Eon and the UK Green Investment Bank have appointed cable and pipeline system installation specialist VolkerInfra to carry out onshore works for the 400MW Rampion offshore wind farm, which is being built 13km off the Sussex coast.

The job will comprise of onshore major horizontal directional drills – under the A27, a railway crossing, the A283 and River Adur – and one landfall to connect the onshore and offshore cables when installed.
VolkerInfra will start the work later this year and is set to have it completed by the second quarter of 2016.

VolkerInfra managing director Jonathon Humphries said: “We are delighted to be appointed for the Rampion project and look forward to safely delivering the works in collaboration with our VolkerWessels sister companies Visser & Smit Hanab and VBMS.”

EDP Renováveis (EDPR) has signed an Investment Cooperation Agreement with China Three Gorges (CTG), allowing the latter up to a 30% stake in the up to 1.1GW Moray offshore wind project in Scotland.

CTG will be entitled to 30% of the equity and shareholder loans directly or indirectly owned by EDPR in the Moray Offshore Renewable (MORL), according to the agreement.

Signed by the firm’s subsidiary, EDPR UK, the deal furthers the strategic partnership between EDPR’s principal shareholder, Energias de Portugal (EDP), and CTG.

Following the deal, CTG will be involved in the investment, development and operation of the offshore wind project in the North Sea along with EDPR and other potential investors.

The CTG investment for the project is planned to be done in two stages.

The firm will initially invest 10%-20% when the UK Government announces a new Contract for Difference (CfD) auction allocation round.

An additional investment of up to 10% will be put forward by the Chinese firm once the project secures a CfD.

The Scottish Government has given its consent for the offshore wind project, which is expected to have a capacity for up to 1,116MW, in March 2014.

EDPR is likely to divide the project into a number of phases to allow ‘a proper bidding strategy’ for CfDs.

This equity sharing deal with CTG is subject to regulatory and third party approvals, and other precedent conditions.

Spanish Iberdrola has signed an agreement with the Young Farmers’ Agricultural Association (ASAJA) in Madrid to increase generation and use of solar photovoltaic energy in the agricultural sector.

The firms will jointly boost the Smart Solar Iberdrola service to allow customers to generate their own energy for consumption using solar photovoltaic technology.

The partners will conduct feasibility tests to boost the technology for the facilities, members, customers, and other points of supply represented by ASAJA, whose members include direct farm workers, with owners and lease-holders, and also families members related to farm activities.

A follow-up committee will be set up for the purpose, which will also deliver, publicise and carry out marketing for the service in this sector.

Smart Solar is a retail product by Iberdrola, which offers design, assembly and commissioning of a fully customised solar installation, besides delivering finance, advice, comprehensive maintenance, management and supervision of the facilities through web tools and innovative applications.

Iberdrola announced in February its intentions to invest for renewable energy sector in Scotland and the UK.

ASAJA is a professional agricultural organisation in the country, which is comprised of 200,000 members.

German conglomerate Siemens has launched a new direct-current technology solution, which enables cost-efficient and simplified grid connection for offshore wind power plants.

Unlike the conventionally used large central converter platforms, the new platform housing Siemens’ transmission technology will be much smaller and compact.

The firm is further developing the transmission technology, which can connect multiple smaller platforms sequentially in a wind farm and then route them to an onshore transformer substation.

The compact design of the new solution allows the use of encapsulated high-voltage electrical equipment, especially installation of diode rectifier units (DRUs), instead of the usual air-insulated transistor modules.

Each of the DRUs has a transmission capacity of 200MW, and is the core of the new transmission technology, along with the transformer, the smoothing reactor, and the rectifier, all of which are combined in one tank.

Besides being modular and flexible, the new solution reduces the volume of platform structures by four-fifths and weight by two-thirds, which, in turn, can result in cost reductions by more than 30%.

It also increases transmission capacity by one-third and reduces transmission losses by 20%.

