Geronimo Wind Energy has secured a power purchase agreement for its planned 200 MW Prairie Rose wind farm, to be built in Minnesota, USA. This PPA allows the company to proceed further with the necessary approval process for the project with the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission.
Enel Green Power announced the company's 36 MW Coulonges wind farm in France has started commercial operation. This is the company's largest wind project in France so far. The wind farm features 18 2 MW wind turbines, and will produce 90 GWh of electrical energy annually.
Vestas announced two orders for wind turbines coming from Brazil and Mexico, toalling in 89 MW of capacity (30 V100 2 MW units, and 16 V90 1.8 MW units).
Having already entered into a partnership with Alstom for the upcoming French offshore wind tender, EDF Energies Nouvelles has announced a new partnership with the same purpose, this time with DONG Energy.
Computer generated image of future Cerro de Hula wind farm in Honduras.
Gamesa announced the first turbine at the Cerro de Hula wind farm in Honduras has been installed. The wind farm will eventually have 102 MW of installed capacity, becoming the largest wind farm in Central America. Additionally, this the first wind farm being built in Honduras.
Abengoa announced the company has closed financing and is ready to begin construction of 2 CSP projects in Castilla-La Mancha, Spain. The combined capacity of the planned projects is 100 MW (50 MW each). Both projects are expected to become operational in 2012. Financing has been obtained with the involvement of Banco Santander, Banesto, Bankia, Banca Cívica and the ICO, the German banks KFW and Helaba, and the Portuguese bank Banif.
A recently completed EU project called TOPFARM resulted in a method and tool for optimizing wind farm topology. In order to ge the most of the wind potential at a wind farm site, it is not only necessary to install the right type of wind turbine, but also to place the turbine in appropriate positions relative to each other. TOPFARM's focus was on the study of the effect of the economical optimum in terms of wind turbine placement at a wind farm site. The project's participants included nine European wind energy developers and technology companies and institutes – Risø National Laboratory for Sustainable Energy, DTU (Project Manager), DTU Mechanical Engineering, DONG Energy, Vestas, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Cambridge Environmental Research Consultants ltd., Garrad Hassan and Partners ltd., Germanischer Lloyd Industrial Services GmbH and Teknikgruppen AB.
Panasonic has announced the availability of innovative thermoelectric tubes especially suited for fluid heat sources such as hot water or steam. The device's tubular shape allows good heat transfer conditions and efficient heat transfer, without additional heat exchangers. The company states the new tubes are ideal for capturing waste heat from hot springs (geothermal energy) and factories.
Siemens and Statkraft have entered into a strategic agreement for up to 253 wind turbines, totalling in more than 580 MW of capacity. The wind turbines are aimed at onshore wind energy projects in Sweden. The customer is actually Statkraft SCA Vind, 60% owned by Statkraft, and 40% owned by Svenska Cellulosa Aktiebolaget SCA. The first order under this agreement is for 37 2.3 MW turbines which are to be installed at the Mörttjärnberget wind project in central northern Sweden.
A consoritum made up of Alstom and the Hindustan Construction Company has been awarded a EUR 285 contract to build the first variable speed pumped storage power plant in India, by Tehri Hydrodevelopment Corporation. The 1000 MW pumped storage facility will be located on the Bhagirathi River, in the state of Uttarkhand. This is the first project to use variable speed technology in India.
