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Wind Turbines

With offshore wind power set for major expansion in the UK and elsewhere, the choice of foundations will be crucial. What options are on the menu?

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Organised by the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA), EWEC 2010 – Europe’s largest combined wind energy conference and exhibition – brings together business leaders, policy makers and stakeholders from all over Europe to debate key developments in the wind industry.

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Executive Summary

• Worldwide capacity reached 159’213 MW, out of which 38′312 MW were added in 2009.
• Wind power showed a growth rate of 31,7 %, the highest rate since 2001.
• The trend continued that wind capacity doubles every three years.
• All wind turbines installed by the end of 2009 worldwide are generating 340 TWh per annum, equivalent to the total electricity demand of Italy, the seventh largest economy of the world, and equalling 2 % of global electricity consumption.
• The wind sector in 2009 had a turnover of 50 billion €.
• The wind sector employed 550’000 persons worldwide. In the year 2012, the wind industry is expected for the first time to offer 1 million jobs.
• China continued its role as the locomotive of the international wind industry and added 13’800 MW within one year – as the biggest market for new turbines –, more than doubling the installations for the fourth year in a row.
• The USA maintained its number one position in terms of total installed capacity and China became number two in total capacity, only slightly ahead of Germany, both of them with around 26’000 Megawatt of wind capacity installed.
• Asia accounted for the largest share of new installations (40,4 %), followed by North America (28,4 %) and Europe fell back to the third place (27,3 %).
• Latin America showed encouraging growth and more than doubled its installations, mainly due to Brazil and Mexico.
• A total wind capacity of 200’000 Megawatt will be exceeded within the year 2010.
• Based on accelerated development and further improved policies, WWEA increases its predictions and sees a global capacity of 1’900’000 Megawatt as possible by the year 2020.

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Wind energy, electricity consumers, job seekers and the environment all received good news last week with two announcements from the new European Commission designed to promote greater grid development and use of renewable energy sources over the next decade.

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ACCIONA Energy has been selected for the construction and operation of three wind parks in Oaxaca state (Mexico). The 450 million euro (more than US$600) deal is for three parks totaling 306 MW. Construction work will get under way in 2010 and the parks – which will feature ACCIONA technology 1.5 MW wind turbines – are expected to come into operation in 2011. The deal accounts for 12.7% of the wind power implementation objective to 2013 envisaged in ACCIONA’s Strategic Plan.

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REpower Systems AG has received the first unit certificate from Germanischer Lloyd for new turbines in its turbine portfolio. The certificate is the first ever that has been issued for a wind turbine (generation unit) with a double-fed generator system. It confirms once again that the technical system implemented by the company meets the high requirements of the grid system in Germany.

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WinWinD, a Finnish manufacturer of wind turbines, has made an agreement with SKF, one of the world’s leading bearing manufacturers, concerning main bearings to be supplied for WinWinD’s three-megawatt wind turbines.

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Leading wind energy industry executives called on Congress today to pass a strong national Renewable Electricity Standard (RES) as the best way to save and create U.S. jobs.

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Vestas has received an order for the Maida project in Italy consisting of 17 units of the V90-2.0 MW wind turbine to be installed in the Calabria region.

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Nordex SE will be unveiling the third generation of its 2.5 MW turbine series – the Gamma generation – at the European Wind Energy Conference EWEC in Warsaw on April 20 – 23, 2010. Comprising the N80, N90 and N100 wind power systems, this efficiency class combines the latest research and development with technical know-how and experience from a decade of producing and operating multi-megawatt turbines to meet today’s market requirements.

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The U.S. Department of Energy announced today it’s committing $117 million in stimulus money to finance the construction of a 12-tower wind farm in Kahuku.

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In May 2009 the Annual General Meeting approved the conversion of Nordex Aktiengesellschaft into a public limited company in European law. Since 4 March 2010 Nordex AG has been registered as Nordex SE (“Societas Europaea”) with the registry court of Rostock.

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As turbines emerge from their warranty phase, wind farm operators face the stark reality that operation and maintenance costs will embark on a steep, upward trajectory, before leveling off over the next five years. What strategies can be deployed to mitigate these costs?

