RWE has begun to produce power for the first time at the Zuidwester wind farm in the Netherlands, parts of which are still being built. The total investment is over €150 million.

Fifty turbines installed during the late 1980s and early 1990s are being replaced by large new turbines. Each of the new Zuidwester turbines can generate as much electricity as all 50 turbines of the old wind farm combined.

The electrical energy generated here will be sufficient to supply the equivalent of 80,000 households per year with green electricity.

The new Enercon onshore wind turbines are the largest in the world with a hub height of 135 metres and a capacity of 7.5 megawatts each (90 MW in total).

Rick van Mensvoort, RWE Construction Manager said:

“We started building work here in March 2014. That was followed by the construction of the substation, the laying of the electricity cables and the installation of foundations and towers. Three weeks ago, we were able to install the first wind turbine.”

The Government of the Netherlands intends to increase the share of renewable energies from 5.6% in 2014 to 14% in 2020. The so-called Energy Agreement has set a target of 6,000 megawatts for onshore wind power generation. This represents a more than doubling of the Netherlands’ current onshore wind capacity (approximately 2,500 megawatts).

According to a joint press release from the Centre for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research Baden – Württemberg ( ZSW ) and the German Association of Energy and Water Industries ( BDEW ), Germany will reach 33% renewable electricity this year.

ZSW and BDEW said there had been a marked increase in electricity produced by wind power and photovoltaic systems.

Though this is a preliminary estimate, on 31 October 2015 wind energy had already supplied 47% more electricity (63 billion kWh) than during the same time period in 2014.

Solar systems produced 35bn kWh in the first 10 months of 2015, the same as in the whole of 2014.

Frithjof Staiß, executive director of the Centre for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research ZSW said :

“If renewable energies now meet one third of electricity demand, it is clear that this element of the Energiewende [Germany’s energy transition] is on a promising path. The rising share from renewable sources makes Germany less dependent on fossil fuels, thereby helping it to achieve its climate protection targets.”

Thomas Grigoleit, Director of Energy, Environment and Resources at Germany Trade and Invest added :

“Even if we don’t hit 33%, the overall increase in Germany’s renewable energy share is terrific news. Not only does it show how important this aspect is in terms of Germany’s Energiewende and climate change targets, it confirms Germany’s pioneering position in the industry. Germany is able not only to install this capacity but integrate it effectively into the grid.”

The Scottish government has approved Statoil plans for the 30MW Hywind 2 floating offshore wind project some 25km off Peterhead.

The Norwegian company was issued with a marine licence to build five Siemens 6MW turbines on spar foundations.

Statoil is due to start onshore works in 2015-16 with offshore construction to follow in 2016-17 with final commissioning before end-2017. It is expected that the farm could power up to 19,900 homes.

The Hywind machines will be attached to the seabed by three-point mooring spread and anchoring system. Power will be exported to an onshore substation.

Statoil vice president for new energy solutions Irene Rummelhoff said:

“Statoil’s objective with developing this pilot park is to demonstrate a commercial, utility-scale floating wind solution, to further increase the global market potential.” Then added :

“We are proud to develop this unique project in Scotland, in a region that has optimal wind conditions, a strong supply chain within oil and gas and supportive public policies.”

The Carbon Trust believes that floating wind concepts have the potential to reduce generating costs to below £100/MWh in commercial deployments, with the leading concepts such as Hywind producing even lower costs of £85-£95MWh.

GeoSea will install its largest-ever monopile foundations at RWE’s 336MW Galloper offshore wind farm in the UK.

The DEME company has been appointed as EPCI contractor for foundations at the 56-turbine project in a deal worth €340m.

Each of the monopiles at Galloper will total more than 1100 tonnes, said GeoSea.

Installation of the substructures is due to kick off at the end of 2016.

Scour protection will be undertaken by Tideway, another part of the DEME group.

RWE is joined by Siemens, the UK Green Investment Bank and Macquarie in a four-way equity split at the wind farm.

German industrial giant Siemens (FRA:SIE) has confirmed today it has received an order to supply and install 56 units of its 6-MW turbine model at the site of the 336-MW Galloper offshore wind project in UK waters, after attracting three new partners.

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

The quartet said the 56-turbine Round 2.5 project off Suffolk would combine their “expertise and experience”.

A consortium of 12 commercial banks and the European Investment Bank provides the £1.5 billion debt facilities (€2.1bn)

VBMS has also been awarded two contracts worth €200m to supply and install export and array cables.

The group has signed a consortium with NKT cables to tackle the supply and installation of two 45km export cables including route preparation, landfall operations, burial, termination and testing.

The second contract is for the supply and installation of 56 inter-array cables, for which the cabling specialist has contracted the UK-based cable supplier JDR.

Onshore construction is due to to kick off next week starting with the substation. The full project is due to commence operations in March 2018 and will power up to 336,000 homes. It will create around 700 jobs during construction and around 90 jobs once operational.

Siemens will supply and install 6MW turbines starting in May 2017 and will also deliver a 15 year maintenance contract.

RWE chief executive Hans Bunting said: “Today’s announcement is the culmination of many months of successful negotiations with our partners and investors and shows that the UK is still a strong market for offshore renewables.”

Alstom has commissioned the Alternate Current (AC) offshore substation for Energie Baden-Württemberg (EnBW) in the 288MW Baltic 2 offshore wind power facility in Germany.

