German technology giant Siemens has won three onshore wind orders for projects in Scotland that will provide a combined capacity of 126MW.

The Scottish projects under consideration include the Dersalloch wind farm in the South Ayrshire region, the Ewe Hill project, which is situated at a 15km distance from Lockerbie in Dumfries and Galloway, and another wind development in North Ayrshire.

Following delivery of the turbines, Siemens will also be offering long-term service and maintenance for the projects.

For the Dersalloch project, the firm will be responsible for the construction, installation and commissioning of 23 units of its D3 direct drive wind turbines for a combined capacity of 69MW.

While turbine installations have been scheduled to start in spring 2016, official handover of the site to developer ScottishPower Renewables is expected to be completed in autumn 2016.

For the second order, Siemens will be delivering a total of 22 wind turbines, having a potential capacity of up to 51MW.

While six of its SWT-2.3-93 wind turbine models will be supplied for Ewe Hill Phase I, the second phase of the same project will have 16 similar wind turbine type installations.

Siemens is expected to conduct installation of the turbines for the first phase of the project in spring 2016, while the Phase II installations have been scheduled for autumn 2016.

The third order is for Millour Hill Community Wind farm, under which the German firm is to deliver two SWT-3.2-101 turbines for a wind project in North Ayrshire.

Siemens Wind Power and Renewables Onshore CEO Thomas Richterich commented :

“With their combined rating of 126MW, these three projects will provide reliable, clean energy for the region, equivalent to the demand of both Scotland’s Orkney and Shetland Islands.”

A Carbon Trust Offshore Wind Accelerator-led programme has devised a methodology to pre-determine the load-bearing capacity of vibrated piles as part of a project to test alternative ways of installing offshore foundations.

What It appears that vibration-driven piling could make installing monopiles and jackets offshore quieter and up to 10 times faster.

The test involved a comparison of the conventional method of impact hammering with the vibration of steel piles on land.

It aimed to prove whether vibratory piling can offer a faster and more environmentally friendly method of installing steel foundations for offshore wind farms and to evaluate the method with regard to stability.

The project participants are RWE Innogy, Bilfinger Offshore, DONG Energy, EnBW, E.ON and Vattenfall.

RWE Innogy said it now plans to build on these tests and launch an additional subproject intended to investigate ways of optimising the installation methodology itself.

Carbon Trust director of innovation Jan Matthiesen commented :

“Finding innovative methods to reduce the cost of installation will help to bring down the cost of offshore wind, making it competitive with conventional energy sources.”

Siemens is to supply a total of 130MW to three wind farms in the Basilicata region of southern Italy.

It will equip the plants with a total 42 direct-drive D3 units made up of SWT-3.0-113 and SWT-3.2-113 turbines by the end of 2016.

The Italian regulatory authority Gestore Servizi Energetici has prescribed an awarding procedure for wind farms with capacities greater than 5MW since 2012.

In this process, developers offer the greatest possible discounts from the defined base rate of €127/MW/h of power that is generated.

Terna Energy, member of large Greek conglomerate GEK Terna, has acquired a 380MW wind energy project from Tri Global Energy in Texas, US.

If terms of the deal have not been disclosed, the facility is due to power around 110,200 homes once completed.

Comprising nearly 32,000 leased acres of privately owned farm and ranch land, the Fluvanna Wind Energy farm will be constructed in phases with the first one expected to be operational in 2017.

As part of the contract, Tri Global will work with Terna during the construction phase, up to the time when the project reaches commercial operation.

The project was designed under Tri Global’s proprietary business model, wind force plan, which enables local landowners and community investors to partner with and have a substantial ownership in the wind project development that leased their land.

Terna Energy S.A., based in Athens, Greece, is a developer, owner and operator of 885 MW of renewable energy projects in operation or under construction in Europe and the U.S.

Irish wind hit a new peak output earlier this week with favourable weather conditions helping wind farms to supply almost 50% of electricity demand.

According to EirGird figures, wind power in the Republic reached the new high at tea time on Wednesday.
Wind output hit some 2035MWs or enough to meet 46% of the country’s electricity demand.

It is the first time that the country has broken the 2GW barrier. Weather conditions at the time were favourable as the tail end of the season’s first storm (Storm Barney) brought high winds throughout the country.

The Irish Wind Energy Association said the new record is a “milestone” for the onshore sector.

RWE Innogy has selected the Port of Lowestoft as the base for the construction of its 336MW Galloper offshore wind farm.

