New figures from the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) revealed a total of 3,019MW of new offshore wind capacity came online in 2015, which means that offshore wind investments in Europe doubled to a record €13.3 billion (£10bn) last year. That brings the total capacity to more than 11GW.

Germany (2282MW), the UK (556MW) and the Netherlands (180MW) were the three countries to grid-connect new offshore wind turbines in 2015 with 14 projects reaching completion.

Work is ongoing on a further six projects in Germany, the UK and the Netherlands, which will contribute an additional 1.9GW in capacity, EWEA said.The average turbine size rose to 4.2MW from 3.7MW the previous year.

EWEA chief executive officer Giles Dickson commented the figures:

“New capacity additions will be lower in 2016 than 2015 though should then rebound, and we can expect to have over 20GW offshore wind in Europe by 2020.” Then he added:

“The real question is what happens after 2020. The industry is making real progress in reducing costs but we need governments to give us a clear vision of the volumes they envisage long term and the regulatory framework they’ll apply to drive the necessary investments. Active collaboration between governments is also key to align their efforts to develop the sector in the North Sea and Baltic.”

Under the first contract, Siemens will supply and install 36 Siemens D3 direct drive turbines at the 108MW Cloosh Valley wind farm, which is also known as Galway Wind Park Phase 2.

The Cloosh project is being developed as part of SSE Renewables’ effort to build a wind farm cluster in Cloosh Valley, near Rosscahill, County Galway. Construction of the first phase of Galway Wind Park is currently underway.

The two phases are expected to generate clean energy required to power around 84,000 households.

Additionally, Siemens will supply 20 SWT-3.2-101 wind turbines for the 64MW Sliabh Bawn wind farm located in county Roscommon, as part of the second contract.

Planned to be built in Sliabh Bawn mountain, south east of Strokestown, the Sliabh Bawn wind project is designed to generate electricity to power approximately 41,000 households.

Both orders include 15-year service agreements, including Siemens’ advanced remote diagnostics, to help ensure the long-term reliability, performance and availability of the wind turbines.

Siemens said that the Cloosh Valley and Sliabh Bawn wind farms, which are planned to be commissioned in mid-2017 and early 2017 respectively, are expected to contribute to the Irish Government’s renewable targets.

The development of a massive wind farm off the coast of East Fife that would more than double Scotland’s offshore capacity came a step closer to realisation last week.

Ireland-based Mainstream Renewable Power is in exclusive talks with an InterGen-led consortium for closing a £2bn deal (€2.6bn) in Scotland for a 450MW offshore wind farm construction.

If the project comes to fruition, the construction phase would create 600 jobs in Scotland and over 100 permanent jobs during the 25-year operational phase, with 75 giant turbines which would create enough energy to power every home in a city the size of Edinburgh (around 500 000 inhabitants).

Besides the Dutch power firm Intergen, other consortium members include Siemens Project Ventures, the Marguerite Fund and Infrared Capital.

Mainstream COO Andy Kinsella said:

“Neart na Gaoithe will generate the cheapest electricity from any offshore wind farm in the UK. All consents have been received; the CfD was awarded; the technology and construction contractors are in place and, very significantly, the required debt funding for the project has been sourced from commercial banks.”

Subject to the outcome of that review Mainstream say their project is expected to be fully commissioned and generating electricity by 2020.

Utility company E.ON has started laying the first turbine foundation for the Rampion offshore wind project in the UK.

The project is on schedule though it continues to battle severe weather conditions, which had disturbed works to prepare seabed for the 116 turbines installation.

The Rampion 400MW offshore wind project is being built 13km off the Sussex coast between Brighton and Lancing, and after completion it will become the first offshore wind farm off the south coast of England. The development is expected to supply the equivalent of up to 300,000 homes and to reduce CO2 emissions by up to 600,000 tonnes a year.

The wind farm will be equipped with 116 Vestas V112-3.45MW wind turbines of 3.45MW each.The entire project will spread across 72km², and each turbine will be installed at a minimum distance of 750m from each other and connected through inter array cables.

E.ON will invest approximately £1.3bn (€1.7bn); UK Green Investment Bank will invest £236m (€304m), while Enbridge will invest £370m (€489m) in the project.

Spanish wind turbine maker Gamesa SA has announced three orders totalling 130 MW in the Indian market.

Under the contracts, signed in the last quarter of 2015, the company will supply a total of 65 units of its G97-2.0 MW turbine. Gamesa will build two wind farms, one of 50 MW and one of 30 MW, on an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) basis, and will also supply 50 MW of turbines to a third wind farm.

