Author: Anela Dokso

The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) will work together to improve access to sustainable energy, bolstering the Asia-Pacific region’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The two organisations will offer recommendations to governments in the region positioning the energy transition as an integral part of the immediate response to the crisis and medium to long-term recovery efforts. Asia-Pacific, home to half of the world’s population, is largely dependent on fossil fuels. Diesel, for instance, fuels the majority of the region’s off-grid electricity needs. According to ESCAP, 200…

Madison Gas and Electric (MGE) has received approval from the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin for an agreement to partner with Dane County on a 9 MW solar array near the Dane County Regional Airport. The solar array will generate enough carbon-free electricity to provide Dane County with about 40% of the energy used by all County-owned facilities, according to the County. “Clean energy is important to MGE, to Dane County, and to many who live and work here. We support the County’s clean energy goals and are excited to partner on this project to add more locally generated renewable…

Australia’s Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) has approved a large-scale wind and solar renewable energy project in the Pilbara, the Asian Renewable Energy Hub. EPA chair Dr Tom Hatton said the proposed Asian Renewable Energy Hub comprised a series of onshore wind turbines and solar panels situated about 220 kilometres east of Port Hedland, with a transmission cable corridor to the coast and subsea cables to the edge of state waters. “The EPA has completed its assessment of NW Interconnected Power’s proposal to construct and operate a large-scale renewable energy project with an expected operational lifespan of 50 years. “One of…

Glennmont Partners has agreed the sale of a 15 percent minority stake in Project Piiparinmäki, a 211.4 MW wind farm, to Kansai Electric Power Company. The onshore wind farm, located in central Finland, is currently under construction with COD expected in late 2021. Once operational, Piiparinmäki will be the largest wind farm in Finland. The sale of the stake in Piiparinmäki marks the first divestment from Glennmont’s €850 million Clean Energy Fund III, which achieved financial close last summer. Piiparinmäki was acquired by Glennmont from Ilmatar Energy in September 2019 in their first ever investment in the Nordic market. Eversheds…

XELLZ has secured approximately 200,000 square meters of land at the Port of Rosslare in the Republic of Ireland, to establish an offshore wind supply base. XELLZ has divided the land into zones and the entire area will be known as Rosslare Europort Business Park (EBP). Through its offshore services subsidiary 24shore and XELLZ Ireland, the company will establish an offshore wind supply base there to serve and support future offshore wind farms, bringing new energy to the region. The EBP area has been divided into five different zones which are all situated alongside the new planned access road to…

Osbit has secured a contract with Seajacks to design and build a monopile upending bucket, to be used by the vessel operator in its offshore wind turbine installation projects. The system will initially support the development of the large-scale, bottom-fixed Akita and Noshiro offshore wind farms in Akita Prefecture, part of Japan’s renewable energy expansion being developed by Akita Offshore Wind Corporation (AOW), with Kajima Corporation as the project’s EPCI contractor. The monopile upending tool will be installed on Seajacks Zaratan vessel and has been optimized to suit the monopile diameter for the wind farm project. The pile upending system…

Vestas has reported loss of €54 million, a decrease of €97 million from the previous year’s €43 million profit, as the coronavirus hit its supply chain. The quarterly intake of firm and unconditional wind turbine orders amounted to 3,311 MW. The value of the wind turbine order backlog was €15.9 billion as of March 31, 2020. In addition to the wind turbine order backlog, at the end of March 2020, Vestas had service agreements with expected contractual future revenue of €18.2 billion. Thus, the value of the combined backlog of wind turbine orders and service agreements stood at €34.1 billion.…

Ocean Power Technologies (OPT), has recently received $0.9 million of non-dilutive funding through the New Jersey Economic Development Authority’s Technology Business Tax Certificate Transfer Program. The Program enables companies to raise funding to finance their growth and operations and is administered by the New Jersey Economic Development Authority (NJEDA) and the New Jersey Department of the Treasury’s Division of Taxation. Under the Program, New Jersey-based technology and biotechnology companies with fewer than 225 US employees may be eligible to sell net operating losses (NOLs) and research and development tax credits to unaffiliated corporations up to a maximum lifetime benefit of…

Research at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has suggested a shift in long-haul trucking toward hydrogen, which would necessitate a coast-to-coast network of fueling stations. Hydrogen-fueled cars have become increasingly popular in California, though they still account for a tiny fraction compared to the number running on gasoline. “That’s an area industry is very much looking for help with. What are the bottlenecks? What are the challenges? What are the fueling methods and protocols that should be adopted? The addition of heavy-duty hydrogen vehicle research is important for the program, as it is a market with a big impact…

Rovco has received a long-term contract by CWind for subsea work on the East Anglia ONE offshore wind project. The Rovco team, managed by CWind, will carry out a campaign of subsea inspection and survey work on all subsea structures, informing the maintenance of the wind turbine and substation foundations. The project will utilize a combined DPII vessel and CTV solution, alongside a work class remotely operated vehicle (ROV). CWind has been awarded a multi-year contract with Scottish Power Renewables and Macquarie’s Green Investment Group to manage the below water services, including subsea maintenance, surveys and corrective maintenance, as well…