Offshore wind heads to US; potential for MENA and Mexico
Five French offshore wind turbines are planned for installation offshore the east US coast following the signing of a contract by French turbine manufacturer Alstom. The turbines, for Deepwater Wind’s 30 MW Block Island pilot wind farm off the coast of Rhode Island, will take the form of the Alstom’s 6 MW Haliade 150 machines – the largest turbines installed in offshore waters today (pictured).
The project, which will be one of the pioneering offshore wind projects in the US, is scheduled for commissioning in 2016. It will also mark the first exportation offshore wind turbines from France, from which the turbines for the project will be manufactured and shipped. The contract scope includes the manufacturing of the turbines and 15 years of operation and maintenance support.
The Block Island project could lead to a larger offshore wind farm of more than 1 GW capacity, supported by a regional transmission system linking Long Island, New York and south-eastern New England. The project is aligned with the US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s ‘Smart from the Start’ offshore wind programme, which aims to accelerate the development of offshore wind along the eastern coast of the US.
Elsewhere, Alstom has been awarded a contract by the Korean GS Engineering & Construction to provide wind turbines for the Gimnyeong wind farm located in Jeju Island, Korea. Ten units of Alstom’s 3 MW ECO 110 onshore wind turbine will be used for the 30 MW project, scheduled for completion by the end of this year.
Meanwhile in Germany, GE has announced that it will supply eight new German wind farms with its 2.5-120 wind turbines, making up a total of 110 MW worth of orders. The turbines are designed to provide a higher power output in low wind speed regions. GE will provide the wind turbines to wind farm developers Juwi, Pfalzwerke, Max Bögl Wiesner and Abo-Wind.
Wind markets are emerging and growing in other areas aside from the US and Europe. The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region could have large potential for onshore wind power, according to Dii, the international alliance for desert power. The organisation’s analysis shows that south of the Mediterranean, conditions for onshore wind are particularly favourable.
Wind speeds reach more than 8–10 m/s at a 50 m height in Western Morocco, central Algeria or Egypt, and suitable sites that can be well connected to the grid in Morocco, Algeria, Libya, Egypt and in Saudi Arabia also reach very good wind speeds, says Dii. The organisation says that energy from wind could be cost competitive with current mid and base-load power plants.
Around 1.4 GW of onshore wind is installed in MENA countries today, of which 22% was installed in 2013. Projects totalling 1.3 GW of capacity are currently either under construction or planned.
And in Mexico, new legislation has been passed that sets a target for all of the country’s energy companies of 35% of clean energy in the energy mix. The wind industry has been challenged by the government to install around 2 GW of wind a year for the next decade, and the Mexican Wind Energy Association, AMDEE, has set a target of 12 GW of wind power by 2022. This represents 10 GW more than Mexico currently has installed.
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A 6 MW Alstom Haliade 150 turbine, planned for use in the Rhode Island project, off the coast of Belgium
Photo: Alstom
News Item details
Journal title: Energy World
Countries: USA - France - Mexico - Middle East - North Africa -
Subjects: Maintenance, Offshore wind power, Baseload plants, Wind farms, Offshore wind farms, Onshore wind farms, Standardization