Siemens Energy Management Division CEO Jan Mrosik said: “As the only provider on the market, we have already successfully commissioned four offshore direct-current connection projects. Now we are applying our experience directly to the next generation of direct-current grid connections.” He also said :

“Our new solution will play a major role in decreasing the cost of offshore wind power below ten cents per kilowatt hour by 2020. This is how we plan to make the direct-current technology used in Germany more interesting to other markets, too.”

German Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy (BMWi) is financing the new Siemens’ technology solution as a part of the federal government’s sixth energy research programme under the supervision of project sponsor Jülich.

Italy’s renewable energy group Enel Green Power (EGP), and infrastructure fund F2i, have signed an agreement to open a photovoltaic (PV) joint-venture in the country.

The new joint-venture will have equal shares, controlled by both the companies, and will include a portfolio of 210MW of operating solar photovoltaic capacity.

Under the deal, EGP will contribute 105MW of assets from its Altomonte FV subsidiary to the new joint-venture. F2i will also contribute 105MW of assets held by its F2i Solare 1 and F2i Solare 3 units.

The enterprise value of EGP is €230m, while F2i’s assets are valued at €285m.

To ensure equal shareholding, EGP will also contribute €18m in cash, while transferring Altomonte’s investment in the new company. F2i can choose to contribute an additional 58MW of capacity by next year.

The value adjustment standard for this kind of transaction is expected to be carried out in 2016.

The new joint-venture focuses on bringing together different operating PV solar plants owned by various financial institutions and private operators in the Italian PV market.

EGP hopes that the joint-venture will create value by reducing operating expenses and optimising energy management with its assets and expertise.

Furthermore, the company is seeking to further optimise its debt in order to seize new financial opportunities in a new low-interest market environment.

EGP can choose to acquire an additional 2.5% of the joint-venture, which would give it control of the company.

The deal is expected to close by the end of this year, and remains subject to the approval of the EU antitrust authority.

Octopus Investments has secured £400m (€540m) in financing for its 522MW portfolio of UK solar projects.

The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and Investec Bank have closed the syndication for the financing deal of the portfolio.

Projects under the portfolio consist of 74 operational ground-mounted solar projects that Octopus acquired from Lightsource Renewable Energy.

Located across the south-east and west of the UK, the projects are supported with 20-year fixed income tariffs under the UK Government’s Renewables Obligation.

Funding for the solar power portfolio invited interest from multiple banking and institutional investors and was closed oversubscribed.

Investec power and infrastructure lending head Olivier Fricot said: “We are delighted to have closed what is a landmark transaction for the sector with Octopus and Lightsource, two of our long standing relationships.

“It further endorses the expertise of our team in the UK solar and wider renewables sectors where we continue to see strong levels of lending and M&A activity.”

RBS infrastructure and structured finance director Craig Love said: “We are glad that our sector and execution expertise, along with our international distribution network, were able to help deliver the right result for Octopus and its investors.” Then added :

“RBS has been at the forefront of the UK solar market since its inception in 2010, has funded 1.2GW of projects to-date and, despite recent regulatory changes, retains a strong pipeline of solar projects going forward.”

The developers of the 970MW Navitus Bay offshore wind farm have decided not to challenge the UK government’s rejection of the project, which would have been located off the south coast of England.

MHI Vestas, which was the preferred turbine supplier, said it can confirm that Navitus Bay Development – the company set up by the developers EDF and Eneco to oversee the project – had informed the manufacturer about the decision not to appeal again DECC’s refusal to grant planning permission.

“As MHI Vestas Offshore Wind had only been appointed preferred supplier for the potential order and hence the project had not achieved status as a firm and unconditional order, the decision by Navitus Bay Development will not impact the order backlog of MHI Vestas Offshore Wind”, MHI Vestas said.

The Round 3 zone near the Isle of Wight was rejected last month amid concerns of “seascape, landscape and visual impacts”, “visual impact onshore” and “harm” to the area’s World Heritage Site status and problems for tourism in the local Dorset area.

