Archive for the ‘Hydro’ Category

UK wave and tidal industry get a boost from the SEA

March 5th, 2010 | Posted in Hydro | No Comments

From the SEA report - map showing wave energy potential around the UK.

Tidal and wave energy in England and Wales are have received a push forward as the first full wave and tidal assessment document was released – the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) report.

According to the Department of Energy and Climate Change, the report will additionally clear the way for carbon dioxide storage, as well as offshore wind and oil and gas activities in the country, at the same time ensuring environmental concerns have been answered with progress of UK offshore development.

DECC hopes the new document will help identify opportunities for new development with respect to the environment. Having included wave and tidal energy in the assessment for the first time, the government is supporting commercial deployment of these technologies. The SEA document, together with another forthcoming document – the Marine Action Plan – are hoped to be able to generate the kind of safe investment environment that will attract investors to put their money into UK renewable energy projects.

England and Wales will be getting the most benefit from SEA. Both regions are welcoming new wave and tidal developments, both for the many megawatts of clean electricity that will come with them, but also for the fact that these projects will bring many jobs.

Wave and tidal energy have already begun their course in the UK, with the establishment of research and development centers, such as the one in Orkney, Scotland. The SEA document, and the upcoming Marine Action Plan, will add significant momentum for the development of marine energy in the UK.

You can read the entire SEA report here.

[source: DECC]


Ocean Power Technologies receives cash grant for marine energy project in Spain

March 4th, 2010 | Posted in Hydro | Comments (1)

OPT's PowerBuoy deployed on open sea.

Ocean Power Technologies (OPT) has received a EUR 2.2 million cash grant from the European Commission's Seventh Framework Program (FP7). The amount is part of a larger EUR 4.5 million award for a consortium of companies, including OPT, working on the implementation of a PowerBuoy wave energy device, under a project called WavePort. The project is to installed in Spain, at the Santoña site, where OPT has been working on the project contracted by Iberdrola.

OPT's job is to provide the design, supply and deployment of the PowerBuoy and Underwater Substation Pod. The remaining funding will go to the other companies involved in the project for steel fabrication, wave monitoring equipment, wind resource research, system monitoring and project management. The companies involved are the Wave Energy Center (Portugal), Fugro Oceanor (Norway), DeGima (Spain), University of Exeter (UK) and ISRI (UK).

The PowerBuoy uses proprietary wave energy conversion, allowing for wave-by-wave tuning of the device's performance to achieve optimal electrical output. The work on the project is expected to be happening over the course of the next two months. OPT will be seeking additional funding necessary for the completion of the WavePort project.

[source: OPT]

Siemens joins the marine energy development club

February 26th, 2010 | Posted in Hydro | No Comments

Siemens has purchased a stake in Marine Current Turbines, a marine energy developer based in Bristol, UK. Siemens has acquired just under 10% of ownership in the company, and has thus entered into a new energy development field, so far not visited by the company.

With this acquisition Siemens is hoping to enter and participate in what it regards as a "new market with good future prospects". Marine Current Turbines is an early stage company, with plenty of research and development ahead, so Siemens is this way securing access to an innovative promising technology.

The ocean power (marine energy) market is regarded as one of the future renewable energy markets which show the greatest growth potential in the industry. It is estimated that marine energy will experience double-digit growth by 2020. The UK has certainly made sure to promote and develop marine energy as one of the future sources of energy, by establishing a marine energy research center in Orkney (Scotland), and attracting investors and developer companies with incentives.This

Marine Current Turbines is not just sitting and waiting. The company has already had a successfull deployment of the SeaGen prototype in a demonstrator project in Strangford Lough in Northern Ireland. Two axial turbines have been generating power since November 2008, outputting as much as 1.2 MW of power. At the moment, this is the most powerful working ocean current turbine in the world.

Future development include spreading the SeaGen concept around the world at various faborable locations in the UK, Ireland, Canada, France, and East Asia, where marine current conditions allow for an economically viable implementation. Siemens will use its international reputation and network to help push the new technology around the world.

[source: Siemens, image: Marine Current Turbines]

Iberdrola planning to invest EUR 9 billion into renewables from 2010-2012

February 25th, 2010 | Posted in General Hydro Wind | Comments (3)

Iberdrola has announced a strategic investment plan involving some EUR 18 billion in total to be invested over the period of two years, from 2010 to 2012. Of the total amount, EUR 9 billion is planned for renewable energy, while the the other half of the investment funding is to be used for networks (EUR 6.3 billion) and generation and supply (EUR 2.7 billion).

Broken down according to markets, the US market will receive about EUR 7 billion (39%), the UK market about EUR 4.5 billion (25%), Spain EUR 4.3 billion (24%), while Latin America and other markets will get about EUR 2.2 billion (12%).

Along with investment plans, the company plans to diversify further internationally. Iberdrola sees the investment plan as means to face the future with optimism, while at the same time offering a "valid option for driving economic growth and recovery".

The company's current strategic areas of focus are strengthening its position in the Atlantic Area (US, UK, Brazil), creating foundations for future growth in these areas. For example, Iberdrola has been awarded a development zone as part of Round 3 offshore development in the UK, one of the biggest ones, which will bring about 7.2 GW of new capacity to the company's portfolio. In the US, the company is taking advantage of the formidable development climate created by the US government, with more than 23.5 GW of capacity lined up for development. Along with wind energy projects, Iberdrola is also involved in major hydropower development around the world. In Spain alone, about 1 GW of hydropower capacity will come online by 2012, and in Brazil the company is also developing 1 GW of hydropower capacity through a dozen power station projects.

