UK-based Kite Power Solutions (KPS) has started a £10m funding drive to support commercial development and deployment of its windpower technology in offshore waters.

KPS intends to deploy its patented 3MW power system in offshore waters for the first time by 2019.

The technology involves generation of windpower with the use of hi-tech flying kites. This KPS system involves two kites tethered with 500m to 750m long manmade fibres to a winch system that generates power as it spools out.

The kites are expected to reach speeds of up to 100mph in 20mph winds, which create tether tension and leads to spooling of the line from the drum that remains connected to an electricity generator.

KPS said that the technology is economical andoffers advantages of easier deployment and maintenance, free of government subsidies.

Kite Power Solutions founder and chief executive Bill Hampton said: “We will be able to compete with offshore wind and without subsidies by removing tonnes of steel from every MWh produced offshore.

“Quite simply, by removing the steel from clean energy you make it lighter per MW and thus cheaper, and with a lower carbon footprint.”

The firm intends to deploy the technology at around £50/MWh by 2020, which is much lower than the current prices of around £140/MWh charged for offshore wind installations.

30 July 2015, source edie newsroom – European offshore wind has set a record for annual capacity installation just six months into 2015.

According to the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA), offshore wind installations surpassed previous year-long records in the first half of the year, reaching more than 2,342MW.

This represents a tripling of grid-connected capacity compared with the same period last year, with total installed offshore wind capacity hitting 10,393MW across 11 countries.

The first half of 2015 has seen 584 wind turbines fully connected to the grid. The average machine size also rose from 3.5MW in 2014 to 4.2MW this year.

Long-term visibility
EWEA chief policy officer Kristian Ruby said: “It has taken the offshore wind industry just six months to set the best year the sector has ever seen in terms of installed capacity.”

She said: “To ensure healthy growth in the coming years, and to guarantee offshore wind energy plays its role in meeting the EU’s competitiveness, security and decarbonisation objectives, the industry needs long-term visibility.”

The first months of the year have seen the UK connect 140 new turbines, and 522 MW to the grid.

Germany connected 406 new turbines, adding more than 1,700 MW of new capacity.

Green infrastructure
Ruby said reforms were needed to the European electricity market, in addition to improving grid infrastructure to ensure the integration of wind energy.

Infrastructure developments are thought to be crucial for the UK’s green energy development, but integrating distributed power generation systems such as wind and solar power with large-scale generation plants has presented challenges.

Last year, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) found 80% of businesses felt a reliance on outmoded fossil fuel infrastructure raised concerns about the UK’s future energy security, affecting investment decisions.

Ruby added it was important EU member states met renewable energy commitments towards the end of the decade and called on them to “set out a clear game plan to meet Europe’s 2030 targets.”

Subsidy cuts
Recent cuts to the Climate Change Levy in the UK, which subsidised renewable energy generation, have put renewable energy investments at increased risk, according to analysts GlobalData. However, the renewable energy analysts estimate the changes will not overly damage the offshore wind sector, which is forcast to reach more than 23GW by 2025.

The UK and France are thought to be struggling to meet their 2020 renewable energy targets, according to recent progress reports. Binding targets require the EU to source 20% of their energy from renewable sources.

The UK currently generates 7% of its energy from renewable energy, however 2015 has seen the UK generate around 22% of its electricity from renewable sources, with a steady growth in biomass production and solar installations.

ScottishPower Renewables has started construction of the 239MW Kilgallioch wind farm in South Ayrshire, Scotland.

Estimated to require an investment of around £300m, the wind farm is expected to meet the energy requirements of around 130,000 households annually.

Construction is underway for development of 55km of tracks at the site, while 14km of existing forest track will be upgraded to connect the turbines at the farm.

Kilgallioch wind farm will be equipped with 96 Gamesa-manufactured turbines, and is expected to be fully operational within the initial half of 2017.

“Tens of millions of pounds will go towards supporting community projects in the vicinity of the wind farm.”

ScottishPower Renewables construction director Stuart Mason said: “Kilgallioch is a major renewable energy development and a significant construction project.

“As well as making an important contribution to Scotland’s carbon reduction targets, tens of millions of pounds will go towards supporting community projects in the vicinity of the wind farm.

“This will be ScottishPower Renewables’ second largest windfarm, and the third largest overall in the UK.

The firm currently maintains more than 1.5GW of installed onshore wind capacity in the UK, and aims to raise this to 2GW.

Kilgallioch project is located between the boundaries of South Ayrshire, and Dumfries and Galloway Council, covering an area of 32km².

Gamesa expects to start turbine deliveries in February 2016, with first power production scheduled from November 2016.

German power equipment manufacturer Siemens has won separate orders for construction, installation and commissioning of turbines at three onshore wind projects in Ireland and Scotland.

Under the terms of the agreements, Siemens is responsible for delivering 52 units of its D3 direct drive wind turbines in total for the projects.

