Australian Wind Prospect Group has created a new asset management platform, Wind Prospect Operations (WPO) with a portfolio of more than 1GW of independent, utility-scale renewable energy projects in Europe.

The portfolio, comprising operating wind and solar energy assets, generates more than €400m as annual production revenues for clients.

WPO integrates the energy firm’s businesses in UK/Ireland and France/Germany through the platform to introduce scale and resilience and reach out to its clients in Europe and beyond.

Wind Prospect Group CEO Euan Cameron said: “Combining the businesses, the management and the teams in this way creates an immensely strong wind and solar asset management platform with a global reach.

“It brings great advantages to our clients with portfolios spread in several countries by integrating systems and procedures for greater simplicity and efficiency.”

The unified portfolio is expected to enhance the firm’s resources and expertise so it can offer competitive and streamlined services to its clients.

Besides offering full asset management services to its clients for long terms, the new entity will also extend consultancy offerings, including contract negotiation, performance audits, technical field inspections and insurance brokerage.

WPO CEO Barthélémy Rouer said: “Our consolidated platform provides both WPO and its clients with the scale they need in this competitive market.

“Our aim is to deliver high quality, flexible and cost-effective services, which meet the needs of asset owners, investors, lenders and insurers in all of their jurisdictions and across all renewable energy technologies.”

WPO director Duncan Levie said: “Our platform gathers a unique set of expertise in the industry that is totally focused on delivering appropriate, market leading expert services on operating wind and solar assets.”

Power-Technology

Germany will install more than 2,000 MW of offshore wind capacity in 2015, taking the UK’s crown as the global installation leader.

The figures come from Globaldata, an international research and consulting firm.

The 2,000 MW mark is an almost fourfold increase over 2014 for Germany, while the UK will remain relatively stagnant, projecting to add 801 MW in 2015, a 1.5% drop from 2014.

The UK will even slip down further to third place in the rankings, as China surges into second position with 817 MW in 2015.

GlobalData analyst Ankit Mathur said: “Germany’s huge increase in offshore installations is attributable to several offshore wind projects scheduled to come online in 2015. China is also planning an array of offshore wind projects this year, which will see it overtake the UK for annual installations.

“Additionally, the next few years will see China maintain its annual offshore wind installations around the 1 Gigawatt mark, while the UK will observe relatively lower installations until 2018, when the country’s next offshore growth spurt is expected.”

Industry boom

The GlobalData figures also look back at 2014, highlighting the rapid growth of the entire industry. Order intake for offshore wind turbines rose at a blockbuster rate of 367%, from 288 MW in 2013 to 1,346 MW in 2014.

Despite the expected installation slow-down, the UK is still far and away the biggest market in the world for offshore wind with 55% of all European capacity. Even with expected surge, cumulative German capacity will be around 3,100 MW compared to 5,300 in the UK.

And operators certainly view the UK as a fertile market, with French turbine manufacturer Vergnet announcing on Wednesday, the opening of a UK subsidiary.

A Vergnet spokesperson said: “The last five years have seen major growth for medium wind projects here [in the UK] with capacity rising 60% year-on-year. This has been supported by the government’s Feed-In Tariff (FiT) which remains attractive and offers strong returns.”

Edie

UK’s engineering firm Amec Foster Wheeler has completed construction of 250MW Copper Mountain Solar 3 project in Boulder City, Nevada, US.

The solar project is spread across nearly 1,400 acres of land and can generate enough renewable electricity to power 80,000 US households.

Cupertino Electric and Amec Foster Wheeler were the co-developers of the project, which is equipped with more than one million solar modules.

It represents the third phase of Copper Mountain Solar complex construction, which is jointly owned by Sempra US Gas & Power and Consolidated Edison Development (ConEdison Development).

Sempra US Gas & Power president and CEO Patti Wagner said: “Copper Mountain Solar 3 is our largest solar project to date.”

The entire complex can generate 450MW of renewable power, which is enough to meet the energy requirements of 142,000 homes.

Amec Foster Wheeler Power & Process Americas president Tim Gelbar said: “Copper Mountain Solar 3 is the culmination of hard work and a great partnership with Sempra US Gas & Power and Consolidated Edison Development.

“This is a significant project in the solar market and we are delighted to deliver this prominent project, which demonstrates our growing position in renewables and clean energy as well as our ability to leverage our global design, engineering, and project management expertise to deliver projects for our customers.”

Construction works for the project was initiated in 2013.

The development raises Sempra US Gas & Power’s jointly-owned operating solar power portfolio to 660MW.

Power Technology

Vattenfall has started construction of the Kentish Flats Extension, which is the only offshore wind farm being built in UK this year.

Located off the Kent coast, the extension project is expected to cost more than £150m.

It will involve installation of 15 wind turbines at 8km distance from the coast.

The project is an extension of the 90MW Kentish Flats offshore wind facility, which has been operating since September 2005.