The deal has been announced which it said “signifies a multi-million pound investment into the local economy” in terms of lease and port payments and the preparation of the facility ahead of it becoming the project’s offshore construction base.

Around 40 personnel will work from the OGN Group facility onsite over the two year construction period of the Round 2.5 project.

Galloper project director Toby Edmonds said: “The new base, with its excellent quay, office and laydown facilities will be a thriving hub of activity during the Galloper wind farm construction period.”

RWE made a final investment decision in October with the UK Green Investment Bank, Siemens Financial Services and Macquarie Capital each becoming 25% joint equity partners alongside the utility.

The Galloper team will mobilise onsite in March 2016 before moving onto the construction phase of the project in June 2016.

RWE said a final decision on the operations and maintenance base is expected to be made “in the coming months”.

ScottishPower Renewables has submitted plans to build a 1.2GW offshore wind farm off the coast of Suffolk, after the government yesterday announced it would continue to provide support for new projects over the course of this parliament.

The project called East Anglia THREE will spread across a 305km² area in the southern North Sea, off the coast of Suffolk in East Anglia.

It will feature up to 172 wind turbines and generate enough energy to meet the power needs of more than 850,000 homes.

The project will be considered by the Planning Inspectorate and if approved, would start construction in 2021, with first power coming in 2023.

The UK Government said that technical development has helped pare the costs of contracts for offshore wind come by at least 20% in the last two years, but it is still expensive.

Energy and Climate Change Secretary Amber Rudd explained yesterday :

“Further support will be strictly conditional on the cost reductions we have seen already accelerating. The technology needs to move quickly to cost competitiveness.”

East Anglia THREE was proposed to be developed in a 50/50 joint venture between ScottishPower Renewables and Vattenfall.

But in August 2015, both the parties agreed to develop offshore windfarm projects independently within the “East Anglia Zone”.

France’s Port of Cherbourg is on track to complete a 100-hectare offshore wind and marine energy industrial and logistics hub by the end of next year, according to managing body Ports of Normandy Authority.

In addition to the 44-hectare area of port land already available alongside a new heavy-load quay completed in spring 2015, 39 hectares of port land has been under construction since March.

A further 17-hectare business area is also under development.

New access roads and railway lines for the €100m project are due to be completed by the end of the year, said Ports of Normandy Authority.

The Eolien Maritime France consortium, which comprises EDF Energies Nouvelles, Dong and WPD Offshore, has chosen Cherbourg for its assembly hub for the Courseulles and Fécamp offshore wind farms.

Offshore wind energy could meet 35% of the UK’s electricity demand by 2030 and support 50,000 skilled jobs, according to a new Offshore Wind Vision document released today.

The document is being launched as part of Offshore Wind Week (16–20 November), a cross-sector initiative involving many responsible for licensing, developing, manufacturing, constructing and operating offshore wind farms in the UK.

The document main points are:

-Offshore wind is getting cheaper with the level of subsidy dropping by 38% and is on track to be competitive with other new generation sources by the mid-2020s.

-Offshore wind has become the most productive of all the renewable technologies, and this improvement is set to continue, with the newest wind farms are already operating at load factors of up to 50%.

-The sector is attracting global investment, with over £9.5bn (€13.5bn) coming from investors since 2010 encouraged by stable and predictable regulatory regimes for renewable energy.

-Offshore wind already provides employment for 13,000 people and with continued deployment that figure could grow to 50,000 by 2030 across development, supply chain, construction and operational roles.

Offshore Wind Industry Council co-chair Benj Sykes commented:

“It is only 15 years since the first UK offshore wind farm – just two 2MW turbines – began operating. Since then the technology has matured rapidly to the point where the UK leads the world in deployment and could readily build 30 gigawatts of capacity by 2030, enough to meet 35% of UK demand.”

Occurring once a year in a major European city, the EWEA Annual Event is a major showcase for Europe and the world’s widest array of wind industry actors.

It is currently unfolding in Paris at Porte de Versailles, from today until the 20th of November, two weeks before world leaders meet to discuss climate negotiations at the UN Summit in the French capital.

The conference programme features hundreds of high-quality presentations covering the length and breadth of the wind energy sector, so that participants can learn about the latest technology trends and find out about the opportunities and challenges facing the industry.

Attracting thousands of wind energy professionals every year, the exhibition provides the ideal international platform to showcase products and services.

But the comprehensive conference programme not only delivers cutting-edge technological knowledge, but also lively debates on European policy, markets and financial issues.

It is still possible to register by clicking here.