Wind Europe Bulletin April 2017

WindEurope Bulletin

Wind Europe Bulletin April 2017

6 April 2017


Giles Dickson

CEO foreword

One year ago EWEA became WindEurope. Our new name reflects the industry’s transformation from a niche energy sector into a large mainstream industry. And it underlines the growth and influence of our Association. Allow me to use this first anniversary to take stock and highlight some recent developments.

In our outreach to policy-makers, we have secured a number of successes over the last year. We helped turn the EU Clean Energy Package from what risked being an empty shell into a promising set of proposals. We are now lobbying the European Parliament to improve various elements of the legislation. And we’re working with the national wind associations to try to get the national governments to support the proposals in the Council of Ministers in Brussels – and to provide our industry with clarity and ambition through the National Energy & Climate Plans they have to write. We’ve now defined a formal WindEurope position on the Clean Energy Package proposals: crucially we’re now calling for the EU renewables target for 2030 to be raised from the “at least 27%” the Commission have proposed to “at least 35%.” There is a reasonable chance the European Parliament will support a higher target. The Member States will be resistant, but pressure on the target should help us secure other things in the negotiations.

An important feature of our first year as WindEurope has been an increase in coalition activity – lobbying jointly with other industries and doing things jointly with governments. A good example is the North Seas declaration on offshore energy cooperation, where 10 governments teamed up to create better conditions for the development of offshore wind. Our input to this process and our interactions with the governments concerned helped deliver the top-down political commitment and identify the bottom-up actions which will support cost reduction in offshore. With other industries, including energy-intensives, we formed a “Friends of Flexibility” coalition to push for more demand response in the electricity system. In the EU Electro-Mobility platform we’re working with e.g. Tesla and Renault-Nissan to accelerate the decarbonisation of transport. We’re working with the chemicals and others sector to promote corporate renewables PPAs: and we have a joint event on this on 11 October in Brussels. We’ve formed a new alliance with the hydrogen industry to promote green hydrogen (i.e. electrolysed renewables) in transport, heating and industry. In the new WindEurope Ports Platform, we’re helping ports develop their services and infrastructure for offshore. And we’ve formed a platform of military authorities to spread good practice on how wind can co-exist with radar and low-altitude flying. Working in coalitions has also enabled us to broaden our membership. Over the last months, we have welcomed big law firms and energy traders as well as petrochemical and data companies.

WindEurope members continue to benefit from market intelligence, networking and brand exposure. With our new Daily Wind Power Numbers platform, you now find out every morning what was the share of wind in your country’s power mix the previous day, and you can share this information in a nice graphic format with your contacts, stakeholders, customers and broader society.

One important piece of news. The WindEurope Board recently decided that our annual event in 2019 should take place in Bilbao (in the spring) and that we should do an offshore event towards the end of 2019 in Copenhagen. The Board also decided that from 2021 our odd year events should be a single combined onshore and offshore event and that it should take place in Copenhagen.

Finally, one year on from our rebranding as WindEurope we have decided to re-brand this monthly newsletter. From now on what we used to call our “Brussels Brief” will be the “WindEurope Bulletin”.

WindEurope explores synergies between wind and hydrogen energy

WindEurope explores synergies between wind and hydrogen energy

On March 22nd, WindEurope joined forces with the hydrogen community to hold a joint technical workshop exploring synergies between wind power and hydrogen energy.
The large sector-coupling potential of such a synergy could expand the use of wind energy far beyond the power sector and lead to significant emission reductions throughout the whole economy.
Leading technology companies, experts, utilities and experienced hydrogen users evaluated and discussed the potential of hydrogen technology to become a major energy vector in the transformation of the energy system, helping to integrate a larger share of variable renewable into the power system.
For more on this story, see here.

 

Members’ successes

First six turbines successfully installed at Nordsee One offshore construction site


In early March 2017, installation began for the 54 wind turbines that will make up the Nordsee One Offshore Wind Farm. The installation of the first turbines was completed according to schedule, following on from the successful installation of all 54 wind turbine foundations, inter-array cables and the offshore substation in 2016.
Describing the installation as an ‘important milestone’, Managing Director (CFO) of Nordsee One GmbH Pierre Lestienne commented: “I’m really proud of this achievement. This outcome is the result of precise planning and efficient execution.”

The sheer size of the components for the six megawatt turbines is remarkable: the nacelles alone weigh-in at approx. 335 tonnes and are equivalent in size to a detached single-family home! The components were transported by the installation vessel MPI Enterprise to the construction located approximately 40 km north off the island of Juist. Commissioning of the 332 megawatt wind farm is anticipated by the end of 2017. Looking to the future, Managing Director (COO) of Nordsee One GmbH Tim Kittelhake stated: “We look forward to installation of the next turbines, which will follow immediately. We plan to have all turbines installed and commissioned by the end of this year.”

