Brussels Brief April 2016

The European Wind Energy Association has today become WindEurope.

Our new identity reflects the reality of where wind is in Europe today.  We’re now a mainstream and mature technology providing over 11% of Europe’s electricity.  We generate €67bn turnover every year.  We’re a leading European exporter. We support over 250,000 jobs.  We’re a huge industry.  We’re WindEurope.

The new identity is more than just a name and logo change.  It puts the seal on over two years of evolution in the Association.  We’ve had new statutes and a new Board structure.  We’ve new Working Groups.  We’ve a much closer collaboration between the Secretariat and the members.

We’ve a different approach to advocacy.  We engage on a wider range of issues reaching out to a wider range of government and other stakeholders.  We’ve formed new coalitions.

We are presenting the new identity to the outside world at an event in Brussels this evening.  Fatih Birol, the Executive Director of the International Energy Agency, is our main guest speaker – which in itself illustrates how mainstream we’ve become.

We have today also launched the new WindEurope website.  This will serve as a focal point for news, analysis and reporting on the Association’s activities including information about our events and workshops.

Our new “Member of WindEurope” logo as well as guidelines on the use of the new identity can be downloaded from here.

Could I encourage you all please to use this new logo on your website and other communication platforms to help us raise awareness about our new brand? A communication pack including the official launch video and new WindEurope narrative will follow shortly.

A word of welcome

With our new identity comes a new Chairman. The WindEurope Board has today elected Francesco Venturini, CEO of Enel Green Power, to lead us over the next 18 months.

Francesco succeeds Markus Tacke who has served as EWEA Chairman since October 2014.  I would like to thank Markus on behalf of all of you for his dedicated service and excellent leadership during his tenure.

Francesco Venturini: “I am delighted to be elected as WindEurope’s new Chairman. The next two years will be pivotal. Our industry is at a critical moment in time. If Europe wants to get its leadership position in the energy sector back it must reform its electricity markets and set out ambitious policies for renewables in the post-2020 space. This will help unlock investor confidence and pave the way for a long-term strategy in the sector. These will be important priorities for WindEurope going forward and I am pleased to have the opportunity to tackle with you the challenges ahead of us.”

As we begin this new chapter in the history of our Association, I would like to thank you all for your continued support.  I look forward to working with you in WindEurope, addressing the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead of us – and, let us hope, sharing continued success.

Serving Europe. WindEurope.

Yours sincerely,

Giles Dickson

Focus on Poland

Over 1,300 attendees gathered in Warsaw, on the 8 – 9 March at the Wind Power Poland. This was a joint event organised by the Polish Wind Energy Association (PWEA) and WindEurope.

The wind industry presented the huge potential it sees in the further development of the Polish wind energy sector. At the same time it sent a clear message of opposition to the bill proposed by Members of Parliament from the Law and Justice (PiS) party, who want wind turbines in Poland to be built at a distance of at least 10 times their tip height from residential buildings.

PWEA launched a dedicated website http://dobrywiatr.pl/en/(in Polish and English) providing regular updates on the legislative process of this matter.

Interview with Wojciech Cetnarski, President of the Polish Wind Energy Association

What is the PWEA’s approach to the bill proposed by PiS deputies?

The ruling party has the full right to shape the future of the RES sector, including wind power. However, we believe that the proposed distance (setback) regulations should: first, result from the actual impact of wind farms, which is not the case with the deputies’ bill, and second, enter into force in an adequate way, so as not to cause losses for municipalities and investors who have already incurred the costs related to preparation of their wind projects to participate in RES auctions.

These projects were prepared in specific legal conditions and changes to regulations should respect the investors’ acquired rights. According to the bill, the distance requirements will in practice apply to those installations which will not receive a usage permit within 3 years of the effective date of the new law. We can expect that if a RES auction takes place this or next year, the winning installations could still be built without these critical distance requirements. Later on, however, the act will make it impossible to build even those installations that have all the required formal permits today.

