainen said the company is pursuing growth in energy-efficient combined heat and power production in line with its strategy by investing in the new plant in Naantali.

“The fact that the new power plant aims to utilise as much domestic biomass as possible also makes the new project an interesting one for Fortum,” said Haikarainen.

E.ON has completed the first phase foundations at the £700m Humber Gateway offshore wind farm, located 8km off the Holderness coast, East Riding of Yorkshire, the UK.

The first phase included the creation of 24 foundations, consisting of a tubular steel monopile, for the turbines, while the second phase for the remaining 49 turbines is set to begin in April 2014.

To accomplish the upcoming work, the company will hire 13 more people for its operations team at the 219MW wind farm.

Equipped with a solar array, roof top wind turbines and charging points for electric vehicles, the recently completed £3m onshore facility in Grimsby Fish Dock will accommodate the operations and maintenance team with offices, stores, a workshop and wind farm control room.

Alicat Workboats-built vessels Spirit of Hoton and Spirit of Sunthorp, which are being deployed, will be used for transporting personnel and goods to the wind farm during construction and into operations. Alicat will deliver the third vessel ‘Spirit of Turmarr’ in March 2014.

E.ON project manager Matt Swanwick said the company has reached significant milestones in the successful development of the Humber Gateway wind farm and hope to continue this trend until its proposed completion in 2015.

“So far, this has proved to be an important project for the area, creating a number of job opportunities and business for locally based companies during the construction process,” said Swanwick.

Spanning across approximately 24.8km², the 73-turbine wind farm will generate enough electricity to power up to 170,000 UK homes when complete.

The project also includes the connection of the project to the national grid onshore wherein the onshore cables will come ashore near Easington, with the cables then running underground for around 30km from Easington to Salt End, E.ON said.

Iberdrola has completed the Syserwind demo project to optimise the connection between wind farms and electricity transmission grids.

The project was carried out in collaboration with Gamesa, Red Eléctrica de España and the University of Comillas’s Institute for Technological Research.

The project created new power-frequency and voltage control equipment and systems at 15 of Iberdrola’s wind farms in Andalusia, Spain, with a total installed capacity of more than 480MW.

Iberdrola said the wind farms are connected to three nodes in the 400kV transmission grid, operated by REE, and were equipped with the systems development in the Syserwind project, allowing coordinated work on controlling the power generated by the facilities and altering the voltage in the grid.

The project was one of six full-scale demo projects carried out under the European programme Twenties.

The research project intends to further develop new technologies that will enable for the mass-scale inclusion of wind power in the European electricity system, in order to meet the European Union’s environmental targets.

Iberdrola said the results obtained in the Syserwind project contribute towards the ongoing enhancement of wind power, a form of renewable technology to which the company has been committed from the outset; both in regards to R&D&I and the commissioning of facilities, which already have a combined capacity of approximately 14,000MW globally.

The company is currently involved in the most important R&D&I initiatives in the sector, connected to both onshore and offshore wind power, in addition to other renewable generation technologies like wind, tidal, biomass or biogas systems.