WindEurope Bulletin
WindEurope Bulletin June 2019
12 June 2019
Giles DicksonCEO Foreword
Dear WindEurope Member,
Our Annual General Assembly is coming up – on Tuesday 25 June. So is our summer reception – also on 25 June. And on Wednesday 26 June we’re doing a members’ Open Day to inform you about all the activities of WindEurope.
The same week, on Monday 24 June we have our first ever Offshore Supply Chain Workshop. This will look at how to ensure a rapid and optimal build-out of offshore wind in Europe.
And at the end of that week we have our Resource Assessment Technology Workshop (27-28 June). The focus will be on how to reduce uncertainty about wind volumes with better models and validation tools.
I hope you’ll be able to come along to one or more of all of these events. You can find more information about them here.
A brief word on the Summer Reception. We’re doing it jointly with the European Chemical Industry Council (CEFIC), who are in the same building as us now. But we’re also teaming up with them because of the increasing interest from heavy energy consumers – such as chemicals – to buy wind through Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs). Heavy industry is by far the largest buyer of wind PPAs: they’ve signed more than 2 GW worth of deals with wind in the last five years alone. It helps them cut their emissions and get cheaper power, so it makes sense. We’re also set to formalise our work with CEFIC on recycling. More on that soon.
I’m sure you will have seen the results of the European Elections at the end of last month. Voter turnout – which had been declining since elections to the Parliament began – was 51%. That’s the highest it’s been for the last 20 years. Thanks to your support – sharing our ‘go vote’ campaign internally and externally – we managed to communicate the importance of voting amongst the 300,000 people who work in wind energy in Europe and to a wider audience too. The campaign slogan ‘For more renewables, vote in the European elections,’ really spoke to people about the importance of using their vote to make an impact.
Overall, the results are positive for wind. With the rise of the Greens and Liberals – together with the Socialists and the Centre-right – we can expect a European Parliament that is generally ‘renewables-friendly’. In the short-term the most pressing issue for the Parliament is to decide who will be the new European Commission President. This, and the linked decisions on the Council and European Central Bank President, are crucial to the future direction of the EU and its policies. We’ll keep you informed of developments as we know more. But in the meantime you can already read our priorities for the next European Parliament or watch our video explainer.
Looking ahead to our events this autumn, registrations for our End-of-Life Issues and Strategies Seminar in Leuven are open now. Registrations for our RE-Source event on corporate renewable power purchase agreements also opened this month.
Giles Dickson
Market Intelligence Spotlight
Wind Turbine Order Monitoring
WindEurope’s 2018 and Q1 2019 Wind Turbine Orders Monitor report is now available in the Members’ Area. Across 2018, WindEurope tracked 116 orders for a record high 12.5 GW of ordered capacity. 7 GW of this was onshore, and 5.6 GW offshore. The UK led with the most ordered capacity (3.2 GW), followed by Belgium and Spain. Vestas had the most onshore orders (2.5 GW) followed by Nordex-Acciona (2.2 GW). MHI Vestas and SGRE each had offshore orders of 2.8 GW. The trend towards larger turbines is very strong; 4 MW+ onshore turbines represented a third of all onshore orders, while 9 MW+ offshore turbines attracted 50% of all offshore orders.
In Q1 2019 there were 25 orders for 1.3 GW in 11 countries. The majority came from onshore wind and the ordered capacity was similar to that in Q1 2018. Sweden and Spain attracted most of the orders. Nordex received two thirds of the orders, with activity in 6 countries. There was only one order in offshore (30 MW), with Senvion supplying turbines for what will be the first commercial offshore wind farm in the Mediterranean Sea. To find a more detailed breakdown of the gathered data, please visit the Members’ Area.
Members’ News
CLS Risk Solutions joins WindEurope
CLS Risk Solutions, the legal indemnity and transactional property risk MGA for the CLS group, has joined WindEurope. CLSRS offers solutions to wind farm projects that face Public Law issues, such as opposition from neighbouring property owners and environmental lobbying groups. It aims to ensure that lenders and funders of the projects are protected if the planning permits are challenged by third parties. The insurance covers the financial obligations of the SPV/Op-Co in the event of an interim injunction or final unfavourable court order, which could result in costly delays or the project even being dismantled, for example.
CLS Risk Solutions (CLSRS) is a leading specialist insurance agency which aims to remove uncertainty from real estate, infrastructure and renewable energy development projects and transactions using bespoke insurance products. The agency operates across Europe, providing innovative products combined with some of the highest rated financial security in the industry. The bespoke products for planning permit issues provide a valuable tool to unlock projects where litigation is a barrier to borrowing and funding.
With extensive experience in the Real Estate, Renewable Energy and Infrastructure industry and underwriting authority granted by AmTrust International and ERGO Versicherung AG (UK Branch), part of the Munich Re Group, CLSRS products are available via solicitors, brokers or other professional intermediaries, to protect the interests of owners, lessees, purchasers, developers and/or lenders.
CLSRS will be attending WindEurope’s ‘windiest week’ later this month. On 24-28 June, we will be hosting our Offshore Supply Chain Workshop, Annual General Assembly and Summer Reception, Open Day and Technology workshop: Resource Assessment 2019. Find out more
Has your organisation had any recent successes you’d like to share with the wider wind energy community? Every month we feature success stories in our Bulletin, reaching an audience of over 6,000 people.
