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This week’s Wind Energy Update news brief includes Vestas; Vattenfall, Vestas; RenewableUK; Gamesa, Longyuan; Northwind, Colruyt Group, Aspiravi Offshore; Gamesa; DNV (Det Norske Veritas), Vestas, Energy Research Institute @ Nanyang Technological University (ERI@N), Instron; CWind.

Vestas appoints new offshore chief

Wind turbine manufacturer Vestas has appointed Hans Jörn Rieks as head of Vestas offshore.

Rieks, who joined the company in 1993, has held several positions in different parts of Vestas during his tenure, including the position of President, Vestas Central Europe.

Acknowledging the significance of offshore wind as part of Vestas’ forward strategy, Rieks said his main objective will be finding strategic partners in order to further develop the potential of offshore wind power. He also referred to product quality and execution as other important focus areas.

Rieks also pointed out that a lot of Vestas’ onshore customers are either already involved with offshore or looking into entering this market.

Vestas 'preferred supplier' for Kentish Flats extension

Swedish utility Vattenfall has awarded preferred supplier status to Vestas to supply between 10 and 17 wind turbines for its proposed Kentish Flats Extension, located in the Outer Thames Estuary.

Vattenfall recently applied for a development consent order to the Infrastructure Planning Commission for an extension to the existing 30-turbine Kentish Flats Offshore Wind Farm. A final decision on whether the project is going to be approved is expected in 2013. If Vattenfall receives permission to build an extension to Kentish Flats it plans to purchase the Vestas V112 3.0 megawatt (MW) wind turbine generator.

Whilst preferred supplier status puts Vestas in pole position for the key turbine contract the deal has not yet been completed, the company stated in a press release on Friday.

The existing farm currently uses 30 Vestas V90-3.0MW wind turbines. The 90MW Kentish Flats has been generating green electricity since 2005.

Vattenfall, which has held discussion and consultation with the local community, local authorities and statutory consultees regarding the extension of Kentish Flats Offshore Wind Farm, said that the installation of 3MW turbines would deliver an additional installed total capacity of between 30 and 51MW. The zone that Vattenfall is considering to develop the extension in is more than 7km from shore and covers nearly 8 sq km.

UK achieves 6GW of installed wind capacity

RenewableUK, the trade association for the wind, wave and tidal industry, announced that the UK’s wind sector has achieved a landmark 6GW of installed capacity. The 6GW threshold was reached by Vattenfall’s Ormonde offshore wind farm off the coast of Cumbria, which now has 120 MW of installed wind power.

RenewableUK’s chief Executive, Maria McCaffery said the Government’s Renewable Energy Roadmap is calling for 31GW of onshore and offshore wind combined by 2020, and the industry can deliver this if it continues to receive the appropriate level of Government support.

Policy Exchange misses the mark

RenewableUK, the trade association for the wind, wave and tidal industry, has emphasised that the Policy Exchange paper fails to understand the new electricity market.

Highlighting misunderstandings and confusions in the paper, The Full Cost to Households of Renewable Energy Policies, the association said the paper attempts to estimate the cost to households of current Government energy policies, but fails to account for the reforms to the electricity market being brought in this year, or the 10% cut to support for wind power implemented as part of the Renewables Obligation Banding Review.

RenewableUK’s Director of External Affairs Jennifer Webber said Policy Exchange is wrong to be worried about offshore wind.

The real danger to household bills over the next 10 years comes from the same kind of uncertainty about the cost of imported fossil fuels seen over the previous 10 years – a decade in which gas prices more than doubled, said Webber, adding that Britain’s wind power resource can help reduce that uncertainty.

The paper fails to cover the economic benefits associated with a high level of investment in renewable energy, including a significant expansion in manufacturing jobs in some of the most deprived areas of the UK. The expansion of offshore wind could bring over 70,000 jobs, mentioned the association.

Gamesa, Longyuan strengthen ties

Spanish wind turbine maker Gamesa has signed a deal to supply an additional 50 MW of capacity -its G97-2.0 MW wind turbine- to Chinese utility Longyuan for a wind farm the company is to build in Ningxia.

Gamesa said it expects these additional 50 MW to be installed in June.

The contract follows a deal signed a few months ago with the same company for the supply of the first 25 G97-2.0 MW machines to be delivered in China.

These contracts coincide with the start-up of manufacturing of this turbine model in China, which will be produced simultaneously in four regions around the world: Europe, the US, China and India.