[source: Iberdrola]

Toshiba bags more than 1 GW of hydropower contracts in Colombia

February 24th, 2010 | Posted in Hydro | No Comments

Toshiba Internationa Corporation (ITC) has signed contracts for three 324 MW (MVA) hydropower generators to be delivered to Isagen, a Colombian power generation company. TOshiba is to work on the new contracts in partnership with Mitsui Plant Systems.

All three generators are to be installed at the Sogamoso hydrpower plant in the state of Santander, in Colombia. This will not be Toshiba's first generator supply contract in Colombia. The company has already supplied 35 generators to the country in the past, so there is no lack of experience and track record. Delivery of the generators is expected by January 2012, with the hydropower plant to be commissioned by the end of 2013.

Colombia has big energy development plans, which involve an increase in power generation capacity by about 3000 MW over the next decade, with more than 2400 MW expected to come from the country's abundant hydrpower resources.

[source: Toshiba Internation Corporation]

AWS Ocean Energy receives investment – will take forward its wave power technology

February 17th, 2010 | Posted in Hydro | No Comments

Scottish wave energy developer AWS Ocean Energy has received EUR 2 million in investment from Scottish Enterprise's Scottish Co-investment Fund and Shell Technology Ventures Fund 1 (STVF1), affiliated with Royal Dutch Shell. This is the second investment from STVF1, while it's the first from Scottish Enterprise.

The new investment will allow AWS Ocean Energy to continue with the development of their wave power technology and deploy it. Furthermore, the company is also developing contextual systems, such as mooring systems, which can be used across a wide range of applications in the wave and tidal energy industry sectors.

Archimedes Wave Swing (AWS) prototype being tested at sea a few years ago.

The company's AWS-III system is built on extensive research and testing data. The new and improved system will be able to generate from 2.4 to 4 MW of electricity.

AWS Ocean Energy hopes to be able to develop the technology to its maximum potential, and contribute to the country's renewable energy target set for 2020. Ocean energy shows great potential, and it is expected it will play a significant part in the global renewable energy mix.

[source: AWS Ocean Energy, image: AWS Ocean Energy]

Voith to install pilot tidal turbine in South Korea

February 16th, 2010 | Posted in Hydro | No Comments

A new tidal power plant is being planned in South Korea. The "Seaturtle Tidal Park" will be the largest such implementation of tidal power technology in the country.

The first turbine for the new tidal park has been developed by Voith in Germany, and now in cooperation with Korean partner Renetec, the new turbine will be installed in Korea for testing. The unit is capable of generating 110 kW of power (sounds small, but remember it's going to be an array of tidal turbines). The trial phase is going to be running until the end of 2010, when construction of the tidal power plant will officially begin. Once completed, the power plant will output 150 MW of clean electricity, which is enough for supplying about 100,000 average households.

It is estimated that the energy potential that could be harnessed from the seas worldwide is about 1100 GW. Some optmistic estimates say that about 15% of the world's energy consumption can be satisfied through marine energy.

[source: Voith, image: Voith]

Cavico signs additional contract for hydropower project in Vietnam

February 15th, 2010 | Posted in Hydro | No Comments

Cavico, the Vietnamese infrastructure development company, has signed an additional contract for the Hua Na Hydropower plant with Lilama, a state owned company operated and owned by the Vietnamese Ministry of Construction.

The company is expecting to receive about USD 12 million in revenue for this contract. Under ther terms, Cavico is to construct the sub headrace tunnel No. 2, a water diversion tunnel and a surge sharp tank, all key components in this hydropower project (and other projects involving a dam). The power plant is going to be a twin-turbine facility and is expected to generate as much as 180 MW of clean electricity. The power plant will contribute to the growing energy market in Vietnam, supplying more electricity to the country's grid.

Hua Na Hydropower plant is expected to become operational in about five years.

[source: Cavico]

China Hydroelectric Corporation received USD 440 million loan to acquire small hydroelectric projects

February 15th, 2010 | Posted in Hydro | No Comments

The Bank of China has approved a USD 440 million loan to the China Hydroelectric Corporation (CHC). The company is planning to acquire small hydroelectric projects.

Given the fact that some Chinese sectors lack debt financing, and the recently announced limitaton of access to debt financing, CHC has everything to cheer about.

Even though there was no mention of further plans for CHC involving small hydro, we can guess the acquisition plans will result in existing small hydropower potential refurbishment and the development of new locations. Small hydro is an ideal source of energy supply in remote areas, where there is significant hydroenergy potential (small river, etc), because it gives a fairly steady supply to the local communities, many of which are still not connecte to the national power grid.

[source: press release]

Fortum and Seabased Industry getting investment grant from Swedish Energy Agency for wave power project

February 15th, 2010 | Posted in Hydro | No Comments

Fortum and Seabased Industry's request for an investment grant has been approved by the Swedish Energy Agency. The grant is for a planned full-scale wave power project to be developed near Smögen, in Sweden. The investment amount is about EUR 14 million, with the total investment in the project at about EUR 25 million.

Fortum Power has already applied for permits from the Swedish Environmental Court to build electrical grid connections. Additionally, the company has started planning for concession applications.

[source: Fortum]

 Page 1 of 14  1  2  3  4  5 » ...  Last »