Britain’s growing offshore wind energy industry has taken another stride forward as the Thanet Offshore wind farm came online. One hundred giant Vestas V90 turbines – each on pedestals 115 metres (380 ft) tall – were switched on which together capable of generating up to 300 Megawatts of power. Thanet is now the biggest offshore… Read more »
ExxonMobil‘s Mobil SHC-branded synthetic gear oil is now being used to protect more than 30,000 wind turbine gearboxes worldwide, demonstrating how its lubricants are helping the wind energy industry become more cost competitive worldwide. As the wind turbine market has experienced rapid growth around the world over the last decade, ExxonMobil’s Mobilgear SHC XMP 320… Read more »
Construction of Germany’s newest offshore wind park has recently been completed. The 21 wind turbines that make up the Baltic Sea wind farm – dubbed Baltic 1 – are now complete and set to enter the commissioning phase, the final step before energy production can begin. This milestone for Germany’s growing offshore industry highlights the… Read more »
Wind Works Power Corp. is pleased to announce it has signed a joint venture agreement to develop a 20 megawatt (MW) wind energy project in Germany. The agreement is with Energy Farming International GmbH (EFI), one of the leading wind farm developers in Germany. EFI has developed over 1,000 MW in the past 10 years,… Read more »
State of Michigan Provides Funding Support Companies Will Work to Develop Material-Enabled Automation Technology The Dow Chemical Company (Dow), Astraeus Wind Energy Inc. (AWE) and MAG Industrial Automation Systems (MAG) announce today a project that will be a catalyst for the advancement of the wind industry enabled by funding from the state of Michigan. The… Read more »
– 125 wind turbines, 200 MW of capacity to be installed near Breckenridge – Utility increases its renewable energy portfolio to nearly 4 percent Detroit Edison’s largest contract to purchase renewable energy was approved by the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) today, setting in motion a 20-year agreement with Invenergy Wind that will result in… Read more »
Diversified infrastructure, finance and media company General Electric Company has opened two new wind turbine service centres in Albert Lea and Pipestone, Minnesota. Making this announcement on Tuesday, the company said that these two centres expand its support for customers in the Midwestern US, which has the most potential for wind energy projects. The centres… Read more »
Welwind Energy International Corp. (the “Company”) is pleased to announce additional interest in the financing for its wind farm projects. After several meetings with GUANGDONG YATU INDUSTRY INVESTMENT CO., LTD (“GYII”), Mr. Feng, Director of Welwind Energy and Mr. Deng, Chairman of GYII, have entered into a formal Investment Cooperation Agreement (“ICA”). The agreement is… Read more »
This issue of PES marks a watershed moment in the evolution of the magazine, with our inaugural roundtable interview. We’ve gathered together some true luminaries from the wind sector, including: * Dr Andrew Garrad, GL Garrad Hassan* Daniel Hope, Global Business Development Manager for Renewable Energy, SGS (Hamburg, Germany)* Kurt E. Thomsen, CEO, Advanced Offshore… Read more »
Welcome to this, the latest PES e-newsletter, which comes in advance of our latest printed issue, and prior to HUSUM Wind Energy 2010. We’re once again proud to be media partners at this essential event and are looking forward to meeting many of you there. By all means come and say hello if you see… Read more »
Gamesa will be the designated supplier of wind turbines, totalling 258 MW of installed capacity, for nine wind farms Iberdrola Renovables will develop in Brazil. Gamesa will supply a total of 129 wind turbines over the next two years (2011-2012), specifically its G8X turbine model, which features 2 MW of unit capacity. The contract calls… Read more »
On October 13-15, 2010, SGS will be one of the exhibitors at China Wind Power 2010, the leading international wind power conference and exhibition in China. At stand no. EB27 at the China International Exhibition Center in Beijing, SGS experts will be demonstrating a wide range of wind energy services for all phases of a… Read more »
Sauer Energy, Inc. (“SEI”), a BCO Hydrocarbon, Ltd. subsidiary developer and producer of home and enterprise scale vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT) systems, today announced it has completed its initial prototype model of its wind turbine. With its first iteration prototype, SEI has introduced its proprietary technical innovations for transforming wind energy into a cost-effective… Read more »
PES is proud to present this, our inaugural wind energy roundtable interview, which will become a regular fixture in the magazine. To kick things off, we’re proud to introduce five of the sector’s biggest names, who have debated the issues of the day. Contributors: Dr Andrew Garrad, GL Garrad Hassan Mr. Daniel Hope, Global Business… Read more »
Finding clean energy is one of the biggest concerns of our times. Global warming and the limited availability of fossil fuels are just two factors in the hunt for alternative energy solutions. One key player in the battle to solve the world’s energy problems is wind power. Lately wind power turbines have become state-of-the-art power… Read more »
For Frank Scheuch, Managing Director of Intellifast GmbH, the success of a company relies on many interconnecting ingredients. PES picks up once again with the engaging wind power executive to discuss how his company is constantly evolving with the times to meet the demands of the market. PES: Welcome back to PES magazine. For the… Read more »
Wind turbines are extremely sophisticated pieces of machinery and require an application-specific expertise to maximise their life and profitability. The main gearbox is a particularly critical component of the wind turbine that needs careful consideration from a lubrication perspective. Recently, PES had the opportunity to speak with Michael Hawkins, Global Brand Manager for Mobil SHC… Read more »
As head of one of the ‘greenest companies’ in America, Pall’s Keith Webb has a duty not only to his stakeholders, but also to the global community as a whole. It’s a responsibility he ably administers, driven by a zeal for innovation and corporate success. Here, he tells PES about the company’s rapid growth, its… Read more »
