Alerion's board accepted a binging offer from Holdind Fotovoltaica (HFV) for the purchase of some of the company's solar power assets in Italy. HFV is to acquire a total of 18.8 MW of installed solar capacity in Pontenture, San Marco in Lamis and Castellaneta for a cash amount of EUR 27.5 million.
Yingli Green Energy (aka Yingli Solar) announced a supply contract with Solarstrom, involving the delivery of 220 MW of PV modules to the German solar power developer and system integrator, over the next three years. Delivery of the modules is to start in 2011, and end in 2013. The amount involved in this sales contract was not disclosed.
Bulgaria is planning to issue tenders for a wind and a solar energy project in that country in 2011. According to reports from local media, the projects will have 50 MW of capacity each, and will be located on sites close to the existing power grid network.
Acciona Energia announced its Palma del Rio II concentrated solar power project (CSP) has entered commercial operation. The 50 MW solar power plant adds to the existing CSP base of the company, which has now reached 214 MW of CSP installations worldwide, making it the number one company for CSP technology implementation. So far, Acciona Energia has developed three CSP plants in Spain and one in the US.
The cooperation agreement was signed by Nils Klippenberg (left), director of Strategy and global account manager in Siemens, and Halfdan Knudsen, senior vice president for process and refining technology in Statoil. (Photo: Ole Jørgen Bratland)
Statoil and Siemens have signed a technology development agreement, under which the two energy giants from Europe combine their efforts getting involved in research and development in three key areas:
The European Investment Bank and Enel Green Power have entered into an agreement under which EIB will provide Enel with a EUR 440 million loan in order to finance the company's plans to expand its renewable energy operations in Italy. Since the loan is secured by Enel SpA, it has below market interest rate, and a 20-year term.
Van Oord announced the completion of the Belwind offshore wind farm, located near the Belgian coast in the North Sea. The company has successfully installed the last of the total of 55 Vestas V90 wind turbines making up Phase I of the project, after 15 months of construction work. The company erected the first turbine at Belwind in April this year. The first phase now has 165 MW of installed capacity, enough to supply some 175,000 average households with clean electricity. The foundations for the 55 turbines and one more for the substation, were built at water depths ranging from 15 to 32 meters.
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One of the major issues that slows down renewable energy development anywhere, is investor certainty – how much support for a particular project, how long, and so on. Every major renewable energy project requires years for development, and quite a large amount of investment into the process, in order to see it through to the very end. In a climate of investment uncertainty, investors will not invest large amounts of money in projects which represent a commitment of several years, only to be let down much later, and suffer losses. The UK has decided to do something about this issue, and introduced a faster project review process for renewable energy development, providing greater investor certainty for projects under the Renewables Obligation from 2013.
Enel Green Power announced the start of commercial operation at the 34 MW Agighol wind farm in the Valea Nucarilor municipality, Romania. The wind farm features 17 2 MW turbines, and can generate enough clean electricity to power about 35,000 average households in the area.
Mitsubishi Power Systems (MPS) is investing GBP 100 million for the establishment of the Center for Advanced Technology in Edinburgh, Scotland. The project is an engineering facility which will be involved in "game-changing" research and development activities involving offshore wind turbines. Additionally, Mitsubishi Power Systems is going to acquire Artemis Intelligent Power (AIP), an Edinburgh based technology company.
