Siemens Energy has won a contract to supply turbines for a wind farm in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany.

Under the contract, the company will supply 12 direct-drive wind turbines, 11 model SWT-3.0-113 and one model SWT-3.0-101 turbine, for the Süderlügum publicly-operated wind farm.

Located around 20km from the North Sea coast, the Süderlügum wind farm is scheduled to be installed for late 2014.

Siemens will also provide service and maintenance for a period of 20 years to ensure the long-term economical operation of the wind farm.

Each turbine has a capacity to generate 3MW.

This onshore order from the coastal region of Nordfriesland is the third project with Siemens to be implemented by Reinhard Christiansen.

Reinhard Christiansen said: “Süderlügum is an important project for the local population that will make a collective contribution to the energy turnaround. As with our other two wind farms, Süderlügum will also supply clean electricity that is funded entirely by the public.”

Construction of the wind farm also represents a significant infrastructure project for the Nordfriesland region.

Siemens said that its Reactive Power at No Wind technology will help Suderlugum take advantage of renewable energy sources during calm weather.

Wind turbine supply deal with PGE Energia Odnawialna S.A., worth approximately €80 million.

Gamesa has reached an agreement to support the construction of a 50MW wind farm located in the Department of Flores in Uruguay, for Astidey.

Under the terms of the agreement, Gamesa will supply, transport, install and commission 25 G97-2.0MW turbines at the Talas de Maciel I wind farm.

Gamesa will also operate and maintain the facility for 20 years while the turbines are scheduled to be delivered over the course of 2014.

Expected to be fully commissioned by mid next year, the project financing is sponsored by the Export-Import (Ex-Im) Bank of the US.

Gamesa has installed 100MW in Uruguay to date, and with the new contract, the company will supply another 150MW.

Gamesa also installed more than 1,900MW of turbines in other Latin American markets, including Mexico, Honduras, Argentina and Costa Rica.

The G97-2.0MW turbines are most versatile on the market, with five different rotors (G80-2.0MW, G87-2.0MW, G90-2.0MW, G97-2.0MW, G114-2.0MW y G114-2.5MW), tower heights ranging from 60m to 125m and environmental alternatives to enable installation at even the most complex sites.

The Gamesa G97-2.0 MW wind turbine features low power density and contributes towards one of the company’s top priorities, which include significantly cutting the cost of energy (CoE) of Gamesa’s low and medium wind speed products.

An army of landowners and farmers is understood to be rallying to the call to help Britain out of a looming energy crisis by becoming small-scale power generators.
Planning applications for small and medium-scale wind turbines has grown by 60% in the past six months, according to new data released by farm wind turbine specialist Earthmill.
The company has installed more than 150 turbines on farms and land across the UK, from Scotland to Cornwall, with most of its customers contributing to the UK renewable energy sector that now generates enough power for more than six million homes on average.
Motivated by a combination of commercial and environmental benefits, more and more farmers are looking to reduce their own farm’s rising energy costs, generate additional revenues and help the environment at the same time, said the company’s Steve Milner.
“There are more than 300,000 working farms in the UK, and although not all land is suitable for small or medium-scale turbines, much high ground away from neighbouring buildings can be utilised to generate income and contribute to the UK grid,” he said.
According to the trade body, Renewable UK, an estimated 8,000 small and medium turbines over 1.5kw have been installed in the UK since 2005, quietly growing the percentage of the UK’s power generated by renewables over the past decade.
“Each 225 kw medium-scale turbine can provide enough power for around 150 homes. For farmers, a turbine also results in a drastic reduction in billed power consumption. Electricity use by farms can be huge, especially in poultry and dairy farming, where heating and pumps are heavily used,” added Mr Milner.

ScottishPower Renewables and Vattenfall have received development consent from the UK Department for Energy and Climate Change for the East Anglia ONE Offshore wind farm 43km off the Suffolk Coast.

The 1.2GW offshore wind farm, a 50-50 joint venture between Sweden’s state-owned utility Vattenfall and Scottish Power Renewables, will feature 240 wind turbine generators and associated infrastructure.

Expected to provide nearly 2,900 jobs, the wind farm would be worth £10m a year to the East Anglian economy and generate enough electricity to power approximately 820,000 homes.

