Iberdrola completes geotech study for 400 MW Baltic Sea wind project

Iberdrola has completed the necessary geotechnical studies to obtain project certification and planning consent for its Wikinger offshore wind farm in Germany. Wikinger is a proposed 400-megawatt wind farm in the Baltic Sea, some 35 kilometers off the coast of the German island of Rügen. Iberdrola is planning to start construction by late 2014 and have the farm on-line by early 2017. To achieve this, it needs to...

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Offshore wind to skyrocket to $170 billion by 2020

The offshore wind market is posed for sweeping growth in the coming years, with global investment forecasted to reach 130 billion euro ($170.75 billion) between now and 2020, according to Roland Berger Consultancy. Europe is at the forefront of this growth, with its countries having set themselves ambitious targets to ensure the continent’s electricity needs are to be provided by renewable energy sources by 2020...

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Japan to build the world’s largest offshore wind farm

Japan is decided to turn its back from nuclear power, unveiling its plan to build the world’s largest offshore wind farm right on the site of Daiichi nuclear power plant devastated by earthquake and tsunami in March 2011. By 2020, the 143 wind turbines will be set up on platforms 10 miles off the coast of Fukushima Prefecture, according to a NewsScientist.com report. With a capacity to generate 1 gigawatt of power, the offshore wind facility...

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Offshore wind projects in the U.S. get $4 million

The Department of Energy announced funding for several offshore wind projects in the United States, including the first freshwater offshore wind project, the Icebreaker, in Lake Erie. The projects will receive up to $4 million to complete their engineering, design and permitting phase. The recipients of the funding are the Baryonyx Corporation for an installation in state waters near Port Isabel, Texas;...

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Cape Wind, Nstar get approval of P.P.A. for 129 MW of wind power

The Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities has approved a 15-year power purchase agreement between utility Nstar and the Cape Wind offshore wind project. Aiming to build America’s first offshore wind farm, Cape Wind Associates L.L.C., has been working to secure both federal and community approval for the proposed 420 megawatt wind farm. (See related story.) The approval of the P.P.A. with Nstar would...

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Norwegian company shows off 10-MW offshore wind turbine

A Norwegian technology company has built a wind turbine better suited for offshore wind applications compared with current designs. Technology company Sway Turbine’s “ST10,” a 10-megawatt turbine, features a low-weight design. The turbine was formally presented at the 3rd International Conference on Drivetrain Concepts for Wind Turbines in Bremen, Germany. ...

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Cape Wind not a flight hazard – F.A.A.

The planned 420-megawatt Cape Wind offshore wind project off the coast of Nantucket Sound in Massachusetts won’t make the area dangerous for aircraft. The Federal Aviation Agency has issued its fourth “Determination of No Hazard” for the Cape Wind Project. The agency has been reviewing the project since 2002. The $2.5 billion Cape Wind project is expected to produce an average of 170 MW of electricity a year,

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Sandia Labs says vertical axis wind turbines have offshore potential

Vertical axis wind turbines could be better suited for offshore wind projects because they offer a more economical method of harnessing the power of offshore breeze. However, a lot of updating must be made on current VAWT designs – like incorporating some techniques from Horizontal axis wind turbines. Under a Department of Energy research program which is looking into new rotor technologies...

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Martha’s Vineyard fishermen drop case against Cape Wind

Local fishermen operating in the waters off Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts have dropped their case against the Cape Wind offshore wind project. The Martha’s Vineyard/Dukes Country Fishermen’s Association filed a case against the U.S. Department of Interior in 2010 after it approved the 420-megawatt wind project and granted it a federal lease in Nantucket Sound.

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Floating wind turbine officially inaugurated in Portugal

Portugal's first offshore wind turbine has been inaugurated this June 16, adding 2 megawatts to the country's grid. The project is a joint effort of Principle Power, Energias de Portugal, Repsol, A. Silva Matos, Vestas Wind Systems A/S and InovCapital, with a subsidy from the Innovation Support Fund. Some 60 other European suppliers, 40 of them Portuguese, supplied components to the project as well.

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