This text was updated at 12:24pm on 6 April 2017 for clarification. The original text read: “In early March 2017, installation began for the 54 wind turbines that will make up the Nordsee One Offshore Wind Farm in Eemshaven, the Netherlands. ” To avoid any confusion, this was changed to “In early March 2017, installation began for the 54 wind turbines that will make up the Nordsee One Offshore Wind Farm.”

For the full press release, see here.

Port of Amsterdam and Eneco start new partnership for generation and supply of wind energy

Port of Amsterdam wind turbine
In February, Port of Amsterdam and Dutch energy company Eneco started a new partnership for the generation and supply of wind energy. Port of Amsterdam acquired a 50% stake in Eneco’s existing Afrikahaven wind farm, located in the Western port area. Both companies intend to supply the green energy generated by the wind farm to local businesses and households. The deal marks a new step in the strategic alliance which the two companies began in 2015 in efforts to further improve the Port’s sustainability. This is the first time a Dutch port company has acquired an interest in a windfarm.

The Afrikahaven wind farm includes a total of nine wind turbines, which collectively generate a quantity of energy sufficient to supply around 15,000 households. Port of Amsterdam and Eneco intend to supply the green energy – which is currently fed randomly into the power grid – to businesses located in the port area and to the city’s residents. A secondary objective of the project is to balance the supply and demand for sustainable energy. During blustery weather, the supply of energy currently outstrips demand at times, and companies that can manage their energy generation process on a flexible basis get to save on their energy bill. A large provider of cooling and freezing services, for example, will be able to turn down its temperatures a couple of notches as the large volumes in the Port facilitate the transition to sustainable energy sources.

Port of Amsterdam CEO Koen Overtoom: ‘This new partnership is consistent with the principles of our Vision2030 for improving the Port’s sustainability and our strategy of becoming a major energy hub at the regional, national and international levels. Wind energy is one of the renewable sources in which our port is investing and for which we have ambitious plans. Port of Amsterdam aims to increase its installed capacity in the port area to 100MW by 2020. Through the smart use of this sustainable energy, we can create renewable energy for the price of fossil energy – that is, traditional fossil fuels.’

For more information, see here

LM Wind Power lays first stone for offshore blade plant in France

At a foundation stone ceremony on March 23, chaired by French Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve, LM Wind Power launched the construction of an offshore blade plant in Cherbourg, Normandy. The Cherbourg plant will be LM Wind Power’s 15th plant worldwide, and the company brings an initial investment of more than €100 million into the project including factory, equipment and start-up.

The factory will serve all customers in the global offshore wind blades market, but the decision by LM Wind Power to start construction was greatly facilitated by the concurrent signing of a supply agreement with GE for the blades powering its Haliade offshore wind turbine. The scale of offshore wind turbine blades requires special facilities and a location close to the sea. That was part of the reason for LM Wind Power to choose Cherbourg as the location for its first dedicated offshore blade plant that will serve certain projects from the French tenders announced in 2012 and 2014 and the Northern European offshore market in general.
The plant is expected to grow to a capacity between 1.2 and 2.0 Gigawatts (GW) and employ around 550 people.

For more information, see here

 

Events

Join us at Offshore Wind Energy 2017

Exhibit
Up to 400 companies will exhibit in London – will you? For as little as €3,000 you can be part of the world’s largest offshore wind event. For more information, contact Deny Teneblat and book your stand today.

Register
Over 10,000 participants will attend Offshore Wind Energy 2017 – don’t miss out, book your ticket!

Conference
The conference programme is now online, and includes keynote speeches from global leaders in industry, policy and technology.

London City Airport
Located just next to our venue – check for cheap flights now and touch down in June at the number one event in the offshore calendar.

WindEurope partners with Recharge to power Offshore Wind Energy 2017

WindEurope has brought in Recharge, the global renewable energy news and intelligence service, as official title and publisher of the Show Dailies at its Offshore Wind Energy 2017 conference and exhibition in London, organised for the first time with UK association RenewableUK.

Speaking about the news, WindEurope CEO Giles Dickson said: “I am truly delighted that Recharge will be there with us as media partner and publisher of the Show Dailies – they play a fundamental role in keeping everyone up to speed with all the latest developments at the busiest and most dynamic wind event there is, and I look forward to this exciting collaboration.”

Read the full story here

WindEurope Resource Assessment workshop: successful fourth edition in Edinburgh

WindEurope Resource Assessment workshop: successful fourth edition in Edinburgh

Over 180 wind resource assessment specialists met in Edinburgh on 16 & 17 March for WindEurope’s fourth technology workshop.

Participants came from 23 countries in Europe, North and South America, Asia and Africa to attend this edition, which focused on better models and validation tools to improve the accuracy of estimating how much wind there is at a given site.

In a special session, a panel of investors gave their perspective on how resource assessment techniques and methodologies can add real value during project planning and financing.

For more information including the full programme, speakers, posters and photos see here.

 

Upcoming WindEurope Events

Offshore Wind Energy 2017