Vattenfall project director for Kentish Flats Extension Matthew Green said: “A number of large vessels will be offshore Herne Bay and Whitstable this summer as we add 15 turbines to the existing 30 at Kentish Flats.

“It doesn’t get much tougher than this: piling foundations 30m into the seabed; installing 139.6m-tall turbines weighing 600t over 8km off the coast; and, completing on schedule and to budget with, most importantly, maximum emphasis on safety.”

First power from the 49.5MW scheme is expected to be available later in the year.

Permission for extending the capacity of the existing farm was received in February 2013.

Once operational, the extended offshore wind development will be able to meet the power requirements of nearly 35,000 UK households.

Vattenfall UK country manager Piers Guy said: “It’s important the UK pipeline keeps delivering, and Kentish Flats Extension does that in a modest way, so that British suppliers can maintain a foothold in the sector and help capture the significant economic opportunities that go with it.”

Power Technology

German manufacturer Siemens has completed the installation of SylWin1 grid connection in the North Sea and handed it over to network operator TenneT.

The now-operational link is located at nearly 70km from the west of Sylt island in Germany. It will allow transmission of up to 864MW of renewable energy.

The link connects three offshore wind facilities, Butendiek, DanTysk and Sandbank, which have been equipped with 232 Siemens wind turbines in total and have a generation capacity of 288MW each.

More than 100 turbines have already been connected to the grid with work for the others in progress.

The offshore platform transmits renewable energy via a 200km subsea and underground cable link to the land-based station Büttel in Germany.

The transmission capacity of SylWin1 can meet the energy requirements of more than one million households.

Siemens has implemented high-voltage direct-current (HVDC) technology for the connection, which is claimed to be ‘world’s most powerful grid connection to date’.

TenneT managing board member Lex Hartman said: “2015 is a special milestone year for TenneT, as we will be completing further offshore grid connections by the end of the year, meaning that all in all we will have implemented a capacity of more than 5,000MW, or more than two-thirds of the offshore expansion goal set by the Federal German Government by then.”

Siemens has won five North Sea grid connection projects by TenneT, three of which have been turned operational this year. These are BorWin2 (800MW), HelWin1 (576MW) and SylWin1 (864MW).

The other two projects to be set up by the German firm are HelWin2 (690 MW) and BorWin3 (900 MW).

Power-Technology.

Sam Roch-Perks’s company plans to develop wave energy farm off Cornwall coast

Sam Roch-Perks, a Cork property investor-turned renewable energy promoter, whose company plans to develop a huge wave energy farm off the Cornwall coast, has assembled a coterie of high-profile backers to help float the project.

Roch-Perks runs Simply Blue Energy with his business partner, Hugh Kelly, who is president of the Irish Exporters’ Association. Simply Blue recently signed a deal with Wavehub, a UK government-backed renewable energy test site, to deploy about 200 small wave energy generators at the site.

The project will cost about £45 million, with some of the money coming from research and development grants. Roch-Perks says Simply Blue has also received commitments from a number of private investors.

Anthony Gurnee, a Waterford-based former US Navy officer who founded Ardmore Shipping, which is listed on the US stock exchange, recently came on board as a director.

Hugh McCutcheon, the former Davy corporate financier, has also joined the advisory board of Simply Blue, which also includes former investment banker Hylton Murray-Philipson, who once ran the New York operations of Henry Ansbacher bank. He previously invested in recycling outfit Agrivert, whose former managing director, James Astor, is also now on Simply Blue’s rejigged board.

Simply Blue, the developer of the wave energy farm, is using technology developed by a Swedish company in which Roch-Perks is also an investor, Seabased, which recently deployed the technology off the coast of its homeland.

He knows the country well, as he also runs a Swedish-Irish property company, Swirish (sure, what else would you call it?) and his wife Petra hails from the Scandinavian country. “We hope to have the first phase of generators in the water next year,” said Roch-Perks, who said there were are not yet any suitable sites for Seabased’s technology off the Irish coast.

Roch-Perks, an engineer by trade, once set up an Irish bar in Hong Kong with a friend because he couldn’t find anywhere decent there to have a pint. “It was my first business. I was only in my 20s,” he pleaded. Since then, he’s progressed from beer to water, with Simply Blue.

SSE is one of the largest generators and suppliers of energy in the UK. Langhope Rig is currently nearing construction and consists of 10 GE 1.6 MW wind turbines which GE Energy UK will service under a long-term operations and maintenance agreement. Under the terms of the acquisition agreement, GE Energy Financial Services will own and operate the wind farm once it becomes operational later this year. Langhope Rig is situated approximately 55 miles south of Edinburgh. Its acquisition forms part of GE’s commitment to international expansion, including investment $1 billion annually in renewable energy projects across the globe.

Renewable energy is a core focus area for GE Financial Services which is one of the world’s largest investors in wind power with a portfolio of projects spanning nine countries and a capacity in excess of 14 GW in operation or under construction.

