BP, Sempra build 21-MW wind farm in Hawaii

British Petroleum’s BP Wind Energy and Sempra US Gas & Power will be building a 21 megawatt wind farm in Hawaii. Construction has begun on the Auwahi wind farm, which will have the capacity to power up to 10,000 households.  Full mobilization is expected to begin by the end of the second quarter of 2012 with commercial operation slated to begin by end of 2012.

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Gamesa halting installation of offshore wind prototype in the U.S.

Spanish wind turbine manufacturer Gamesa said it has suspended plans for the installation of a new offshore wind turbine prototype off the mid-Atlantic coast of the United States due to regulatory uncertainties in the U.S. offshore wind market. Gamesa and Newport News Shipbuilding announced a collaboration to develop a new offshore wind turbine, the G11X-5.0 MW, in September 2010. However, in a statement released by Gamesa, the company said an analysis of current conditions indicates that a viable commercial market in the U.S. is still farther out, or as much as three or four years away, at the earliest.

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Vestas supplying 30 turbines for Ukrainian wind farm

Vestas will be shipping out 30 of its 3-megawatt turbines to a wind farm in Ukraine for customer DTEK Group, the country’s largest private energy company. The Botievo project in the coastal area of the Zaporozhye region in northern Ukraine, near the village Botievo, will have the size of 195 MW when completed in the fourth quarter.

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Vestas installs 50 gigawatts' worth of turbines

Vestas has reached an installed global capacity of 50 gigawatts worth of turbines, providing close to a fifth of total global wind capacity. According to a company statement, the milestone was passed in the first quarter of 2012 with the completion of the 20 megawatt Knared project in Laholm Municipality in Southern Sweden which uses 10 units of Vestas’ V90-2.0 MW turbines.

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Global wind capacity to reach 500 GW in 2016

The global wind power industry will be installing more than 46 GW of new wind energy capacity in 2012 and total capacity will be just under 500 GW in 2016, according to a five-year industry forecast by the Global Wind Energy Council.In the group’s latest report, they project average annual market growth rates of about 8% for the next five years, but with a strong 2012 and a substantial dip in 2013. Total installations for the 2012-2016 period are expected to reach 255 GW, with cumulative market growth averaging just under 16%.

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G.E.’s 1.6-100 turbine makes it to 50-MW Turkish wind farm

The first European installation of G.E.’s 1.6-100 wind turbines will be in Turkey for a project of energy developer Fina Enerji. G.E. will supply 31 of its turbines, which the company says has the highest efficiency of any wind turbine in its class, for the Tayakadin wind project in Istanbul. The project is a 50-megawatt facility which will generate enough electricity to meet the needs of more than 14,000 Turkish households.

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Wind power creating jobs, driving economy – AWEA annual report

According to the American Wind Energy Association, wind power is currently one of the biggest sources of homegrown manufacturing jobs and driver of economic development in the United States. “American wind energy is creating American jobs and affordable electricity all across the country,” said AWEA chief executive Denise Bode as the wind industry group releases the findings of their annual market report for 2011.

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Cape Wind selects contractor for offshore wind farm

In line with plans to begin construction on America’s first offshore wind farm by 2013, Cape Wind announced that they have selected the joint venture between Flatiron Construction Corp., Cal Dive International, Inc. and Cashman Equipment as their contractor. The 468-megawatt Cape Wind project in Nantucket Sound off Cape Cod in Massachusetts is the first offshore wind farm to secure federal and state approval and to be issued a lease to operate by the federal government.

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New England to see $7.2 billion in energy savings from Cape Wind

The 468-megawatt planned Cape Wind facility will reduce electricity prices in New England by $7.2 billion over 25 years. A report prepared by global consulting firm Charles River Associates found that the Cape Wind project has the potential to displace higher-priced fossil fueled power generation, resulting in average savings of $286 million annually when the wind site becomes operational.

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Executive agencies, states form wind consortium for Great Lakes

The Obama administration, through several executive departments, and the federal governments of the Great Lakes states – Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, New York and Pennsylvania – are fast tracking the review process for offshore wind developments in the region.

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