The authors of the bill also propose that operation of wind turbines would require an operating permit from the Office of Technical Inspection (UDT) at a charge amounting to as much as 1 percent of the project value. UDT permits would be valid only for two years. What does this mean for the wind energy sector in Poland?

In our opinion the rules for supervision of new and old equipment should be differentiated. It is not necessary for such inspections to be carried out by UDT, as according to the explanation of the bill that institution does not currently have the necessary competences. There are many companies on the market with adequate licenses and experience in that field, who could carry out such inspections, and do it more cheaply than proposed in the bill with the same scope of inspection.

The technical inspection for approval of operation of wind turbines should be carried by independent certification companies, at the cost of the investor to be agreed in negotiations or tenders with the certification companies. Then, the results of inspection should be presented to the Energy Regulatory Office under the concession procedure, as we proposed already during the previous term of the Parliament. The frequency of inspections should be adjusted to the technical condition of wind turbines. It doesn’t make sense to inspect new equipment every 2 years as proposed in the bill. We propose that new equipment should be checked every 5 years, and after three such periods, i.e. 15 years of operation, it should undergo inspection every 2 years.

Another idea proposed by PiS MPs is the change of definition of a structure with regard to wind turbines…

Currently a “building structure” covers the foundation and tower, with a value of ca. 20 percent of the entire wind turbine, and this value is used as the basis for the property tax. After the changes, the entire wind turbine would be treated as a structure, and the property tax would be paid based on its full value, which means a fourfold increase of the property tax. Such a drastic tax increase will in fact have an expropriating effect, as no business activity can withstand a multiple increase of taxation. Such a solution will in many cases lead to bankruptcy of the majority of investors, especially domestic, individual ones, who will not be able to service their loans and pay the taxes imposed.

Last year, Poland took second place in Europe with regard to new installed capacity in wind, and thanks to the total installed capacity of 5 GW (currently 5.4 GW) it surpassed Denmark, one of the global cradles of wind power. In the next 15 years we could have an additional 10 GW of installed capacity onshore and 6 GW offshore. I believe that despite the current situation this potential will be utilized.

WindEurope Summit 2016 given full backing by Enercon and Nordex

27 – 30 September 2016, Hamburg, Germany

Submit your abstract by 17 April

This year what many refer to as the ‘AGM’ of the wind energy industry in Europe returns to Hamburg for the first time since the ‘European Wind Energy Conference – EWEC’ started in the same city in 1984.

“WindEurope Summit 2016” takes place from 27-30 September at Congress Centre Hamburg. WindEurope has joined forces with the world’s largest wind energy trade fair, WindEnergy Hamburg, which will be taking place at the adjacent exhibition centre, Hamburg Messe. Together the combined event will attract over 30,000 participants from all continents representing the entire wind industry value chain.

WindEurope Summit 2016 will be opened by high-level politicians and business leaders with Sigmar Gabriel, German Vice-Chancellor and Federal Minister of Economics and Energy, already confirmed in the opening session. Leading turbine manufacturers, Enercon and Nordex, have put their full weight behind WindEurope Summit 2016 and will play a key role as its ‘Ambassadors’.

The programme will feature high-level ‘business meets policy’ debates plus sessions on market developments and the latest technical and scientific advances. Over 150 members of WindEurope and the European Academy for Wind Energy (EAWE) will conduct the peer review of abstracts in the call that is open to the entire industry worldwide.

The abstract deadline is fast approaching. If your organisation has valuable knowledge to share that will contribute to the development of the industry as a whole, be sure to take part. Abstract deadline: Sunday 17 April 2016

To book an exhibition stand please contact Raul Lanzarote at [email protected]

 

WindEurope leads cross-sector group of industry associations’ in call on EU to deliver flexible power market

WindEurope and a group of industry associations from different sectors came together this week to call for ambitious proposals for electricity market reforms in 2016.

The group of associations is challenging policymakers to adopt a flexible and dynamic energy system, making the best use of innovative and distributed supply and demand options. This call comes as the European Commission is preparing legislation on market design and the make-up of the group, including heavy industry representatives, is bound to get attention.