During the planning process, local companies were selected for contracts worth £15m to work on the project and a £17m contract was awarded to Wood Group for the construction and installation of weather monitoring masts.

ScottishPower Renewables CEO Keith Anderson said development consent for the renewable energy project marks an important step forward towards a final investment decision.

Anderson said, “We will now take forward our discussions with the supply chain as we work towards unlocking the significant economic potential of the project.

“East Anglia ONE could support thousands of skilled jobs in construction and operation, and make a positive impact on the local and national economy for decades to come.”

Vattenfall Continental/UK renewables division head Gunnar Groebler said, “Therefore the consent of a scheme like East Anglia ONE – which should be warmly welcomed by everyone – will boost business confidence and help secure more affordable, more reliable and greener power in the UK electricity mix.”

Scheduled to commence construction in 2017, the project is slated to begin generating electricity from 2019.

UK Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Davey said, “The project has the potential to inject millions of pounds into the local and national economies, and support thousands of green jobs.”

A major wind farm developer today awarded two new multi-million pound contracts to local companies for work on its £400m Pen y Cymoedd wind energy project in south Wales.
The successful companies that will now help complete the wind farm, which is being developed by Vattenfall, are Neath- based Express Reinforcements and the Wrexham manufacturing facility of Prysmian Cables & Systems Ltd.
Today’s announcements coincided with the laying of the first foundations for the 76 turbines for the project site in the county boroughs of Neath Port Talbot and Rhondda Cynon Taf.
Prysmian Cables & Systems will produce the high-technology power cables to interconnect the two high voltage substations that ABB, the principal contractor, is constructing to connect the wind farm to the National Grid.
Express Reinforcements is sub-contracted by the 50-50 joint venture between Jones Bros and Balfour Beatty to work on the bases of the turbines.
Each of the turbines will have 3MW capacity and when operational in 2016/17 they are expected to annually generate power for the equivalent of 140,000 homes – enough to meet the domestic demands of Neath Port Talbot and Rhondda Cynon Taf county boroughs.
Since planning of the project began, the developer has worked to encourage as many local firms as possible to bid for contracts and sub contracts. The project could be worth up to £1 billion to the Welsh economy over its 25-year life time.
UK energy secretary Edward Davey said: “This onshore wind project will be the largest in England and Wales and will send a clear signal about this government’s commitment to the industry. It will add to our energy mix that is tackling climate change and boosting energy security through moves to increase ‘home-grown’ sources.”

Suzlon Group has received a contract from ReNew Wind Power Ventures for a 100.8MW wind farm.

The project is planned to be executed at the Bhesada wind site in Dist Jaisalmer, Rajasthan.

Under the agreement, Suzlon Group will supply 48 units of its S97-120 WTG’s and will oversee operations, maintenance and service of the wind site over the contracted period.

Expected to change the dynamics of the wind energy business, the S97-120 WTG design is a combination of lattice and tubular structure designs, making it the tallest wind tower in India.

In addition to boosting optimal available wind resources, the towers will deliver higher energy productivity, which in turn ensures higher ROI to customers.

ReNew Wind Power chairman & CEO Sumant Sinha said, “This deal reinforces our commitment to developing sustainable energy solutions for India.”

Suzlon Energy sales & marketing president Ishwar C Mangal said, “This order is indeed a reaffirmation of our capabilities that allow us to offer customised solutions for our customer’s in accordance with market conditions.”

Suzlon Energy Chairman Tulsi Tanti said that the company aims to make profitable and efficient wind energy accessible within the country.

Tanti said, “Leveraging on our leadership position within the country, we continue to have a strong focus on the Indian market as it offers a favourable renewable energy environment especially now with the new government in place.

“We continue to create innovative and reliable products as with the S97-120m which is specifically made for low wind sites.”

A hostile press on wind power in the UK is being seen as one of the reasons why a wind farm capital investment scheme only received a fifth of the amount targeted.

Fundraising for the Ventus VCT Plc (VEN) and Ventus 2 VCT Plc suffered from the negative comment, a Temporis Capital LLP partner said.

