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Category: Europe

Hydropower plant in Switzerland resumes generation after ten years

July 12th, 2010 | Posted in Hydro

The Cleusone-Dixence hydropower plant in Switzerland has finally resumed power generation after almost ten years of inactivity. The power plant was formerly shut down due to the need for repairs on the main shaft which transported water from the upper level reservoirs. The crack was at a very difficult place, located inside the shaft structures within the mountain. The construction work that had to be performed to repair the damaged shaft soon turned out to be a major repair project, which demanded a large-scale overhaul of the shaft system. The system is about 17 km long, and the initial crack occured at about the 16th km, very near the end where the shaft enters the hydropower station.

SeaEnergy Renewables and Nantong COSCO enter strategic agreement for offshore wind support systems

July 12th, 2010 | Posted in Wind

Scottish renewable energy company SeaEnergy Renewables, has entered into a strategic agreement with Nantong COSCO Ship Steel Structure (China), for developing products for the offshore wind energy market. The products would include wind turbine jacket substructures, towers and access systems. This is the first time a Scottish company has entered into an official collaboration agreement with a Chinese company. Nantong COSCO is a China's largest, and world's leading global shipping, modern logistics and ship building and repairing company.

The two companies will be working on forming a business plan and commercial framework over the next few months. Nantong COSCO sees this deal as a great and important opportunity for the company to enter the Europen market.

[source: SeaEnergy Renewables]

Siemens Energy scores first PV order from the Czech Republic

July 9th, 2010 | Posted in Solar

Siemens Energy has received its first order from the Czech Republic for the turnkey construction of a large ground-based PV plant. The customer is Prague-based construction company D.P.E.S. s.r.o. The plant, with a rating of 4 MWp, will be erected in Dobré Pole, around 50 km south of Brno, the second-largest city in the Czech Republic. After completion, scheduled for end of 2010, it will provide nearly 1,000 households in the Czech Republic with environmentally friendly power.

Siemens is responsible for the turnkey construction, engineering and project management of the plant. The scope of supply includes the full balance of plant range with Siemens components, such as inverters, transformers, medium-voltage equipment as well as the control system.

[source: Siemens]

Vestas to delivery 23 MW of wind turbines for wind farm in Italy

July 9th, 2010 | Posted in Wind

Vestas has received an order for 13 V90-1.8 MW units, with an additional single optional unit, for the Volturino wind farm in the Apulia region of Italy. Under the contract, Vestas is to delivery, install and commission the turbines, as well as honor a five-year service agreement. The units are to be delivered in the first half of 2011, while completion of the wind farm is expected by the end of 2011.

The order has been placed by Volturino Wind and CO-VER Industrial. Volturino Wind is a project company owned by BKW Italia, owned by Swiss BKW FMB Energy, which operates about 2000 MW of various power generation capacities involving nuclear, wind, biogas and hydropower. CO-VER Industrial is a merger of different companies operating under CO-VER Group, involved in the industrial and service sectors.

Once completed, the Volturino wind farm will generated enough clean electricity to supply about 32,500 average Italian households.

[source: Vestas]

Phoenix Solar builds a 14.4 MW solar park in Brandenburg; Final solar park to have a peak power of 18 MW

July 8th, 2010 | Posted in Solar

Phoenix Solar has built a PV power plant with a peak power of 14.4 MWp for Hamburg-based LUXCARA Asset Management GmbH, to be ramped up to 18 MWp in a second construction phase. The first 14.4 MWp have been connected to the grid of the utility company envia on June 30, 2010. The power plant is located in Senftenberg in Brandenburg on the site of a former opencast mining area. The second construction phase is set to be carried out in the second half of 2010 and is thus not subject to the additional feed-in tariff cut.

Around 186,000 First Solar thin-film modules were used for the 14.4 MWp in the first construction phase. The planned extension to 18 MWp is to be carried out in Q3 2010. The total number of solar modules installed will then come to around 240,000 on a surface area of approximately 63 hectares.

[source: Phoenix Solar]

ABB wins $50 million 13 MW solar PV order in western Sicily, Italy

July 8th, 2010 | Posted in Solar

ABB has won an order worth $50 million from Actelios SpA, through its subsidiary Actelios Solar SpA, to supply three PV solar power plants in western Sicily, Italy. The order was booked in the second quarter, 2010.

