Author: Arnes Biogradlija

Equinor, Shell and Total have decided to invest in the Northern Lights project in Norway’s first exploitation licence for CO2 storage on the Norwegian Continental Shelf. Plans for development and operation have been handed over to the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy. “The Northern Lights project could become the first step to develop a value chain for Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS), which is vital to reach the global climate goals of the Paris Agreement. Development of CCS projects will also represent new activities and industrial opportunities for Norwegian and European industries.”Anders Opedal, executive vice president for Technology, Projects & Drilling at Equinor The investment decision is…

Siemens Gamesa intends, together with Taiwan-based suppliers, to expand its nacelle assembly facility in Taichung to create a regional offshore wind nacelle industrial hub. The first project to be supported by the broader manufacturing plant will be the 300 MW Hai Long 2 project. The expansion is subject to certain conditions including the acceptance by the Taiwanese authorities of Hai Long 2’s Industrial Relevance Proposal (IRP), and the final investment decision by the project partners. Siemens Gamesa was named as preferred supplier for the offshore wind turbines in November 2019. The facility is currently under construction and will begin production…

DEME Concessions, a DEME Group subsidiary, completed the sale of its 12.5 percent interest in the Merkur offshore wind farm to APG and TRIG. The consortium comprising of funds managed and/or advised by Partners Group (50 percent), InfraRed Capital Partners (25 percent), DEME Concessions (12.5 precent), GE Energy Financial Services (6.25 percent) and ADEME, acting on behalf of France “Investments for the Future” programme (6.25 percent) successfully completed the selling of 100 percent of Merkur Offshore, one of the largest wind farms in Germany. The buyers are the Dutch pension investors APG, and The Renewables Infrastructure Group (TRIG). The deal…

SeaTwirl has now been granted a patent for an anchoring solution by the US Patent Office. The grant follows a notice of allowance that SeaTwirl published a press release about in January 2020. Offshore wind turbines will be subjected to severe weather conditions and the anchoring is therefore an important aspect. The patent refers to an anchoring solution with one or more float bodies between the turbine and the seabed anchoring. This improves the stability and reduces the risk that the turbine becomes partly submerged during a storm. “The anchoring is an important part of offshore wind power. We continue…

Sunverge has been selected by Delmarva Power, an Exelon Company, for a planned virtual power plant (VPP) behind-the-meter project on the Elk Neck peninsula in Cecil County, Maryland. During outages the VPP will provide backup power to homes located on a peninsula on the Chesapeake Bay. These homes are situated in a heavily forested area and supported by an overhead and underground distribution feeder that is four miles long. Many customers are vulnerable to grid outages because of this isolation, and can greatly benefit from reliable backup generation. “We are honored and excited to be selected for this project and to…

ScottishPower has acquired wind farm developments from local individual shareholders of 3R Energy and Mitchell Energy. The acquisition will see a combined capacity of 165MW of new clean electricity generation developed near Douglas in South Lanarkshire, 35 miles south of Glasgow. ScottishPower has signed two separate deals to build wind turbines in central Scotland that could see an investment of over £150 million as part of the company’s pledge to invest in the UK’s green economic recovery and contribute to meeting Net Zero goals. Both investments will build a renewable energy cluster in South Lanarkshire, totaling 220MW when linked to…

HYGRO has started the first construction phase of a hydrogen turbine on the ECN wind turbine test field Wieringermeer. HYGRO is able to begin construction with funding from Triodos Bank and sustainable investment institution Meewind. ENERCON supplies the wind turbine as part of the hydrogen turbine. The project is part of “Duwaal,” a green hydrogen initiative with the Regional Development Agency NHN, among others. This initiative aims to develop green hydrogen distribution regionally. A hydrogen turbine is a wind turbine to which electrolysis is directly connected. Thanks to this integration, both electricity and green hydrogen are provided by the turbine.…

GlobalData analysis indicates that rising import prices, reduced energy demand, and indefinitely postponed auctions are likely to affect the momentum of the Brazilian solar photovoltaic market, with installed annual capacity forecast to decline from 1.3 GW in 2019 to 0.7 GW in 2020. The weakening of the Brazilian economy due to the pandemic is causing a rise in import prices, which would affect the profitability of projects that have received funding. The slowing of the economy would make it impossible for developers to close the funding deals and halt the growth of the sector. A significant driver of Brazil’s solar photovoltaic market is the…

E-Connection has ordered 11 turbines totaling 46 MW from Vestas for the first phase of the Oosterscheldekering wind optimization project, which consists of the four wind parks Binnenhaven, Roggeplaat-West, Noordland Buiten and Vluchthaven. Located directly on the coastline on a storm surge barrier in the province of Zeeland in the southwest of the Netherlands, Vestas has developed a wind energy solution suited to the high wind conditions of the sites, with average wind speeds of over 9 m/s at hub height. The project is a combination of new turbines and turbines that replace older turbine types and includes a total…

Wärtsilä has been contracted to upgrade the performance of four vessels owned by Kuwait Oil Tanker Company (KOTC), a Kuwait Petroleum Company (KPC) subsidiary, by retrofitting the Wärtsilä fuel efficiency boost solution into the main engines of the vessels. The change would minimize fuel consumption and reduce greenhouse gas emission levels. The order was placed in the first quarter of 2020 with Wärtsilä. KOTC and other major shipowners who have taken a proactive approach to protecting the environment actively looking for ways to minimize their fuel consumption and carbon footprint, paving the way for them to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The Wärtsilä solution for…