“Through the fundraising period there were several negative press stories regarding wind in the UK in reference to the cost of living debate and the government’s forward energy policy,” Matthew Ridley, a partner at London-based Temporis, told Bloomberg. “This may have had an impact on our fundraising, even though wind is the least costly source of renewable energy in the U.K. and is well supported.”

The funds managed by Temporis raised 4 million pounds ($6.7 million) for wind and hydropower plants, compared with a goal of 20 million pounds. There will be enough money for projects this year when combined with funds from other parties, Ridley said.

Land-based wind turbines have met opposition from those who say they blight the landscape and are against green levies added to consumers’ power bills to spur investment in the industry.

Power from onshore wind farms is one of the cheapest forms of clean energy, costing about $84.8 a megawatt-hour compared with rates at greenhouse-gas emitting coal-fired power stations of $82.1 a megawatt-hour, according to Bloomberg estimates.

Temporis will invest the money raised in a 10 MW wind farm and two hydropower plants totalling 3 MW, Ridley said. The funds have a minimum target dividend from these projects of 5 pence a share from the second year and the figure is expected to rise to 6 pence to 8 pence a share, he said.

The Scottish Government has approved a 22-turbine wind farm in Dumfries and Galloway.

The Ewe Hill project represents a £65m investment by developer ScottishPower Renewables and will have a generating capacity of up to 51MW.

The project is expected to create around 80 short-term construction jobs, with further employment opportunities likely to arise during the decommissioning process.

It is estimated that around £20m will be spent for development of civil and electrical infrastructure, with ScottishPower Renewables seeking to encourage contractors to hire from local suppliers, the government said.

Meanwhile, the government has refused an application to construct the 21-turbine Rowantree wind farm near Oxton in the Scottish Borders, citing noise and visual impacts to nearby residents, among other issues.

The Ewe Hill project will provide a community benefits scheme totalling around £6.3m over the lifetime of the development to local projects.

Ewing said, “The Ewe Hill wind farm will create a significant number of jobs, as well as generating power for many thousands of homes.

“It’s encouraging to see that a solution has been found to deal with the aviation radar issues which have held the proposal up.”

“Projects like this provide considerable benefits to the local community, and play an important part in helping Scotland reach its target of 100% of electricity demand generated from renewables.”

“The Scottish Government wants to see the right developments in the right places, and Scottish planning policy is clear that the design and location of renewables projects should reflect the scale and character of the landscape, as well as being considered environmentally acceptable.”

Since May 2007, Scotland has approved 63 renewable energy planning applications, which included 36 onshore wind, one offshore wind, 19 hydro, four wave and tidal and three Renewable Thermal Plants, and 19 non-renewable projects.

Crompton Greaves (CG) has installed a transformer substation at the Amrumbank West offshore wind farm in Germany.

Located 100km off the German coast in the North Sea, the wind farm consists of 80 multi-megawatt wind turbines.

The Amrumbank West offshore wind farm, estimated to be operational in the last quarter of 2015, extends across 32km².

CG said that the plant’s 80 technologically advanced 3.6MW turbines will have a combined capacity of 288MW, sufficient to power 300,000 households.

The wind farm will displace more than 740,000t of carbon emissions yearly.

Amrumbank West is a 100% subsidiary of E.ON Climate & Renewables Central Europe.

CG has designed and supplied all critical high voltage power equipment to connect the 33kV and 155kV networks.

The company has also provided power transformers, high and medium voltage switchgear, and protection and automation equipment.

CG said that its solution includes the latest AC/AC connection link for offshore wind farms.

This technology has minimal weight and low cost, while it is designed for optimal and minimal maintenance compared with traditional high voltage AC or DC solutions, the company claims.

Once operational, the transformer substation will collect power produced from the 80 turbines, transform the voltage to 155kV, and transmit it to the HelWin converter station. From there, the power will be transmitted to the electricity grid operated by TenneT TSO.

The wind farm’s service station on Helgoland will operate the transformer substation and will be monitored and controlled from E.ON`s Offshore Marine Coordination Center in Hamburg.

CG CEO and managing director Laurent Demortier said, “The Amrumbank West offshore wind farm is an outstanding engineering feat, and we are delighted to be playing a major role in its development and implementation. Our customer-centric solutions are designed to suit local conditions and follow global benchmarks.”