Interested in submitting a success story? Contact us today
Events
WindEurope Offshore 2019
When: 26 – 28 November
Where: Copenhagen
What: Europe’s leading offshore wind energy event
Why attend: Exhibition space has almost completely sold out for Europe’s foremost international offshore wind event, taking place in Copenhagen’s magnificent Bella Center.
Europe’s offshore fleet needs to grow significantly to meet the challenges of climate change; this means doing business on the exhibition floor. (You can check out our interactive floorplan here).
Join Event Ambassadors MHI Vestas, Ørsted, Shell New Energies and Van Oord as they exhibit alongside companies like Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy, DNV GL, Vattenfall, LM Wind Power, ENGIE as well as national and regional pavilions from Denmark, Norway, the Basque country and beyond. Check out our exhibitor list.
EoLIS 2019: WindEurope’s new seminar on End-of-Life Issues and Strategies – Limited places now available
When: 5 September
Where: Leuven, Belgium
What: The first edition of WindEurope’s seminar on End-of-Life Issues and Strategies (EoLIS)
Why attend: Within the next 15 years, a significant share of Europe’s wind turbine fleet will come to the end of its projected lifetime. This outgoing generation capacity will have to be replaced – but there are significant challenges to this. This seminar will tackle policy and permitting issues as well as technology challenges, with in-depth sessions on lifetime extension, repowering, decommissioning and recycling.
Places are now limited for the inaugural edition of this one-day seminar, which deals with one of the major challenges for wind energy. See the full programme outline here, and a programme overview below.
Opening session: Policy and permitting
The introductory session will set the scene by giving the statistical & political background on the topic, offering an overview of the market potential in Europe and volumes expected to be decommissioned, lifetime extended or re-powered
Session 1: Life-time extension in wind
The decision to life-extend relies on a set of legal, technical, and economic factors. This session will feature a series of presentations, followed by a panel discussion, and look at the different factors that drive such decisions. The panel discussion at the end will explore how these different drivers combine to affect the business case for lifetime extension.
Session 2: Repowering – a necessary step in achieving RES targets
This session will give insights on the current status of and potential for re-powering in Europe. Repowering decisions depend on economic, technical and legal factors. Key considerations for re-powering are site-specific, and include spatial planning, community engagement to gain local acceptance, and technological developments, as new turbines may not be suited for older sites. This session will present some concrete examples and real-world case studies.
Session 3: Decommissioning strategies, a key step to further LCOE reductions
Sites where lifetime extension or re-powering is not possible or economically unviable will have to be decommissioned. But even sites that are to be extended or re-powered will also go through some (partial) decommissioning of older parts or assets. This session will share practical know-how and lessons on decommissioning and explain how second hand markets work. It will also feature a presentation of the regulatory situation across Europe with regards to decommissioning.
Session 4: Achieving the full circularity of the wind sector
Achieving the carbon neutrality of the wind sector is a priority for wind industry stakeholders to comply with the Paris agreement. This session will discuss growing cooperation with key industry sectors: cement, chemicals and composites. Delegates will also learn about the latest innovative recycling technologies to accelerate wind turbine circularity.
RE-Source 2019: Registration now open
When: 2 – 3 October
Where: Amsterdam
What: The world’s largest gathering of corporate renewable energy buyers and suppliers
Why attend: This year, we’ll have more B2B matchmaking activities, deep dive breakout sessions and more diverse buyer and supplier groups. Please note: The two last editions of RE-Source sold out in advance – so be sure to have it in your calendar.
Registration is now open – don’t miss out!
WindEurope Offshore Supply Chain Workshop
When: 24 June
Where: Brussels
Please note: this event is exclusive to WindEurope Members only.
WindEurope Annual General Assembly & Summer Reception
When: 25 June
Where: WindEurope Office
WindEurope Open Day
When: 26 June
Where: WindEurope Office
WindEurope Technology workshop: Resource Assessment 2019
When: 27 – 28 June
Where: Brussels
You can see the complete programme here.
PKEE Baltic Offshore: Regional answer to the EU’s energy transition
When: 10 July
Where: Brussels
For the second time PKEE Summer Day will look at the changing Polish power sector. The theme of the debate will be about the development of offshore power in the Baltic Sea, where there is 186 GW of Baltic offshore potential. Expect broad representation of EU institutions, new Members of the European Parliament and stakeholders from energy sector.
What we’re reading
- European Commission, Hybrid Projects – How to reduce costs and space of offshore development : North Seas offshore energy clusters study
- European Commission – Sector Coupling How can it be enhanced in the EU to foster grid stability and decarbonise? – Study
- Hydrogen Europe – Vision on the role of hydrogen and gas. Infrastructure on the road toward a climate neutral economy
- International Oil and Gas Producers (IOGP) – The potential for CCS and CCU in Europe
- ENTSO-E – Value of timely implementation of “better projects”
- National Renewable Energy Laboratory – The Vineyard Wind Power Purchase Agreement: Insights for Estimating Costs of U.S. Offshore Wind Projects
