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.”

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.”

MHI Vestas has confirmed that it is to supply Nobelwind with 165MW for the Belwind 2 offshore wind project in Belgium.

The deal involves delivery of 50 V112 3.3MW turbines and a 15-year full scope service agreement.

The units will be delivered in 2016. Commissioning will take place the following year.

The developer reached financial close on the project last week, clearing the way for confirmation of the long-standing deal with MHI Vestas.

TenneT is set to start construction this week on the onshore converter substation for the 900MW Borwin 3 offshore wind farm in Emden/Ost in the German state of Lower Saxony.

A transformer will be brought to the site by the end of next year, while commissioning of the converter station is slated for late summer 2017.

Work started in March on burying a 30km DC onshore cable from Hamswehrum near Emden to the planned onshore substation in Emden/Ost.

Groundwork will take place along the 30km cable oute and last until the early summer of 2016. The cable will be buried in sections of 1150 metres and be connected via sockets.

The first parts of the offshore cable were buried in September.

Drydocks World started steel cutting in late September in Dubai for the offshore platform Borwin gamma, on behalf of the consortium of Siemens and Petrofac.

TenneT awarded the contract last year to Siemens to supply HVDC transmission technology for the grid link together with Petrofac, which is handling construction and installation of the offshore platform.

Borwin 3 is slated to be fully commissioned in the third quarter of 2019.

DNV GL has been joined by seven companies, including ExxonMobil and Statoil, to examine the potential of floating wind turbines to power offshore petroleum installations.

DNV GL said initial studies have shown that a standalone wind-powered water-injection system could become cost competitive for various types of applications.

In particular, for water injection far from the production platform and when costly retrofitting is not an option.
In order to develop the concept futher, DNV GL launched the WIN WIN joint industry partnership, which also includes ENI Norge, Nexen Petroleum UK, VNG, PG Flow Solutions, and ORE Catapult.

DNV GL said the technical concept is being developed and the technical feasibility assessed in detail :
“Two of the main challenges being addressed are the off-grid operation of the system and the reservoir’s response to variable injection rates”, the company said.

DNV GL segment leader – floating wind turbines Johan Sandberg said: “Once the technical hurdles are cleared, the concept’s economic viability will be analysed using relevant and realistic cases provided by the JIP partners. Then added :

“Initial results are promising, and with the operators on board we are able to test the concept on real cases.
In parallel with finalizing the initial technical and economic assessment of the concept, we are now thinking about the next steps, both looking for other relevant applications of the system.”

Statoil renewables research group manager Hanne Wigum said: “The overall concept needs maturing up to a point where it can be considered a viable option in field development studies.”

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.

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.

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.”