Over a fifth of Ireland’s electricity has come from wind energy this year

Since the beginning of 2016, Ireland has saved approximately €70 million in foreign energy imports with the help of wind energy. Within a six month period which saw the indigenous renewable energy source meet over a fifth (22%) of Ireland’s entire electricity demand, according to provisional new figures compiled by the Irish Wind Energy Association (“IWEA”).

This figure puts Ireland almost on a par with other leading EU Member States such as Spain where wind energy produced 23.6% of Spain’s power in the six month period, and puts Ireland ahead on a percentage basis of countries such as Germany where, wind and solar contributed some 20% to their domestic power demand in the first half of 2016.

Commenting on the figures, Brian Dawson, Head of Communications, IWEA, said:
“While it’s exciting to see wind energy delivering such high levels of electricity generation, it’s critically important that we continue to focus on developing these clean and indigenous energy sources and focus on reducing our dangerously unsustainable 85% reliance on expensive fossil fuel imports.”

“Apart from easing our dependency on fossil fuel imports, wind energy is delivering real tangible value to electricity consumers, is promoting significant investment and jobs in our communities, and is helping to protect our environment for future generations.”

“Public interest in wind energy as a clean renewable energy for Ireland is also high. We always encourage people with questions about wind energy to visit wind farms for themselves, and this June saw 1,500 people young and old visiting local wind farms, seeing the turbines in action and learning about the benefits of this home-grown Irish energy.”

On 28th January, the peak for the period in terms of wind energy production was recorded when wind energy output hit 2132 MW for Ireland, representing almost 60 percent of electricity demand at that time.

Furthermore, the overall level of wind energy capacity in Ireland has just reached a new all-time record peak of 2,500MW.  It has the potential to create enough electricity to regularly power over 1.6 million homes nationwide.

Ireland currently imports 85% of its energy, 35% above the European average, just behind Malta, Cyprus and Luxembourg.

A recent national survey carried out by IPSOS/MRBI showed 70% of people across Ireland supporting wind energy in Ireland, and this interest in Irish wind energy was further highlighted in June with over 1,500 people visiting wind farms across Ireland and Northern Ireland throughout the month of June.

2017 will mark 25 years since the first Irish wind farm started generating electricity in Co. Mayo, and today there are over 200 wind farms operating in Ireland, with the wind energy sector employing over 3,400 people nationwide, a figure which is projected to grow to over 8,000 by 2020.

The Irish Wind Energy Association (IWEA) is committed to the promotion and education of wind energy issues and plays a leading role in the areas of conference organisation, lobbying and policy development on the island of Ireland. IWEA is committed to promoting the use of wind energy in Ireland and beyond as an economically viable and environmentally sound alternative to thermal or nuclear generation.

The company’s wind assets performed strongly with net sales increasing from SEK 5.2 billion (€558 million) in 2014 to SEK 6.7 billion (718 million) last year. The Swedish outfit’s annual report revealed a jump in annual wind generation to 5.8TWh from 4.1TWh in 2014.

Underlying operating profit before depreciation, amortisation and impairment losses (EBITDA) increased 22.5% to SEK 4.6 billion (€491m).

The company said it would spend almost Skr14bn on wind in 2016-17 (€1.5bn) as it looks to reach a 2.3GW renewables target by 2020. The annual report shows it spent Skr8.6bn during 2015 in the sector.

Chief executive Magnus Hall said:

“The ongoing change of our energy system is dramatic, but also very exciting, and is giving rise to entirely new business opportunities for Vattenfall.”

The overall Vattenfall business recorded a Skr19.8bn (€2.1bn) loss for last year, according to the accounts, blaming low electricity prices and impairment costs largely from nuclear.

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.

Dutch company Reikon Beheer is to market and deploy SheerWind’s Invelox wind power generating systems in the Netherlands.

The Invelox system collects wind in a funnel system that aims to increase its speed before delivering it to multiple turbines.

The licensing agreement is US company SheerWind’s second in Europe and fifth globally allowing its technology to further expand worldwide.

Reikon Beheer will introduce SheerWind’s technology under the name NedPower SWH to customers in the Netherlands and expects its first pilot project to be under construction in the first quarter of 2016.

SheerWind said this means energy can be produced from record low wind speeds of two metres per second in locations close to the end user.

NedPower SWH chief executive officer Huibert Uittenbogaard commented the news:

“The Netherlands has a long history with wind technology, but is behind schedule to reach the goal of 14% renewable energy by 2020. I believe that Invelox is the solution to make this impossible goal possible.”

The Irish wind industry has launched a publicity campaign to highlight its potential to replace costly fossil fuel imports.

Devised by advertising agency Rothco with the Irish Wind Energy Association (IWEA), the “Power To Power Ourselves” campaign says the country is in a “unique” position to decrease its “astonishing” 85% reliance on imported energy :

“Harnessing wind energy, along with other renewable resources, could end that reliance, restoring our energy independence and showing the world how to live without fossil fuels”, the campaign’s website says. But that’s not all :

“We’ve shown the world how a small country can be a leader on the global stage. And now we have the chance to do so again, but this opportunity has far reaching consequences for Ireland and the entire planet. There are few places on earth better located to harness the power of the wind. Our island’s unique position on the edge of the Atlantic might bring some inclement weather, but it surrounds us with a valuable natural resource”, also explains the website.

