Vattenfall, BASF Partner on Nordlicht 1 and 2
Vattenfall and BASF are in advanced and exclusive discussions to partner on the Nordlicht 1 and 2 projects through a sale of 49 percent of the project shares to BASF. Both parties signed a Memorandum of Understanding to formally express their joint ambition. The Nordlicht wind park zone is located 85 km north of the island of Borkum in the German North Sea and consists of two separate sites: Nordlicht 1 with a capacity of 980 MW and Nordlicht 2 with 630 MW. Vattenfall develops and constructs the Nordlicht sites.
Inside the Red-Hot Offshore Wind Energy Market
As the traditional offshore oil and gas markets continue to struggle, the renewable offshore wind market is hot and getting hotter.As the cumulative maritime, offshore, port and logistics marketplace gears up for offshore wind energy on a huge scale, World Energy Reports (WER), in its report “2021 The Year When Offshore Wind Takes Off in the United States,” shows the anticipated growth trajectory. Service Operations Vessels (SOVs), which can commission and/or maintain turbines…
TRIG Buys Share in German Offshore Wind Farm
London-listed The Renewables Infrastructure Group (TRIG) said on Friday it has completed the acquisition of a 36% stake in a 396 megawatt (MW) offshore wind farm in the German North Sea.Commercial operations commenced in June 2019 at the Merkur wind farm and the project benefits from a feed-in tariff for the next 13 years.Dutch pension investor APG has acquired the remaining 64% in the project. Financial details were not disclosed.TRIG also said it has exited from…
Siemens Hands Over BorWin3 to TenneT
The BorWin3 offshore wind grid connection project in the German North Sea has been handed over to the German/Dutch transmission grid operator TenneT, by contractors Siemens and Petrofac.The 900 MW project will convert three-phase electric power generated by the Hohe See and Albatros offshore wind farms into direct current and transmit it 160km back to shore to the German national grid.Siemens was responsible for the grid connection system including an onshore converter station.The grid connections HelWin1 and HelWin2…
Ørsted, Covestro Ink World's Largest Offshore Wind PPA
Polymer materials supplier Covestro has signed a 10-year corporate power purchase agreement with Ørsted to buy the output of 100MW from the planned Borkum Riffgrund 3 offshore wind farm, expected to be fully commissioned in 2025, subject to Ørsted's final investment decision (FID).Covestro will offtake 100MW of the planned wind farm's 900MW total capacity for 10 years, which makes it the world's largest corporate PPA for offshore wind. The PPA will be effective…
Prysmian Wraps Up DolWin3 Gig
Prysmian Group, the major player in energy and telecom cable systems industry, has has announced that it commissioned the 900MW DolWin3 high voltage direct current (HVDC) offshore grid link in the German North Sea.Prysmian had secured this project in February 2013, with a contract awarded by Alstom Grid (now GE Grid GmbH) on behalf of the Dutch-German grid operator TenneT.DolWin3, the third offshore grid connection in the DolWin cluster, links the offshore converter platform DolWin Gamma…
Netherlands-Denmark HVDC Test Successful
Cable supplier Prysmian completes final high-voltage direct current (HVDC) test for 700MW submarine interconnector CobraCable line between Denmark and the Netherlands.The announcement takes place during the COBRAcable link’s official inauguration event, simultaneously held in Eemshaven (NL) and Endrup (DK), in the presence of representatives from the Dutch and Danish ministries, confirming the successful completion of the trial operation performed by the contractor.Prysmian had secured this project in February 2016 with a contract awarded by TenneT TSO B.V.