The plants will have fixed PV modules and a total power capacity of over 13 MW. The main plant will be erected in Spinasanta with a capacity of 6 MW, and additional plants will be built at Cardonita (3.8 MW) and at Sugherotorto (3.3 MW). Once connected to the grid, they [plants] will supply around 19 GWh of renewable electric power each year, helping avoid the generation of more than 9,400 tons of CO2 annually, or about 3,900 fuel efficient cars.

The project is expected to be completed by the end of 2010. The short installation time will be facilitated by ABB's modular eBoP (electrical balance of plant) concept which involves pre-assembling individual components of the plant's electrical systems and testing them prior to delivery. ABB will supply transformers, medium- and low-voltage switchgear, protection devices and an advanced control system, with remote control and diagnostic capability, to optimize operations and ensure maximum efficiency.

[source: ABB]

Aquamarine Power secures GBP 3 million from Scottish government

July 8th, 2010 | Posted in Hydro

Aquamarine Power has received funding from the Scottish government through the WATERS fund (Wave and Tidal Energy: Research, Development and Demonstration Support), for further development of the company's Oyster wave energy device. WATERS is run and administered by Scottish Enterprise, but is actually a collaborative venture involving Scottish Enterprise, the Scottish government, and Highlands and Islands Enterprise.

Aquamarine Power will use the funding for further development of the 2.4 MW demonstration project, involving the installation of the Oyster II device at EMEC, in Orkney, Scotland. The project is to be activated in the summer of 2011. The installed device will have three flaps, each capable of generating 800 kW of power, having 26 meters in length and 16 meters in width. The new device represents a 250% increase in energy conversion compared to the first Oyster device, installed and operational at EMEC since 2009.

WATERS represents a GBP 15 million funding program and is designed to provide support for pre-commercial full-scale wave and tidal stream energy conversion devices in Scottish waters.

[source: Aquamarine Power]

Vestas completes turbine installations at Thanet offshore wind farm

July 7th, 2010 | Posted in Wind

Vestas has completed the installation of all the 100 wind turbines at the offshore Thanet wind farm. The company has installed the last of the units on June 24, completing the task five weeks earlier than originally planned. It has been 198 days actually since the beginning of installation operations at the wind farm, but excluding the bad weather days, and transit and loading time, the company effectively did the installation in 100 days.

Vestas to deliver 40 MW of wind turbines to UKA Group

July 7th, 2010 | Posted in Wind

Vestas has received an order for 20 V90-2.0 MW units from UKA Group for several wind energy projects in Eastern Germany. Vestas is to deliver the turbines, install and commission them, as well as honor a full service agreement. Delivery of the units is scheduled for the end of 2010.

UKA Group and Vestas have collaborated over the past ten years. The company has become a leader in wind energy development in the Eastern German wind energy market. So far, UKA has successfully developed about 165 MW of wind farms in this part of Germany.

The wind farm sites have medium to low wind speeds, so the ordered V90 units are a the perfect choice, having beed designed especially for these kind of power generation conditions.

[source: Vestas]

EPS and SECI Energia setting up JV for hydropower project in Serbia

July 6th, 2010 | Posted in Hydro

Ibar River scenery in the lower level of the flow.

Serbia's state power utility EPS has entered into an agreement with SECI Energia (Italy) for the development of 10 small hydropower projects on the Ibar River in Serbia, totalling in 103 MW of capacity. The project represents an investment of about EUR 285 million.

The newly formed joint venture, Ibarske Hidroelektrane, will be developing 10 hydropower stations along the flow of the Ibar River, located in the south of the country.

The projects included in this agreement represent about 20% of the total developments planned through collaboration between the two companies, according the Serbia's Energy Minister Petar Skundric.

Currently, Serbia has about 2.835 GW of hydropower capacity in operation, or about 32% of the total power generation capacity in the country. New power generation capacity has not been developed in this Balkan country in the past two decades, so there is a need for major investments into power generation capacity. The demand for electricity is rising, and there has been talk of a nuclear power facility as well, although such a project has been put on hold due to concerns expressed by the environmentalist lobby. Alternatives are renewable energies, such as biomass, hydro primarily, but also wind and solar, but also coal-fired power plants, for which there are new initiatives.

[source: EPS]