DONG Energy announced in the summer of 2010 the company is going to build the Anholt offshore wind farm off the coast of Denmark. Siemens was chosen as the supplier of the wind turbines for the project, and will deliver 111 of its 3.6 MW offshore units. The project has now officially entered construction, on January 13.
As reported by Xinhua, the Chinese news agency, China is planning to build a 300 MW offshore wind farm in near the norther coast of its Hebei province. This will be the largest offshore wind project to be built in China so far, with a total investment of about USD 913 million.
REpower has concluded a contract for the supply of a total of 73 wind turbines, MM92 units. The combined capacity of all the units is 150 MW, to be installed at a project in Oklahoma. The company was assisted by Suzlon Wind Energy as a sales agent.
Acciona has entered into a supply contract with NaturEner for the supply of 126 AW77-1500 wind turbines, totalling in 189 MW of capacity. The ordered turbines will be installed at the Rim Rock wind farm in Montana, USA. Apart from the delivery and installation of the turbines, Acciona will also commission the units, and provide service and maintenance for seven years.
Vestas announced a reorganization of the company's activities in order to reduce fixed costs by more than EUR 150 million, which is to reach full effect near the end of 2012. Most of the cost cutting measures include streamlining of support functions in the company, but also through closing of factories in accordance with the state of demand in the wind energy market in the coming months.
The bidding process for offshore wind development concessions in France has started as all the major consortiums announced the submission of their bids. A total of 3000 MW of development concession are to be awarded in this round. Several major offshore wind and energy companies have formed consortiums for this purpose, including companies such as GDF Suez, EDF Energies Nouvelles, Alstom, Areva, Iberdrola Renovables and DONG Energy.
MPX (Brazil) and E.ON have entered into an agreement to form an equally owned joint venture for energy development and supply and trade activities in Brazil and Chile. The new partnership will aim to develop 20 GW of new power generating capacity in the two South American countries. This figure represents about 20% of the total current capacity in Brazil. The new JV will be responsible for developing both thermal energy and renewable energy sources.
AWS Truepower has been chosen as one of the partners to be involved in the Carolinas Offshore Wind Integration Case Study (COWICS), funded by the US Department of Interior. The company's partners on this project are Duke Energy, ABB and the
National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), as well as the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill (UNC). The purpose of
the study is to assess the benefits and challenges associated with the development of offshore wind capacity near the coasts of North and South Carolina. The US DoI will regard the results of this study as critical for making policy and commercial descisions having to do with offshore wind development.
OCI Solar Power (based in South Korea) and CPS Energy have partnered for a possible 400 MW of solar power capacity in Texas. The future project could become one of the largest solar projects in the US. The project will be comprised of several solar power plants, which combined will be able to produce enough electrical energy annually to supply some 90,000 average homes.
Gamesa is pursuing its growth strategy further with the establishment of a new blade manufacturing operation in India, the
company's first in this Asian wind energy market. The new blade factory represents an investment of EUR 60 million, and is a direct consequence of the growing wind energy market in India.