Transporting wind power components by ship requires a lot of expertise and experience. Employing its own team of experts with many years of specialist knowledge in this arena, shipbroker COLI provides the appropriate tonnage – made-to-measure for all cargo components, including complete wind turbines. When the ship intended to carry the cargo ties up at… Read more »
A recent study to quantify renewable energy deployment in North America by the US-based National Academies of Science found that, in terms of national wind power potential, Russia came way ahead of its nearest rivals, with more than 118 Pwh (Petawatt hours). Next on the list was Australia, with a meagre-looking 86 Pwh. No wonder,… Read more »
118 new offshore wind turbines were fully connected to the grid in the first half of 2010 according to new statistics released by the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA). PES takes a closer look at the trends and figures behind the headlines in this exclusive report. Top-line statsIn the first six months of 2010, 118… Read more »
Words: Birgit Niesing The wind is always more constant at sea than on land – and much stronger. That’s why the wind energy industry is increasingly looking to offshore facilities. The first German wind farm in the North Sea – the ‘alpha ventus’ test and demonstration site – went online just a few months ago…. Read more »
In order to fight climate change, improve energy security, enhance Europe’s competitiveness, and maintain our technological leadership, the European wind industry – together with the European Commission and Member States – has developed a 10-year research and development programme. PES brings you the exclusive highlights of this recently-published study. With a €6bn budget, approximately half… Read more »
It’s an incredibly busy and interesting time to be involved in the European wind industry, Bruce Douglas, COO, EWEA tells PES. Among other ways to get more involved are adopting a wind turbine as your own and attending one or more of the many trade fairs that are taking place throughout Europe … If you… Read more »
A week ago, Statoil AS, Norway’s largest energy company, revealed plans to build a demonstration site testing floating offshore wind turbines off the coast of Scotland. It’s a move that rubber-stamps the industry’s gradual shift to floating platforms, but is the technology up to the task. PES takes a look at the various engineering challenges…. Read more »
Recently a momentous event took place when the official ribbon was cut at Antarctica’s largest wind farm. Located on Ross Island at New Zealand’s Scott Base, the almost 1 MW facility is powered by three 333 kW Enercon wind turbines and will provide up to 11 per cent of the power needed by the base,… Read more »
New energy generation constitutes a major investment, often to the value of hundreds of millions or potentially billions of Euros. And such spending results in widespread economic development, in the form of increased work opportunities, higher salaries, and new customers for local business. PES examines the greater impact of channelling wind farm investment into the… Read more »
So you thought Google was just a highly successful internet search engine? The company’s energy arm recently signed a deal to buy 114 megawatts of energy from a wind farm in Iowa, marking the first deal done by the company’s energy subsidiary A Google spokesman said the company had signed a 20-year power purchase agreement… Read more »
Although Europe is a vast, sprawling continent bursting with innovation, our Asian cousins are old hands at taking a sideways look at the world – as these ingenious turbines from Japan clearly illustrate. At the recent Yokohama Renewable Energy Exhibition, Japanese technology threw-up some exciting developments for the sector, including this revolutionary turbine system that… Read more »
The views on offshore wind projects are as divided as can be, so the slightly polemic title of this article is probably appropriate. There are some who argue that offshore wind is the way to go, and to go now. And there are others who argue that offshore wind is too expensive and too risky… Read more »
The UK has just entered into an historic period of coalition government, which promises to throw the nation’s hard-fought wind power policies into disarray. The coalition governments of Germany, Italy and Austria on the other hand, are forging ahead with inspired legislation, which may shine a light on Britain’s efforts. However, until these governments’ pioneering… Read more »
The first offshore wind park globally was installed in Denmark in 1991. Since then the offshore wind energy market has been developing slowly. Currently, majority of the installations in Europe are located in Denmark and the UK, countries that possess rich wind resources. There is no doubt that offshore installations offer higher productivity when compared… Read more »
For as long as there has been a global wind industry, Husum, a town on Germany’s North Sea coast between Hamburg and the Danish border, has been the venue for its leading trade fair. Yet Husum was showing the latest developments in wind turbine technology long before the industry went global… Technology, innovation, training, and… Read more »
The size of both turbines and wind farms have increased exponentially in recent months thanks to a potent mix of technical improvements, legislation, subsidies and public awareness. Naturally, everyone’s got an opinion on the supersizing of the wind industry… “There is a wonderful race on. It’s very tight and the prize is domination of the… Read more »
High costs of welcoming Hungary to the fold The time taken to connect wind farms to the grid, and the high costs of doing so, are the main barriers to wind energy development in Hungary, it has been revealed in Budapest at a workshop organised by the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) and the Hungarian… Read more »
Despite a buoyant European offshore wind market, offshore construction & installation contractors that fall short of budget and technology challenges risk falling by the wayside. Utility scale developers at the forefront will be seeking out only companies capable of providing and meeting the necessary challenges imposed on the industry today. With a total of 2,396… Read more »