Two of the schemes in Ireland include the Raheenleagh project in County Wicklow, at 70km south of Dublin, and phase one of Galway Wind Park, which is near the city of Galway.

The third project, Aikengall 2, is located south-east of Edinburgh in Scotland.

Once operational, the renewable projects will have the capacity to power almost 100,000 households.

“Once operational, the renewable projects will have the capacity to power almost 100,000 households.”

Siemens has also signed long-term service contracts for the projects, where it will be responsible for five years of service at Galway phase one, ten years for Raheenleagh, and 20 for Aikengall 2.

Raheenleagh wind farm will have 11 installations of Siemens SWT-3.2-108 wind turbines. Coillte and ESB are the developers for the 35MW project, which is expected to operational from late 2016.

Siemens has scheduled the turbine installation to start next May.

For the Community Windpower’s Aikengall 2 wind farm project, the company is expected to deliver and install 19 of its SWT-3.2-113 turbines in early 2016.

The firm will install 22 of its SWT-3.0-101 direct drive wind turbines at SSE’s 64MW Galway Wind Park phase one, which has been scheduled for commissioning in early 2017.

German energy developer wpd has secured financing for its 111MW Nordergründe offshore wind project in the North Sea from European Investment Bank (EIB) and KfW IPEX bank.

EIB has agreed to support the wind energy development with €156m, while 100% of the equity will be contributed by wpd offshore.

The plant is planned to be built about 16km away from the coast of East Frisia and 14km to east of the island of Wangerooge. It is one of the first offshore wind projects for Germany.

The facillity be equipped with 18 wind turbines from Senvion’s 6.2M126 models.

BVT will deliver the substation for the project, and Ambau will be responsible for the foundations, NSW will look after the internal cabling and Bilfinger will deal with the installations.

Construction has been scheduled to start from March 2016 and is expected to be completed by 2016, with connection to the grid and feed-in.

EIB Germany lending operations vice-president Wilhelm Molterer said: “The financing of renewable energy, particularly offshore wind energy projects, is and will continue to be a key part of the EIB’s work, as it is all about meeting Europe’s ambitious environmental targets.

“Thus, we are glad to support the Nordergründe project, as it will very much contribute to that, as well as improving the security of energy supply in Europe.”

wpd has already started work on the project, which is about to enter a new phase with the start of production of its major components.

German power firm EnBW has offered to acquire the country-based insolvent wind power company Prokon, which presently generates around 537MW of renewable energy.

Prokon creditor’s committee has allowed the initial EnBW offer to its assets.

Prokon operates 54 wind projects in Germany and 318 facilities in Poland.

The firm has more than 170 wind energy developments lined up in Germany, Poland and Finland, all of which can generate around 4,200MW of energy.

Prokon had filed for insolvency on 22 January 2014 due to illiquidity and excessive indebtedness.

Creditors for the firm are expected to discuss and vote for the options in July this year, following which Prokon might either be sold or liquidated.

EnBW’s proposal for acquisition is in line with its strategy for 2020, according to which the firm seeks to expand its renewable portfolio as Germany pushes for energy generation from renewable sources.

EnBW CEO Frank Mastiaux said: “As part of our ‘EnBW 2020’ strategy, we want to expand our business in renewable energies more than three-fold and make it one of the main pillars of the future EnBW.

“The acquisition of Prokon would bring EnBW a significant step closer to achieving this goal.”

EnBW is looking to invest €3.5bn to double its renewable power generation capacity by the end of the decade, which will account for 40% of its power portfolio.

Frank Mastiaux said: “We are firmly convinced that EnBW offers the best platform to further develop the long-standing experience and expertise held by Prokon in the wind energy sector and to optimally develop the wind farm portfolio itself over the long term.

“The strengths of both companies complement each other perfectly.”

RWE Innogy has officially started operations at the 295MW Nordsee Ost wind farm in North Sea Germany.

The offshore power plant is located nearly 35km north to Heligoland. It covers an area of 24km2 and has been built at water depths of up to 25m.

The wind farm is equipped with 48 wind turbines that can generate enough electricity to power 320,000 households per year.

German Minister of Economics Sigmar Gabriel said: “Offshore wind energy is a strategically important element of Germany’s energy and climate policy and is key to the success of the energy transition.

“Thanks to its continuous input into the grid and its high-electricity yields, offshore power generation makes a crucial contribution towards a diversified and reliable energy supply system.”

RWE has invested more than €1bn for the construction of the project, while a €50m contribution came from the European Union.

RWE will be responsible for operations and servicing of the facility for the next 20 years.

RWE CEO Peter Terium said: “The expansion of renewable energy is one of our main growth areas and offshore wind energy will play a vital role. RWE will become the third largest player in the European offshore market this year.

“And we are growing further: in only one month’s time, we will be commissioning another wind farm, Gwynt y Môr, located off the coast of Wales.”

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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.”

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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.”

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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.”

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