“The Langhope Rig acquisition supports our strategy of investing in high-quality energy assets with experienced partners” said Andrew Marsden, a managing director and European leader at GE Energy Financial Services. “This transaction combines GE’s strengths as a leading supplier of both structured finance and energy technology in an investment underpinned by the UK’s stable wind regime.”

GE Energy Financial Services will honour SSE’s commitments to the existing community investment fund associated with the project.

Switzerland-based ABB has won nearly $900m of contracts for the NordLink project from a consortium formed by Statnett, TenneT and KfW for supplying on-shore high-voltage direct current (HVDC) converter stations along with a cable system.

The link will extend over 623km. It will be the first-ever interconnection between the power grids of Norway and Germany.

Nordlink is expected to be operational from 2020.

Under the terms of the contract awarded by the consortium, ABB will design, engineer, supply, and commission two 525 kilovolt (kV), 1,400MW converter stations for the project.

The units will be equipped with ABB’s voltage sourced converter (VSC) technology, termed as HVDC Light. It will be set up near Tonstad in southern Norway, and near Wilster in northern Germany.

The 52 kV mass impregnated (MI) cable system will be designed, manufactured, and installed by ABB, and will comprise 154km of subsea and 54km of underground cable.

ABB will also be responsible for offering its services for the facility for five years.

The power transmission project is expected to support the integration of the European energy market, having a capacity to transmit around 1,400MW of power, which can suffice power requirements of 3.6 million homes in Germany.

ABB Power Systems president Claudio Facchin said: “The NordLink project once again demonstrates ABB’s commitment to the efficient use of renewable.

“We are bringing clean power to millions of people and supporting the energy policies of Germany and Norway.

“We pioneered HVDC technology and continue to develop new technologies that make projects like NordLink feasible.”

The link is likely to boost energy security in the European countries and will support renewable energy integration.

ABB CEO Ulrich Spiesshofer said: “The smart combination of renewable power generation, e.g. solar and wind in Germany and hydro-electric in Norway, demonstrates that we can technologically enable a sustainable green energy policy across Europe.”

Siemens has completed construction of the 600MW Cengiz Enerji Samsun combined cycle power plant in Turkey.

The single-shaft plant is developed in co-ordination with its partner and customer Cengiz Enerji Sanayi ve Ticaret. It is equipped with SGT5-8000H gas turbines.

Siemens has completed construction for the facility in 23 months, which is two months ahead of its scheduled delivery date.

Cengiz Enerji CEO Ömer Mafa said: “We are pleased that Cengiz Enerji Samsun plant was able to take up commercial operation two months ahead of schedule, thanks to our cooperation with Siemens.

“This excellent cooperation between our two companies in the implementation phase was instrumental in achieving this. This new plant is the perfect complement to our power plant fleet.”

As well as supplying the SGT5-8000H gas turbines, Siemens had also delivered a SST5-5000 model steam turbine, a SGen5-3000W generator, the electrical system and the SPPA-T3000 I&C system for the facility.

The Benson heat recovery steam generator and the auxiliary and ancillary systems for the plant were also supplied by the German manufacturer.

The firm was also responsible for long-term service for the main parts of the facility.

Construction and installation works for the facility were, however, conducted by Cengiz.

The Cengiz Enerji Samsun facility is claimed to the most fossil-fired power plant in Turkey and the entire 50Hz power plant market. It can power up to a full load in less than 30 minutes, even after a down-time of six hours.

The facility is also expected to react promptly to grid fluctuations and can adapt its output by 35MW per minute to meet the fluctuating power requirements.

Siemens Power and Gas Division project management business head Lothar Balling said: “We are proud to have set a new record on the 50Hz market with this power plant and its efficiency level of almost 61%.”

UK-based financial services giant Prudential is ready to invest as much as £100m for the construction of the proposed £1bn ($1.6bn) Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon energy project.

The 320MW facility will be located across Swansea Bay in Wales.

The construction of the project, which is being built by Tidal Lagoon Swansea Bay, is expected to start by 2015.

Expected to be operational by 2018, the facility will generate more than 495GWh of power annually for 120 years, sufficient enough for 120,000 homes.

Bloomberg quoted Prudential chief executive officer Tidjane Thiam as saying: “Such investments provide our customers with strong and sustainable returns, create good jobs and increase productivity and economic competitiveness.”

UK renewable power firm Good Energy Group invested £500,000 in the project in May this year.

The first phase of the project’s development is estimated to meet around 8% of UK’s electricity requirements, reports The Telegraph UK.

Tidal Lagoon Power chief executive Mark Shorrock was quoted as saying by the BBC: “Securing the backing of a world-renowned investment institution marks another major milestone for the Swansea Bay project and is a clear endorsement of our vision to introduce tidal lagoon infrastructure into the UK’s low carbon energy mix.

“Tidal lagoons will employ British industry to harness a British natural resource and return profits to British institutions”.