Old turbines at the Vemork hydropower plant.
Hydro is going to invest NOK 850 million (~ EUR 102) into upgrading one of the oldest hydropower systems in Norway – the Rjukan hydropower system in Telemark, southeast Norway.
The Rjukan hydropower system is made up of five power plants – Frøystul, Vemork, Såheim, Moflåt and Mæl, which combined produce about 3 TWh of electrical energy annually. This represents about 30% of Hydro's total annual energy production from hydro energy sources.
enXco, part of EDF Energies Nouvelles, announced the final completion of the Linden wind project, in Washington, USA. Linden wind farm has 50 MW of installed capacity, and has been developed by enXco and Southern California Public Power Authority (SCPPA).
Abener and Teyma, both owned by the Abengoa Group, have started work on the Hassi R'Mel hybrid solar power plant in central Algeria. The plant is located near Hassi R'Mel, the largest natural gas reserve in Africa. The power plant will eventually produce 150 MW of power, with 25% of that coming from solar power generation.
GE and Newcom (privately held, Mongolia) have announced the two companies will jointly explore business opportunities in Mongolia, regarded to be one of the fastest growing markets in Asia, and also recognized as a region having very rich resources.
Gamesa has been awarded an O&M contract for 21 wind farms located in France and Germany from Iberdrola Renovables. The total capacity of all these projects combined is 163 MW. Eighteen of the projects are located in France, while the remaining three are in Germany.
PNE Wind announced the completion of the Elze wind farm, located in Lower Saxony, Germany. The wind farm features four Enercon E53 3.2 MW wind turbines, and has 12.8 MW of installed capacity.
Elze wind farm is just on of seven in total, which the company is to construct for EnBW, Four of these wind farms have been completed, and another one also with 12 MW of capacity is under construction.
[source: PNE Wind]
wpd Group (Germany) has purchased 100% ownership of the Butendiek offshore wind farm from SSE Renewables Germany. The wind farm has not been built yet, but once completed it will feature 80 wind turbines, erected in water depths between 18 and 20 meters, and will have about 300 MW of installed capacity. Siemens was announced as the supplier of the wind turbines back in May 2009. The project's investments originally came from 8400 investors from the region through the Citizens Wind Farm, back in 2001. In 2007, SSE Renewables Germany bought the rights for the wind farm. The wind farm will be located about 34 km west of the Island of Sylt in the German North Sea.
Suzlon announced a milestone in the company's wind energy operations in India, having surpassed 5 GW of installed capacity in that country. The company has so far worked with more than 1500 customers, and installed wind turbines at 40 sites in eight states.
With eight manufacturing facilities in India, employing about 9000 workers, the company remains the market leader in the Indian wind energy market. India is one of the fastest growing wind energy markets in the world (alongside China and the US), and holds a lot of potential for future development.
[source: Suzlon]
Thanet wind farm during construction.
Vattenfall officially opened its Thaned offshore wind farm for business yesterday. Thanet offshore wind farm features 100 Vestas 3 MW wind turbines, and has 300 MW of installed capacity. The last turbine at Thanet was installed at the beginning of July this year, and was followed by a period of testing. The wind farm is capable of generating electricity for supplying about 200,000 average UK homes at peak generation periods.
Green Star announced the company has entered into a contract to build a biodiesel facility on the US west coast. At the heart of the new facility will be Green Star's proprietery technology for producing biodiesel from processed algae oil. The company uses a technology process to boost algae production. This facility contract is one of many the company plans in the future, as it pushes its strategy for expanding its Algae-to-Biodiesel project on the west coast. Initially, the company was supposed to auction national rights for its algea growth technology, but gave up on that idea, to pursue a new strategy, which includes building the largest closed vertical algae bioreactor in the world. The bioreactor is to have an initial 10 million liters of continuous culture. The company's algae growth technology which increases algae growth by more than 200% with a six day growth cycle.