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LM Glasfiber has signed a strategic cooperation agreement with a new customer, Envision, a leading Chinese wind turbine manufacturer. The agreement comprises a firm blade supply contract of minimum 2,000 MW for Envision’s wind turbines, starting with their 1.5 MW turbine. As a result of the agreement, LM Glasfiber will establish its fourth manufacturing facility in China, in Jiangyin, close to Shanghai. Production in the new factory is on track to begin in Q2 this year.

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“The wind energy industry can no longer afford uneven component quality, long lead times for component replacements, and the high costs attached to catastrophic wind turbine failures” states a recent report by Wind Energy Update, an independent business intelligence company.

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Suzlon Energy Limited (SEL), the world’s third leading* and India’s largest wind turbine manufacturer, has won a major order from Gujarat State Petronet Ltd. (GSPL) to set up, operate and maintain its 52.5 MW wind energy project in the Rajkot and Porbandar districts of Gujarat. The project will be supplied in 35 units of Suzlon’s model S82 – 1.5 MW wind turbine generators, and is scheduled to be completed and commissioned by July, 2010. The power generated from this project will be purchased by Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Limited under a long term PPA with GSPL.

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The Canadian Wind Energy Association (CanWEA) today expressed its serious disappointment with the federal government’s failure to expand and extend its very successful ecoENERGY for Renewable Power Program in the 2010 federal budget. Despite its expressed desire to harmonize climate change and clean energy policies with the United States, the federal government is now clearly moving in the opposite direction with respect to efforts to attract wind energy investment and jobs.

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The American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) today issued the following statement from AWEA CEO Denise Bode:

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The European Commission’s ‘Europe 2020 strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth’ published today contains grid and market commitments that will boost the growth of wind energy in Europe says the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA).

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WinWinD, a Finnish manufacturer of wind power plants, has made an agreement with Brevini, one of the world’s leading gear box manufacturers, concerning main gear units to be supplied for WinWinD’s three-megawatt wind power plants.

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Amidst generally weak market conditions, the Nordex Group again achieved an increase in sales in 2009 according to preliminary calculations, closing the year with a substantial net consolidated profit. Consolidated sales climbed to EUR 1,183 million (previous year: EUR 1,136 million). As expected, however, earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) declined to EUR 40 million (previous year: EUR 63 million) due to higher structural costs. Accordingly, the personnel expense ratio widened from 6.9 percent to 9.2 percent. In the fourth quarter of 2009, Nordex achieved a EBIT margin of 5.3 percent for capacity utilization reasons on sales of EUR 369 million. Consolidated net profit for fiscal year 2009 came to EUR 24.2 million (previous year: EUR 49.5 million).

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Gamesa’s G10X 4.5 MW wind turbine took the prize in the sustainable development product category at the 7th European Business Awards for the Environment 2009-2010 in Spain.

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Danish company Vestas Wind Systems, the world’s leading supplier of wind power solutions, today announces the opening of the Vestas Information Technology (IT) hub in the Philippines, one of its four IT centres across the globe including Denmark, Singapore and the USA.

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The European Commission’s ‘Europe 2020 strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth’ published today contains grid and market commitments that will boost the growth of wind energy in Europe says the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA).

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The Spanish firm which owns ScottishPower has chosen Glasgow as its global base for building offshore wind farms.

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Wind Turbine Manufacturer:

Sway

As fossil fuels continue to diminish and climate change poses an ever-increasing threat, scientists around the world are searching for new and more efficient methods of generating energy. Wind energy is one of the more promising alternative energy sources and Norwegian scientists are currently in the development stages of what promises to be the world’s largest wind turbine. As if creating the biggest wind turbine in the world was not enough, it also floats. Current plans for the world’s largest wind turbine have the machine standing 533 feet tall.

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Lake Turkana Wind Power Ltd — the largest wind power project in Africa and Kenya’s most ambitious green energy venture yet — has just achieved a major breakthrough with the Spanish government stepping in with a $150 million (€110 million) offer to finance construction of the transmission line.

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The secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior on Monday asked a key historical preservation panel to weigh in on a proposed Cape Cod project that would be the nation’s first offshore wind farm.

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