UK

Robin Rigg offshore wind farm coming online soon

E.ON UK's offshore wind farm Robin Rigg is expected to begin producing electricity in the coming weeks. The farm is made up of 60 turbines – of which eight are already connected to the power grid – with a total capacity of 180 MW, and will be able to power the equivalent of 120,000 homes. Once fully operational, the offshore farm will avoid the emissions of 235,000 tonnes of CO2.

For more information: www.eon-uk.com

Belgium

Vestas to provide turbines for Belgian offshore farm

Vestas is to provide 55 of its V90 turbines for the Bligh Bank offshore wind farm to be built off the coast of Belgium near Zeebrugge. The farm will have a total capacity of 165 MW. The order has been placed by Belwind N.V. which is owned by Belgian and Dutch investors. Delivery and installation of the turbines, should take place during 2010, and the farm should be completed in early 2011.

For more information: www.vestas.com

China

Gamesa to supply 300 MW of wind turbines

Spanish wind turbine manufacturer Gamesa is to supply 300 MW worth of wind turbines to Chinese firm, China Huadian New Energy Development. Some 200 MW of the wind turbines will be set up at four wind farms which are being developed between 2009 and 2011 in Inner Mongolia.

For more information: www.gamesacorp.com

France

Vergnet wins €20 million contract in Nigeria

French wind turbine manufacturer Vergnet has won a €20 million contract to design, build, install and maintain a wind farm in Nigeria. The farm will be made up of 37 wind turbines and have a total capacity of 10 MW.

For more information: www.vergnet.fr

Germany

Gode II Offshore Wind Farm Approved

German wind farm developer PNE Wind AG has received approval for the Gode Wind II offshore project.

The farm will be located directly adjacent to the Gode Wind I offshore wind farm which has already been approved. Together, the two projects will have 160 turbines with a nominal capacity of up to 800 MW. Gode Wind II will be built in 2011-2012, according to PNE.

For more information: www.pne.de

First offshore wind farm taking shape

EWE, E.ON and Vattenfall announced that the first out of 12 wind generators has been installed in the Alpha Ventus wind farm 45 km north of the island of Borkum, Germany. The farm is due to be completed by the end of 2009. Deutsche Offshore-Testfeld und Infrastruktur GmbH (DOTI), a joint venture of EWE, E.ON and Vattenfall, is investing €250 million in Alpha Ventus.

For more information: www.alpha-ventus.de

Greece

Enel Green Power acquires new wind farm near Lithos-Achaia

Enel Green Power, the renewable energy section of Italian utility Enel, has acquired a new wind farm near Lithos-Achaia in Greece with a capacity of around 18.9 MW. The Italian firm bought the farm from a local operator. The acquisition means that Enel Green Power's installed capacity in Greece now amounts to over 127 MW.

For more information: www.enelgreenpower.com

Turkey

Nordex turbines for Bandirma III wind farm

German firm Nordex has won a contract from Turkish As Makinsan group for ten turbines for the Bandirma III wind farm. Bandirma III is the first wind farm project for As Makinsan, a group of companies that work in the tourism industry as well as in textiles, construction and selling petrol. The wind farm, which will have a total capacity of 25 MW and produce around 72 GWh of power a year, will be put up close to the port city of Bandirma, Turkey.

For more information: www.nordex-online.com

UK

Wind farms to more than double by 2012

According to figures from the British Wind Energy Association (BWEA), more than 190 wind farm projects are either under construction or approved for construction and will be completed by 2012 in the UK. 737 wind turbines are already being built, and planning permission has been obtained for a further 1,989 of them. By 2012, the new turbines will generate enough electricity to power 5mn homes in the UK.

For more information: www.bwea.com

Power generation underway at RWE Innogy's Rhyl Flats wind farm

The Rhyl Flats wind farm offshore Wales in the UK, developed by RWE Innogy, is now producing power. The wind farm has 25 turbines so far, and 24 more to come by the last quarter of 2009. The farm is expected to produce enough power for 61,000 homes.

For more information: www.rwe.com

New long-term renewables targets published

In July, the UK announced its strategy for meeting carbon emissions targets including a massive increase in renewable energy.

UK Energy and Climate Change Secretary, Ed Miliband announced that 30% of the UK’s power would come from renewables by 2020. The country’s EU target is 15% of total energy from renewables in 2020.

Along with its Low Carbon Transition Plan and Low Carbon Transport Plan, the government published its Renewable Energy Strategy, mapping out how it will reach its EU target by 2020, from around 2% today.  The strategy identifies a range of low carbon sectors with potential for job creation and growth. These include offshore wind. The Strategy also sets out how the government aims to remove barriers that are blocking the development of Britain’s full potential in these areas. 

The British Wind Energy Association has calculated that this implies that 22% of all electricity will come from offshore and onshore wind and another 2% from marine technologies.

For more information: www.decc.gov.uk

US

Stimulus payments for renewables projects

The US departments of Energy and Treasury announced in July that guidelines would be available for companies wishing to apply for $3 billion in stimulus payments for the development of renewable energy projects around the country. These stimulus payments would then replace tax credits for the project in question. The government hopes this scheme will boost renewable energy in the US.

For more information: www.energy.gov

Nordex to build turbine production plant

Nordex USA Inc. has begun building its first manufacturing plant in the US. Situated in the state of Arkansas, the plant will contain both a nacelle assembly plant and a rotor blade manufacturing facility at the same location. The nacelle assembly will begin in the second half of 2010, and get to full scale by 2012. The aim is to produce 300 turbines a year.

The overall plant represents a total investment of US $100 million split between the nacelle plant and the remainder to the rotor blade facility. It will create 700 jobs by 2014.

For more information: www.nordex-online.com

Energy consumption drops but renewables gain bigger slice

Americans used more renewable energy, including wind energy, in 2008 than they did in 2007, according to the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. However, the nation used less coal and oil during the same time frame and overall energy demand dropped by about 3%. Energy use in the industrial and transportation sectors went down as a result of the extremely high cost of oil in mid 2008, while commercial and residential use went up very slightly.

For more information: https://publicaffairs.llnl.gov