German manufacturer Siemens has received an order to deliver wind turbines with a 172.8MW capacity for the extension of Clyde wind farm in Scotland.

UK-based power generator SSE is the developer for the project, which is located east of Abington in South Lanarkshire.

Siemens will deliver 54 of its SWT-3.2-101 wind turbines to Clyde farm to add to the 152 currently in operation, generating 350MW of clean energy.

Construction works for the extension project started in July and are expected to finish in June 2017.

Siemens is expected to start delivery and installation of the wind turbines in June 2016.

In addition to supplying generators, the firm will be responsible for providing long-term servicing at the wind farm.

The existing 2.3MW turbines were also manufactured by Siemens, and were commissioned in 2011 and 2012.

Balfour Beatty is the principal contractor for the extension project, which was approved by the Scottish Government last July.

Siemens’ wind power and renewables division onshore CEO Thomas Richterich said: “We are very pleased to continue the long and successful relationship with our customer SSE in an important project like the Clyde extension.

“Our direct drive units improve performance, reliability and maintainability. We see this innovation in our products as a stable basis for further collaboration with experienced customers like SSE.”

French electric utility ENGIE and Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to collaborate on the energy value chain and technology.

The agreement includes development of technologies and solutions such as conventional and nuclear power plants, renewable energy technologies, and innovative services designed to increase energy-efficiency, optimise the use of resources and reduce CO2 emissions.

The companies will also develop technologies that will reduce emissions of electrical systems globally and increase process efficiency.

Also to be explored are the development of efficient gas turbines, along with a combination of electricity, heat and hydrogen, fuel cells, monitoring systems and the advancement of nuclear-related businesses delivering reliable carbon-free base-load electricity.

The MoU was announced after a meeting between French and Japanese Prime Ministers in Tokyo on 5 October.

The agreement builds on their long-term relationship as worldwide purchaser-suppliers, and partnerships.

MHI CEO Shunichi Miyanaga said: “The on-going systemic change of the energy sector and the need to drastically reduce greenhouse gases emissions call for shorter innovation cycles and a holistic view of the energy value chain: I’m convinced that closer cooperation between technology suppliers and utilities, as reflected in this MoU, will contribute to shorter times to market and a better response to the customer needs while using the energy resources with maximum efficiency.”

ENGIE CEO Gérard Mestrallet said: “The concluded cooperation agreement reflects our mutual commitment to provide the most up-to-date solutions for the energy sector across the globe, and will serve as a stepping stone to pave the way to explore new opportunities for cooperation leveraging our technical expertise and past experience of working together.”

They companies have already completed installation and commissioning of several projects worldwide.

The EU accounted for only 5.8% of the world’s energy production in 2013, compared to China with 19.2% and the US with 13.8%, according to the EU’s latest statistical energy pocketbook. Meanwhile, the EU consumed 12% of the world’s total energy, China accounted for 22.4% of energy consumption and the US 16.1%.

The latest statistics reveal that, in 2013, Ireland, Cyprus, Luxembourg and Malta were the most fuel import dependent EU countries with over 80% of their energy imported. Denmark, Estonia and Romania were the least import dependent with less than 20% of their energy imported.

Other figures show that in 2013 the EU imported 39% of its natural gas from Russia, 29.5% from Norway and 12.8% from Algeria. For crude oil, 33.5% came from Russia, 11.7% from Norway, 8.6% from Saudi Arabia and 8.1% from Nigeria. Overall in 2013, the EU’s import dependency for all energy products was at 53.2%, rising to 65.3% for natural gas alone and 64.6% for hard coal.

In 2013, the renewable energy share in gross final energy consumption reached 15% for the whole of the EU, and the primary energy intensity – a measure of energy efficiency calculated as units of energy per unit of GDP in 2010 – decreased by about 15.6% from 2005 levels.

The 2015 statistical pocketbook covers a whole range of energy statistical data and indicators including energy intensity, carbon intensity, renewable energy shares, energy efficiency, employment and EU country profiles.