The campaign is support by a number of wind developers including ABO Wind, Bord na Mona, Coillte, ESB and Gaelectric with turbine suppliers Siemens, Enercon and Nordex also involved.

EDF Energy’s renewable arm has bought the Dorenell onshore wind farm project in Scotland which could provide electricity for up to 138,000 homes, the company said on Thursday.

The plant could generate up to 200 megawatts of electricity and is expected to begin operation in 2018 at a bid price of £82.50 per megawatt-hour.

EDF Energy, the British subsidiary of French utility EDF, will develop and construct the project alongside renewable energy company Infinergy which was previously developing the project, EDF Energy said in a statement.

EDF Energy chief executive Vincent de Rivaz said:

“Today’s announcement, just weeks before the international conference on climate change in Paris, confirms EDF Energy’s commitment to lead in UK investment in low carbon electricity. That means investment in wind and nuclear electricity generation with an increasing focus on the development of Scottish renewables.”

For his part, Infinergy managing director Esbjorn Wilmar commented :

“Our focus now is on bringing new technology through the planning process to make Dorenell the best wind farm it can be, maximising output at the site which will make an extremely important contribution to the renewable energy targets set by the Scottish government as part of policy to ensure greater diversity and security of electricity supplies.”

Dorenell, which will be built in the heart of whisky country near Dufftown in Moray, was consented in 2011 as a 177MW project featuring 59 turbines of 3MW each. The original developer is awaiting ministerial consent for a revised 60-unit layout featuring up to 3.3MW hardware.

German turbine manufacturer Nordex posted earnings of €97.6 million in the third quarter of 2015, a 63% rise on the same period last year, helped by falling costs and rising demand in Europe and South Africa.

Orders have gone up by 57% and the performance has led the German company Nordex to raise its sales target for 2015 by roughly 15% from €1.9-2.1bn to between €2.3bn and €2.4bn.

Orders on hand climbed by 32% which, the company said in a statement, “provide the underpinnings for the expected growth in the first half of 2016.”

Europe and South Africa accounted for 88% of total sales with the remaining 12% coming from the Americas.

Nordex chief executive Lars Bondo Krogsgaard revealed the company plans to expand further.

He said: “We are currently growing more quickly than the wind power industry as a whole. This is due to our focus on the right markets, products and services. To ensure that we remain on this course of expansion in the long term, we have now decided to substantially strengthen our business by combining our activities with those of Acciona Windpower.”

Indeed, in early October, Nordex surprised the industry with the announcement it would acquire rival Acciona Windpower in a €785 million cash and shares deal. In return, the Acciona Group would become Nordex’s reference shareholder with a 29.9% stake.

The company will report on its medium-term outlook and strategic orientation at a capital markets day taking place tomorrow in Frankfurt.

The 144MW Westermeerwind offshore wind farm delivered last weekend the first power to the grid in the Netherlands.

The first 17 of 48 turbines have been installed by main contractor Siemens, with the project expected to be fully operational by the Spring of 2016.

Van Oord and Mammoet completed the last pile installation in late May 2015 and Siemens started adding the tower sections in mid-July started with placing the tower sections.

VolkerWessels Boskalis Marine Solutions completed the installation of 44km of power cables from the wind farm in June.

There are 42 connecting cables laid between the wind turbines and six export cables to transport the power from the wind turbines to the transformer station on the mainland.

Vestas has won a firm and unconditional order for turbines totaling 200MW from Inner Mongolia Hanas Wind Power for two Chinese wind power projects.

Under the deal, the Danish power equipment manufacturer will deliver 50 of its V110-2.0MW turbines for the Azuoqi 1A project, along with 25 of its V100-2.0 MW models and 25 of its V110-2.0MW turbines for the Azuoqi 1B project.

Both the wind projects are being developed in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, and delivery and commissioning of the turbines have been scheduled for the second quarter of 2016.

The order is Vestas’ largest in China in 2015, according to the company. The manufacturer will also service the turbines for two years.

Vestas Asia Pacific and China president Chris Beaufait said:

“We are proud to have a close partner like Hanas, from which the formation of their wind energy businesses has focused on the levelised cost of energy and world-class operations and maintenance practices for the turbines’ entire lifecycle, and we are pleased to see that more and more developers in China are following suit.”

This deal for the Chinese wind power projects follows a co-operation agreement signed between the parties in October 2015, to strengthen their mutually beneficial collaboration. Hanas has previously ordered 600MW of turbines from Vestas for projects in China.

This week, Vestas announced revenue of €5.4 billion in the first nine months of 2015 with an order intake of 6.3GW globally.

China intends to increase its power generation capacity with 150GW wind power installations, which is in support of the country’s target to generate at least 15% of power mix from renewable sources by 2020.