Author: Arnes Biogradlija

IRENA projections show that global offshore wind and ocean energy installed capacity will reach 228 GW and 10 GW respectively by 2030. Offshore renewables, including offshore wind, wave, tidal, ocean thermal and floating solar PV, will see major capacity growth over the next decade and play a key role in global energy transition. In this context, representatives from 40 countries gathered to identify areas for cooperation and to agree on specific steps to accelerate development and ensure the rapid uptake of these promising technologies. “Offshore renewables have the potential to meet more than four times the global energy demand of…

The construction of the Villers-le-Tourneur wind farm began in the Grand-Est area, near the Belgian border, in September, just as restrictions on construction work due to the bird nesting season ended. Five N-117 Nordex turbines, each with a hub height of 91 meters and a total capacity of 15 MW, are planned to supply electricity to approximately 10,000 households each year in the future. The French subsidiary of Energiequelle, P&T Technologie, is responsible for construction. The project was purchased from the Leipzig-based project developer Green Energy 3000, which is funding Villers-le-Tourneur on site. Cable and road construction work is currently underway…

Mainstream Renewable Power has closed a $280 million “mezzanine” construction financing facility with the leading alternative lender AMP Capital Infrastructure Debt Fund IV. The AMP Capital Facility complements the $1.25 billion in senior project financing debt that has been raised to date through two separate financings completed in October 2019 and August 2020. Mezzanine funding of $280 million is arranged in three different tranches, with the Condor and the Huemul tranches drawn at the close, and the Copihue tranche is planned to be drawn as soon as the platform hits a financial close in H1 2021. Andes Renovables is approximately $1.8…

Alasdair MacDonald has been appointed as new CEO of the Tekmar Group. Alasdair was chairman of Tekmar Energy for five years prior to the company’s flotation in June 2018, when he became non-executive chairman of Tekmar Group. Alasdair has over 30 years of experience in offshore energy, holding senior executive roles at Wellstream Holdings, FTSE 250 designer and manufacturer of flexible pipeline systems for the oil and gas industry, Seanamic Group, supplier of integrated offshore energy, security, seismic and oceanographic systems, and Technip UK, offshore subsea construction services. An engineer by trade, he graduated with an honors degree in mechanical…

GE Renewable Energy has been selected by SB Energy to supply, install and commission 121 sets of its 2,7-132 onshore wind turbines, totaling 327 MW, to be installed at the Pritam Nagar wind farm in Madhya Pradesh, India. The project was won by SB Energy during the VI installment of wind projects by Solar Energy Corporation of India and will generate enough green energy for 250,000 households in India. This is another achievement for GE’s 2.7-132 wind turbine, which has proved to be the technology of choice for customers in India due to its industry-leading output at low wind speeds…

Swiss-based European energy company MET Group has acquired a 100 percent stake in a 42-megawatt wind park in Bulgaria, after signing a share purchase agreement with Italian Enel Green Power. The transaction is part of the MET growth strategy to build a large renewable portfolio in the CEE area. The closing of the deal is scheduled to take place by the end of December 2020. The wind park, the 5th largest in Bulgaria, consists of two sites in the municipalities of Shabla and Kamen Bryag, each with 14 Vestas-V90 wind turbines, each with a capacity of 3 MW. The wind…

Wärtsilä will supply AEP OnSite Partners with its next generation energy storage system to serve the City of Martinsville, Virginia, USA. This first-ever GridSolv Quantum energy storage project illustrates Wärtsilä’s innovation capability. Together with a 10-year Wärtsilä Guaranteed asset performance agreement, the system is estimated to provide considerable savings to the region. AEP OnSite Partners, a US-based customer-centric distributed energy asset solutions provider, placed an order for the device in August. The Wärtsilä solution is expected to be delivered under an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract. The service agreement requires regular maintenance inspections, tracking of GEMS, extended product warranties,…

EDP Renováveis, through its wholly owned subsidiary EDP Renewables North America, has concluded a 15-year Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) to sell approximately 100 MW of energy generated by two solar PV plants. The projects are located in the U.S. state of Ohio and are scheduled to begin operations in 2022. With EDPR’s current solar assets in operation and 1,4 GW of new solar projects already underway, EDPR’s portfolio will expand its technical diversification and cross 1,6 GW of solar capacity build-up by 2022. With this new agreement, EDPR has secured 85 percent of the target~7.0 GW of global wind and…

Two of the UK’s leading research organizations in the production of robotics for use in offshore renewables are working together to improve the partnership between applied academic research and industry needs and further grow and enhance the robotics sector’s potential. The Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult and the Offshore Robotics for Certification of Assets (ORCA) Center, a partnership led by the Edinburgh Center for Robotics (Heriot-Watt University and Edinburgh University), the Imperial College London and Oxford and Liverpool Universities, will work together to transform UK robotics creativity and research skills into products and services. Both organizations will use their scientific…

ENERCON has signed a contract with TRUNGNAM Group to deliver its new E-160 EP5 E2 for the Ea Nam wind farm. The collaboration will begin this year with construction. ENERCON is supplying its new E-160 EP5 E2 for what will be the country’s largest wind farm in the future. After completion in 2021, the Ea Nam wind farm in the Dak Lak province will have an output of over 400 MW. The E-160 EP5 E2 has a direct drive 5.5 MW permanent magnet generator that can generate more than 21,500 MWh at locations with an average wind speed of 7.5…