Nordex received a repeat order from EverPower for an additional 75 MW of wind turbines, the N100/2.5 MW units, which are to be manufactured in Nordex' facilities in Jonesboro, Arkansas (US). Along with the turbines, Nordex is to provide S&M servies for five years, and perform the installation and commissioning of the ordered units.
Sempra Generation announced the completion of what the company touts to be the largest PV solar facility in the US, the Copper Mountain solar park, near Boulder, Nevada. The solar park has 48 MW of installed capacity. Sempra Energy got the approval for the Copper Mountain project from California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) back in December 2009.
EDP Renovaveis announced the company's subsidiary in the US, Horizon Wind, has sold 83 MW of power generated at the company's Prairie wind farm, in Iowa, under a 20-year PPA with the Tennessee Valley Authority.
With this PPA, the wind farm's 300 MW of installed power (Prairie I and II) generated capacity have now been fully committed under long-term PPAs.
[source: EDP Renovaveis]
NRG Energy and SunPower Corporation have entered into a contract under which the two companies will start construction of the California Valley Solar Ranch which is to have 250 MW of installed solar power capacity. SunPower completed contractual agreements with PG&E for the total of 250 MW of solar power on this project in May this year. The project was originally to have 210 MW, but was extended with another 40 MW of capacity.
Siemens announced the second order for its direct drive SWT-3.0-101 wind turbine. The ordered units are to be installed at Minnesota Power's Bison 1 wind farm, in North Dakota. The original order involved 33 2.3 MW geared units also from Siemens, but the developer decided to use the new direct drive turbines instead, along with 16 SWT 2.3-101 units.
Bison 1 wind farm is to have a total of 82 MW of installed capacity, spread out into two phases, Bison 1A (using the 2.3 MW units) and Bison 1B (using the 3 MW direct drive units). Bison 1A units are being installed at the wind farm site, while the Bison 1B units will delivered in August 2011.
[source: Siemens]
Duke Energy announced the company has completed the Kit Carson Windpower Project in Colorado, US. The wind farm, with 51 MW of installed capacity, is now connected to the grid, and exporting clean power. All power generated by the 34 GW 1.5 MW units is being sold to the Tri-State Generation and Transmission's member electric cooperatives under a 20-year PPA.
A wind turbine has been erected and officially inaugurated two days ago in Cancun, Mexico, by the Mexican President Felipe Calderón. The unit, generating 1.5 MW of clean power for the city's residents, has been erected on the initiative of the Mexican Government. Cancun is hosting the UN Climate Change Conference (COP16), gathering world leaders to discuss a global climate deal that would result in more carbon emission reductions.
The US Department of Interior launched Smart from the Start initiative, as announced by the Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, in order accelerate offshore wind energy development off the Atlantic coast of the United States. According to Secretary Salazar:
The Cape Wind lease is an historic milestone in America’s renewable energy future, but to fully harness the economic and energy benefits of our nation’s vast Atlantic wind potential we need to implement a smart permitting process that is efficient, thorough, and unburdened by needless red tape…
The Dokie wind farm, a jointly owned project by Plutonic Power and GE Energy Financial Services in British Columbia, Canada, has started exporting power. The wind farm is to be developed in two phases, the first having 144 MW, while the second will eventually take the wind farm's installed capacity to 300 MW. Plutonic and GE announced their intention to purchase the Dokie project back in June 2009, and then resumed construction activities in December 2009.
The Cape Wind project, which is to result in 420 MW of installed capacity and 130 wind turbines on Horseshoe Shoal in Nantucket Sound, has reached an important milestone by having secured a power purchase agreement with the National Grid. The PPA was initially announced in May this year. National Grid is to purchase half the generated power from the future offshore wind farm, for the sum of USD 442 million, over the first 15 years of the project's operation.