During the July-October 2011 period, the company signed four new contracts to deliver 348 MW in China to several local power companies, including Longyuan Group (50 MW), Datang Renewable (50MW) and Huadian Group (248 MW: 200 MW + 48 MW in October). The deals called for Gamesa to supply its G87-2.0 MW and G90-2.0 MW turbines, along with the first G97-2.0 MW turbines ever sold in China.

As a wind farm developer, the company’s joint project portfolio in China now totals more than 2,900 MW.

In November last year, Gamesa began construction of its sixth manufacturing plant in the country. The facility, devoted to the manufacture of control cabinet, was set up in Tianjin (the company’s main manufacturing base outside of Europe), where Gamesa already had four plants and produces the main components of its wind turbines: blades, nacelle assembly, gearboxes and power electronics.

The company also opened another nacelle assembly facility in the province of Jilin last year.

Northwind opts for Vestas turbines

Vestas Offshore has signed a conditional turbine supply contract with Northwind for the Northwind offshore wind farm project in Belgium.

The conditional contract been signed for the supply of 72 V112-3.0MW turbines for the Northwind Offshore Wind Farm planned for construction on the Bank Zonder Naam off the coast of Zeebrugge in Belgium.

The contract, which is still subject to financial close, comprises supply and installation of the 72 turbines along with a 15-year service contract and construction of the wind farm is expected to begin in 2013.

Northwind, owned by Colruyt Group and Aspiravi Offshore, is headed by Frank Coenen, CEO, who was also involved in the construction of the Belwind Bligh Bank 1 Offshore Wind Farm, for which Vestas also supplied the turbines.

Last year Eldepasco chose to change its name to Northwind. This move shaped up as original partners to the joint venture sold their shareholding. The Colruyt Group then increased its share to 66.7% and Aspiravi’s share became 33.3% share. Eldepasco was established in December 2007 by Belgian green energy companies Electrawinds and Aspiravi, building company Depret (Artes Group) and WE Power (Colruyt Group), each with a 25% participation. Depret and Electrawinds eventually sold their stakes.

Gamesa appoints UK Director for Public Policy
Gamesa has appointed David Blunt as Director responsible for Public Policy in the UK and with EU Institutions.

In this newly created position, Blunt will assist in the formulation, development and implementation of the company’s Public Policy strategies. He will be reporting to Peter M. Pantlin, UK Chief Corporate Officer.

Prior to joining the company, Blunt was the British Ambassador to Croatia until December last year.

For its part, Gamesa inaugurated its Research and Development Centre in Glasgow in September last year and now employs over 60 engineers there. The company also announced last year that its Global Offshore Wind division is being headquartered in London.

DNV initiates research and innovation project

Oslo, Norway-based DNV (Det Norske Veritas) has initiated a research and innovation project, and an associated Joint Industry Project (JIP), to develop best practices for composite blade integrity assessment, tailored to the needs of wind turbines operating in areas with extreme weather conditions.

The industry consortium partners consist of Vestas, Energy Research Institute @ Nanyang Technological University (ERI@N) and Instron.

According to DNV, as offshore wind turbine blades are getting larger, new methods to assess the integrity and remaining life time of the blades are needed. The company mentioned that the increasing length of offshore wind turbine blades has prompted the use of advanced composite materials, with positive operational experiences so far, but with a limited range of supporting analysis and testing methods that can be directly applied to large-scale wind turbines.

The plan is to leverage Instron’s specialisation in bi-axial testing of composites, the expertise of DNV together with ERI@N in finite element analysis, and the knowledge of Vestas to provide insight into composite failure in wind turbine blades. From this, DNV will develop integrity management procedures for advanced composite wind turbine blades.

According to ERI@N, in the first phase of this JIP, the research is addressing development of bi-axial testing methods and finite element analysis procedures that will enable development of test data for deriving and verifying models for flaw growth in the composites.

CWind strengthens its team

UK-based CWind has added two new managers to further expand its business in the construction and maintenance of offshore wind farms.

Keith Reid has joined CWind from Swedish utility Vattenfall, where he was UK development manager on the Thanet offshore wind farm. He worked closely on the project with CWind. Reid has worked as Site Manager for CWind on the Greater Gabbard wind farm off the Suffolk coast and has just taken on a position at the London Array project for CWind. Reid is primarily responsible for maintenance, construction and cable pulling support.

Dave Skeffington, previously worked in Health and Safety for Danish utility Dong Energy. He has joined CWind as On-Site Operations Manager, specialising in rigging and cable installation.