Signatories include renewables industry (wind and solar), gas industry (Gas Naturally), the Smart Energy Demand Coalition (SEDC), the European paper and pulp association (CEPI), the EU storage association (EASE), engine manufacturers (EUGINE) and standardization experts. It is the first time we have joined forces in our advocacy with an energy-intensive industry.

This group of associations call for three essential reforms that will help the cost effective integration of renewables in the European Power system:

• Providing adequate price signals and further integration of short-markets across borders
• Ensuring a balanced approach to system adequacy that fully takes into account the contribution from the different energy sources
• Implementing a level playing field for all flexibility providers to foster the pan-European trading of electricity and grid support services.

You can find the full statement here.

 

Advocacy Highlights

On March 15^th Giles Dickson, Francesco Venturini (Enel Green Power) and Hans-Dieter Kettwig (ENERCON) met with Miguel Arias Cañete, European Commissioner for Climate and Energy. The delegation stressed the industry’s priorities for this years’ legislation on renewables and market design and discussed national developments including the draft law on wind energy investments in Poland.

The association also led a delegation of nine renewable energy associations, which met on 1 March with Dominique Ristori, the European Commission’s top civil servant in charge of Energy. The group shared the sector’s top ten priorities for the post-2020 Renewable Energy Directive emphasizing delivery of the EU’s 2030 target, support measures for renewables and market design.

Key political decisions on the directive will be made at a special meeting of European Commissioners scheduled for 20 April. The secretariat is in the midst of an intense campaign towards the cabinets of Commissioners in charge of the Energy Union, Research & Innovation, Environment, Industry, Trade, Regional Development as well as Climate and Energy. WindEurope calls for robust measures to live up to Europe’s pledge to be the global leader in renewables.

 

Upcoming WindEurope events

Analysis of Operating Wind Farms 2016: 14 – 15 April 2016, Bilbao, Spain

The Technology Workshop will focus on big data and innovative approaches to boost performance and optimise O&M strategies.

Across five sessions, the workshop will explore the impact of big data on wind farm operations. Over 200 participants have already registered to learn about the latest techniques and innovations to boost the performance of their assets, optimize maintenance and further bring down the cost of energy.

The Analysis of Operating Wind Farm Workshop has become a highly anticipated event bringing together an international group of speakers. Expert speakers are confirmed from major operators and turbine manufacturers, as well as other industry leaders and academia. The workshop will also feature over 30 science and technology posters presented by their authors at two poster sessions.

Participants will also meet Premium Sponsor Iberdrola, Executive Sponsor Gamesa and leading companies ABB, Vortex, Leosphere and Protecttion at their exhibition stands during extended breaks and the poster reception. Iberdrola will host the workshop dinner for all participants at its exceptional setting, the top-floor panoramic restaurant of Iberdrola Tower in central Bilbao.

See who’s coming – Meet our sponsors and exhibitors – Join us in Bilbao!

WindEurope Summit 2016: 27 – 29 September 2016, Hamburg, Germany

Wind Turbine Sound 2016: 17 – 19 November 2016, Gdansk, Poland

The Technology Workshop will have common threads running through the different sessions: Amplitude modulation (AM/OAM), Low-frequency sounds (LFS), Sound levels and Tones.

WindEurope projects highlights

A European Market Design fit for Renewables – the Market4RES project

Market4RES investigates the potential evolution of the current design of the electricity market, the so-called Target Model (TM), in a way that allows the sustainable integration of large amounts of renewable sources. The project is co-funded by the European Union.

The latest report issued is a “Description of planned analyses, scenarios and models for the post 2020 time horizon”. It describes the analyses of different market design options in terms of their capacity to accommodate large shares of renewable energy sources and generate incentives for investments into flexible generation, in order to guarantee sufficient security of supply in the year 2030. These analyses represent a continuation of the studies of the Target Model until 2020 that have been performed so far and that focus on the transition from feed-in tariff (FIT) to price premium (PP). Both types of support -FIT and PP- are analysed together with a number of other design options.

How to pave the road into the renewable future: Electricity market analyses and policy implications for 2020-2030.