The 50-MW EPC contract, coming from an unnamed renewable energy player, is for a wind farm in the state of Gujarat that is scheduled for commissioning in September. The other EPC order is from a power supplier and is for a wind farm in the state of Madhya Pradesh. This project is expected to be commissioned in the first quarter of 2016.

Under an agreement with an independent local operator and developer, Gamesa will also supply 25 turbines for a wind farm in Madhya Pradesh and due for commissioning in the first quarter of 2016.

The company is responsible for all the associated infrastructure requirements of the projects.

The deals mean the company’s order intake in India topped 1,300 MW in 2015, representing 54% growth over 2014.

Germany reached 3.3GW of operational offshore wind capacity last year.

The data, released by Deutsche WindGuard in its Status of Offshore Wind energy Development in Germany report, showed that by 31 December there were 792 turbines in the German North and Baltic seas feeding electricity to the grid.

A total of 546 new offshore turbines totalling 2282.4MW were connected in 2015. Some 290 turbines totalling at 1169.2 MW were erected last year, with the remainder installed in 2013 and 2014 but only connected in 2015.

A further 41 units with a combined capacity of 246MW were also installed last year, but are not yet fully grid-linked. The report added that 122 foundations were installed in 2015 which are expected to have turbines installed this year.

Offshore wind turbines produced more than 8TWh or 1.4% of Germany’s gross electricity generation last year, according to figures by working group AG Energiebilanzen.

Offshore wind industry groups AGOW, BWE, Offshore Wind Foundation, VDMA and WAB expect this year some 700MW to be connected to the grid.

Nordex has won a contract from John Laing Investments to supply and install 35MW at the Glencarbry wind farm in Ireland.

The Germancompany will install 12 turbines (seven N100/3300s and five N90/2500s units) at the site close to the village of Hollyford in County Tipperary. Delivery is scheduled to start in October.

Nordex will also service the turbines for a period of 15 years having signed a Premium Service Contract with John Laing.

John Laing managing director of renewable energy Ross McArthur said:

“Glencarby is an important investment for John Laing Group and we’re pleased that for the first time the turbines for one of our projects are being supplied and maintained by Nordex. We’re looking forward to seeing the project fully operational in early 2017 and to the prospect of working together and delivering further projects with Nordex in the future.”

Renewables investor Impax Asset Management has sold its 51% stake in the 24.2MW Ballycadden wind farm in Wexford to the Toronto-based Greystone Infrastructure Fund.

In a deal announced this morning, Greystone, one of Canada’s largest institutional money managers, will join a group of minority shareholders on the project. However, the terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Commissioned in 2013, a mix of 2.3MW and 3MW Enercon E-82 machines are spinning on the 9-turbine Wexford site.
The acquisition by Greystone is its first renewables investment in Europe with the company aiming to expand its interest across the continent.

Jeff Mouland, Head of the Greystone Infrastructure Fund commented this decision :

“We are very pleased to be adding this investment to our infrastructure portfolio and are actively pursuing other high quality assets in Ireland and across Europe on behalf of our investors.”

“Impax is currently constructing a number of projects in Ireland and remains committed to developing and building out its project pipeline throughout the period to 2020 and beyond”, said director of Impax Ryan Cameron.

German group BayWa AG said yesterday (Tuesday) it had acquired 375 MW of wind energy projects in Germany from Juwi AG, for an undisclosed amount.

The deal involves 31 projects, the majority of which are located in North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate. Subsidiary BayWa re renewable energy GmbH will take on their implementation.

The projects are at different stages of development, with almost one-third of expected to be approved in 2016. Construction is planned to start following approval and the first projects to be commissioned next year.

BayWa chief executive officer Klaus Josef Lutz commented the news :

“With this portfolio, we are creating the right conditions for the continued and sustained growth of our renewable energy activities. This enables us to safeguard a significant part of BayWa’s consolidated results over the coming years.”

The two companies said they will cooperate further throughout the implementation of the wind projects.

Westar Energy has placed a turbine delivery order with Siemens for the 280MW Western Plains wind power plant in Ford county, in the state of Kansas, US.

Financial details of the deal have not been disclosed.

Located near Spearville, to around 100 miles west of Hutchinson, the wind farm will be equipped with 122 of Siemens SWT-2.3-108 wind turbines, and will be able to meet the power requirements of approximately 100,000 average households in the country.

Besides supplying the turbines, the German technology giant Siemens will be responsible for their installation support and services, that will include the Siemens’s advanced remote monitoring and diagnostics.

The firm is expected to start wind turbine installations for the project later this year, and commission those by early 2017.

To date, the firm has installed more than 5,000 wind turbines in the country, capable of producing clean power for more than 2.5 million US homes.