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.
Reservoir Capital, based in Canada, through its subsidiary in Serbia REV, signed a 20-year power purchase agreement with GDF Suez Energia Italia for power generated at the Brodarevo hydropower plant, located in South East Serbia. The power plant will have 58.4 MW of installed capacity.
Project Clearwater has been recommended by Top Team Water in an effort to boost the Dutch water sector, as a project that will strengthen the country's water export base. The project gathers several Dutch leading industry members, research and government institutes, who have submitted business cases. Clearwater was chosen as a project to be pushed into development as soon as possible, for immediate implementation in the Dutch province of Zeeland. The project will make use of the tidal currents generated near the Eastern Scheldt barrier, and will use tidal stream turbines for water flow energy conversion.
Alstom is to acquire a 40% stake in the Scottish marine energy developer AWS Ocean Energy, as was officially announced by Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond at an event held in Edinburgh Castle. This investment is Alstom's first in the wave energy sector, and represents a significant boost for AWS Ocean Energy. The company will now be able to accelerate the commercial development of its wave energy harnessing technology.
Aquamarine Power has issued an update on the project to install its Oyster wave energy conversion device in Orkney. The device is to be deployed in July this year, and is currently being built by BiFab. It is to be transported by barge to the European Marine Energy Center (EMEC) in Orkney in late July. The jack-up barge, called the Excalibur, arrived in Orkney last week, and is currently stationed in Orkney. It is to begin drilling piles into the seabed, building the foundation for the installation of the second generation Oyster device.
Statkraft and Nitto Denko/Hydranautics have signed an agreement under which Nitto is to supply Statkraft with osmotic power membranes, a key component in the construction of osmotics power conversion processes. Statkraft opened the first osmotic power plant in the world in late 2009, in Tofte, Norway, capable of producing about 10 kW of power. The technology is very promising, since the global annual power production from this technology has been estimated to be about 1600-1700 TWh.
Alstom announced the company has been awarded a contract to deliver and install a power generating unit at the Salamonde hydropower project (Salamonde dam) in Portugal, by EDP. Alstom is in a consortium with Portuguese Ensulmeci on this contract worth EUR 55 million. Alstom is to deliver a 207 MW Francis reversible pump-turbine, as well as a 244 MVA motor-generator, along with other hydromechanical equipment and mechanical and electrical balance of plant.
Finnish marine energy developer Wello's wave energy device called Penguin, is being hauled to Orkney, where it will be installed at the European Marine Energy Center (EMEC) for testing. The device has left the Riga shipyard in Latvia, and is now well on its way to reach EMEC early next week. The device itself uses the oscillatory movement of waves on the sea surface, converting it into rotary movement of a flywheel installation with the housing of the device. The flywheel produces torque which turns an electrical generator, also mounted on top of the flywheel structure within the device hull. Check out more device images after the jump.
Vattenfall announced the company plans to invest up to a billion euros in the French hydropower sector, once France offers hydropower concessions later this year. Vattenfall is planning a long-term presence in the French energy market, having opened an office in Paris recently. The company considers France on of its growth markets, and this announcement will greatly contribute to the its stronger presence there.
RWE Innogy, the RE arm of RWE, and Elektroprivreda Srbije (EPS), Serbia's power utility monopoly, have set up a joint venture company, called Moravske Hidroelektrane a.d., to pursue the contruction and development of hydropower projects on the Morava River in Serbia. The development plant calls for the construction of five 30 MW hydropower projects along the river, to total in 150 MW of new clean power capacity.