19 May, Brussels

The first part of the event will focus on few quantitative assessments of the post 2020 evolution of the Target Model (TM), including: market performance of energy only, capacity remuneration and renewable energy sources (RES) support schemes; short-term operational impacts of the timing of markets and RES support schemes; impact of renewables support mechanism on incentive for demand-response deployment.

The second part of the event will deal with RES penetration under the current Target Model. Amongst other topics, this session will deal with the impacts of demand flexibility with different RES shares as well as with the transition from Feed-in-Tariffs to market-based schemes.

Speakers will include Sintef (Norway), Technofi (France), the Energy Economics Group of the University of Wien (Austria), RTE (France) and WindEurope (Belgium).

The detailed agenda will be published soon. More information and registration at:  http://market4res.eu/events/future-events/

Please contact Diletta Zeni at [email protected] if you wish to know more.

 

ETIPWind – The industry’s new research hub

R&I, politics and the wind power industry have never been as close as today. In November 2015, the European Commission chose WindEurope to run the secretariat of the European Technology and Innovation Platform on Wind Energy (ETIPWind). ETIPWind now acts as the hub that connects the three blades: research, politics and the industry. In particular, academics and Chief Technology Officers (CTOs) advise the European Commission on R&I policies that:

• Lead to reduction in LCoE
• Facilitate sustainable integration of significant additional amounts of wind energy into the EU grids
• Reinforce the technological leadership of the European wind energy industry.

 

WindEurope’s R&I CTOs group has defined four priorities to benefit from the European funding schemes: Grid systems, infrastructure and integration, operation and maintenance, industrialisation and offshore balance of plant.

The ETIPWind has two primary decision-making bodies:

• Advisory Group: CTOs from leading developers, manufactures and utilities convene twice a year to advise on strategic R&I objectives.
• Steering Committee: Technical representatives from leading wind energy industry and research institutions meet every three months to confirm the suggested objectives and execute follow-on activities.

 

The Steering Committee currently develops the Strategic Research Agenda for the EU funding in the next years. The ETIPWind website will show the final agenda in September 2016. etipwind.eu.

Should you have any questions on ETIPWind, please contact the content coordinator Edit Nielsen at [email protected]

 

Deals of the month, March 2016

Wind energy balancing power system. Acciona Energía’s wind power assets entered the system adjustment services market in Spain. Historically, only large conventional power plants or hydropower plants were allowed to provide balancing services but since 10 February, wind energy power plants are also allowed to provide balancing services. This confirms wind turbines technological evolution towards a better integration into the grid, which will be increasingly needed as wind energy penetration in EU power systems is constantly growing.

For more info: http://www.acciona.com/news/acciona-energia-pioneer-providing-electric-power-system-adjustment-only-using-wind-power/

Vestas repowering project. Danish wind turbine manufacturer Vestas will repower the Odervorland onshore wind farm in Germany with nine V112 wind turbines. Due to the high rate of new installations, the number of wind energy assets getting close to their end of operational life is dramatically increasing in the European Union. WindEurope estimates that the capacity at end of life between 2020 and 2030 will be one quarter of the total capacity expected to be installed in Europe at the end of 2030. Projects such as Odervorland will become progressively needed to exploit good wind resource sites with new and more efficient turbines, to ensure wind energy continues to provide the EU with clean electricity.

For more info: https://www.vestas.com/en/media/news#!160315_nr_uk_ceu

Prysmian cut offshore wind cables cost. Italian energy and cable global leader Prysmian manufactured a novel 66 kV offshore wind cable able to cut 15% of offshore wind energy development costs. The cable uses advance materials and a lighter design and it earned qualification under CIGRE and IEC test protocols in the context of the Carbon Trust’s Offshore Wind Accelerator programme.

For more info: http://www.prysmiangroup.com/en/corporate/media/news/New-solution-enabling-up-to-15-cost-reduction-of-offshore-wind-farms/

 

Questions and comments are welcome and shall be addressed to Giorgio Corbetta, National Policies and Markets Analyst at [email protected].