Located 32km north to the island of Rügen in the Baltic Sea, the facility was officially commissioned by EnBW towards the end of last month.

Alstom’s high-voltage offshore substation will support energy transmission through a 150kV submarine cable, from the wind turbines to the onshore connection point of the network in Bentwisch.

Under the turnkey contract awarded by EnBW, Alstom was responsible for the technical development, design and supply of the electrical components, platform construction, transport and offshore installation of the substation.

Equipped with 80 Siemens SWT-3.6-120 wind turbines, the plant has the capacity to meet power requirements of around 340,000 households.

The Danish Energy Agency (DEA) has prequalified a total of seven companies and consortia to participate in the tender of Denmark’s largest offshore wind farm, the 600MW Kriegers Flak in the Baltic Sea.

The Danish Energy Agency said all but one of the bidders that had made the penultimate cut earlier this month are now in the running for the Baltic Sea project.

Local outfit Dong is facing competition from Scandinavian rivals Vattenfall and a joint venture of Statoil and Eon Denmark.

Danish company European Energy is working with Boralex on its bid :

“We have the highest number of prequalified tenderers ever in Danish wind history. I both hope and believe that the great competition for winning the Kriegers Flak tender will lead to the best possible price for the benefit of Danish electricity consumers”, said the Danish Minister for Energy, Utilities and Climate Lars Christian Lilleholt.

The DEA will implement the tender over the next year. The decision of the winner is expected to be published in December 2016.

Dong Energy is to construct the 660MW Walney 3 offshore wind farm after making a final investment decision in the Round 2.5 wind farm off northwest England.

The wind farm is an extension of the existing 367MW Walney 1 and Walney 2 wind farms, which Dong Energy owns a 50.1% stake.

The Danish company said it has secured all necessary consents from authorities and has signed the majority of contracts to supply and build the project, which will be the world’s biggest offshore wind farm once complete.

The project will boast two different turbines in two phases: 40 8MW turbines from MHI Vestas Offshore Wind and 47 Siemens 7MW offshore turbines.

Siemens has confirmed the order is the first for its new 7MW machine, each which will have a rotor diameter of 154 meters.

Walney 3 is expected to be fully commissioned in 2018 and will be constructed and operated under the UK’s FID-enabling regime with a fixed price for the first 15 years of production.

Dong executive vice president Samuel Leupold said:

“Walney Extension will deliver clean electricity to more than 460,000 UK homes and I’m very pleased that we can now start construction of what will be the world’s biggest offshore wind farm when completed. Building this offshore wind farm will bring us significantly closer to realising our strategy of having 6.5GW of installed capacity online by 2020.”

Then Siemens offshore chief executive Michael Hannibal added:

“This marks the first order for the innovative Siemens 7MW wind turbine. We introduced this upgraded version of our proven 6MW model into the market only last March, and today we are proud to announce that Dong has chosen our new flagship offshore turbine. Our 7MW turbine will leverage the energy output of the Walney 3 East offshore wind farm and contribute significantly to lowering the cost of offshore wind power.”

Norwegian utility Statkraft suffered a net loss in the third quarter when compared to a year earlier amid record low energy prices in the Nordic region and adverse currency effects.

The company made a loss of Nkr39m (€4.2m), down from a profit of Nkr41m (€4.4m) in the same period in 2014. Operating profit before depreciation fell to Nkr11m (€1.2m) down from Nkr23m (€2.5m).

The big fall in prices means Statkraft has decided to reduce the production from its Norwegian hydropower assets.

Total power production fell by 1.1TWh compared to the same period last year.

The company said that a 58% fall in Nordic power prices from €31.8/MWh in the third quarter of 2014 to just €13.4/MWh.

Negative currency effects due to the weak level of the Norwegian Kroner also contributed to the quarterly loss, reducing profit by Nkr52m (€5.5m). There was Nkr1bn (€107m) of equity injected into the company.

Statkraft chief executive Christian Rynning-Tønnesen said: “We have experienced the lowest power prices in the Nordics in 15 years and have therefore held back water in order to produce more electricity when demand and prices are expected to be higher.”

The company is researching a revised 1000MW wind power project in Norway and has recently completed a 172MW hydropower plant in Peru and has started work on constructing the 36MW Andershaw wind farm in the UK.

Vattenfall’s wind business posted a third quarter operating profit of Skr887m (€94m), up from Skr620m (€66m) in the year-ago period, on the back of higher revenues and generation from onshore and offshore wind.

Net sales at the Swedish utility and developer were Skr1.39bn (€148m), up from Skr918m (€98m) in the previous year’s quarter, thanks in part to the commissioning and operations at the 288MW DanTysk project off Germany and 37MW Clashindarroch onshore project in Scotland (pictured).

Wind generation rose to 1.1TWh in the period from 0.7TWh last time around. Hydro was also up by around 50%.

In the wider business Vattenfall posted net sales of Skr37.5bn (€4bn), up from Skr34.7bn (€3.7bn) in the year-ago period, with pre-tax profits of Skr1.6bn (€170m) compared with a loss of Skr18bn (€1.9bn) last time around.

“The profit increase is mainly attributable to higher production volumes and lower operating costs”, said chief executive Magnus Hall, who also added :

“Market conditions remain challenging however, with a considerable capacity surplus and low electricity prices, especially in the Nordic countries, which is squeezing our production margins. Cost-cutting efforts must continue.”