TenneT, EnBW, Ørsted Pact on Transmission Concept
The European transmission system operator TenneT, German utilities company EnBW and offshore wind specialist Ørsted have formed an alliance with the aim of implementing new connection concept for offshore wind farms and converter platforms in the German North Sea.The connection concept already planned by TenneT in the Netherlands will also be used in the future as part of selected offshore DC projects in the German North Sea. It eliminates the transformer platform…
DNV GL to Certify TenneT Platform in German Sea
DNV GL has signed a four-year framework agreement with TenneT to provide project certification for new High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) substations linked to offshore wind farms in the German North Sea.Agreement includes certification of TenneT’s DolWin5 converter platform with cost-saving offshore grid connection concept. TenneT awarded DNV GL the contract following an independent EU tendering process.Under this framework agreement, DNV GL is expected to carry out project certification for upcoming TenneT’s HVDC platforms…
Prysmian Bags Dolwin5 Cabling
Italian multinational corporation Prysmian Group has been awarded a major grid connection project worth in region of EUR 140 million by the Dutch-German grid operator TenneT which will enable the connection of multiple offshore wind farms to the German grid.“The Dolwin5 project continues our valued long relationship with the major TSO TenneT and demonstrates our ability to provide tailor-made submarine cable solutions for challenging projects, providing the offshore infrastructure needed to support the growth of clean energy in Northern Europe.” stated Hakan Ozmen…
Consortium Buys Veja Mate Offshore Wind
A consortium led by asset manager Commerz Real AG, WPD Invest, KGAL and IKEA franchisee Ingka Group will acquire an 80% stake in the 402-MW Veja Mate offshore wind park in the German North Sea.Veja Mate offshore wind park in the North Sea is the second-largest German offshore wind farm with 67 turbines and a capacity of 402 megawatts. The total investment comes more than two billion eurosCommerz Real and Ingka Group said in a joint statement today that they will…
German North Sea Wind Capacity Up 12.7%
Offshore wind power operators in the German North Sea raised generation capacity by 12.7 percent to 6,232 megawatts (MW) last year, nearing a government target of 6,500 MW national offshore capacity by 2020, grid company TenneT GmbH said on Thursday.TenneT, the German arm of the bigger Dutch transmission network group, plays a key role in the sector because it is responsible for linking North Sea wind farms to onshore grids in the states of Lower Saxony and Schleswig Holstein.Its German North Sea connection capacity already outstrips that of existing wind parks, having grow
Bunker One Expands to Germany
Denmark-based marine fuel supplier Bunker One has announced the establishment of a new physical bunker entity, serving the German market.Bunker Holding subsidiary said that the business activities of the new entity Bunker One (Germany) GmbH will be concentrated on supplying marine fuel products and other related services to ferry- container- and other commercial vessels in all ports at the German North Sea and Baltic Sea regions with base in Rostock, Kiel and Hamburg.To…
Ampelmann Wins Five North Sea Contracts
Offshore access solutions provider Ampelmann said it has won five new contracts for its Walk to Work (W2W) solutions in the offshore wind market over the course of September. These projects will see two A-type and three E-type systems installed on vessels operating in the North Sea.Four of the five contracts have been secured by Ampelmann’s recently opened office in Hamburg, Germany.An Ampelmann E-type system has been installed on the Viking Neptun vessel to enable supporting works at the Merkur wind farm in the German North Sea.
German North Sea Wind Production on the Rise
Offshore wind power plants in Germany's North Sea produced 5.15 percent more electricity from January to June than in the same period in 2017 at 8.17 terawatt hours (TWh), TenneT, the grid operator for the region, said on Thursday.On the day of highest capacity use, TenneT said 4,431 megawatts (MW) were tapped.
Dutch Float Subsidy-Free Offshore Wind Tender
The Netherlands launched an attempt to fund an offshore wind farm without subsidies on Friday, hoping to capitalize on a boom in renewable energy. In the world's first ever so-called 'zero subsidy' tender for wind power, only companies that require no support at all can participate. The Dutch tender follows strong demand at wind farm auctions in Germany earlier this year - where some slots were granted without subsidies - although a Dutch official acknowledged that the Netherlands' move was testing new ground and it might not receive any bids at all.
Germany: 900 MW of New Offshore Wind in 2017
Industry groups want higher long-term expansion targets; say latest auctions prove costs coming down. Germany connected 626 megawatts (MW) of newly built offshore wind capacity to power grids in the first six months of this year and expects to see total installations of 900 MW in the full year, five industry groups said in a joint statement on Thursday. The installed total is now 4,729 MW and if 900 MW were achieved, it would exceed the 818 MW added in 2016. The rate of expansion could mean the industry will beat government targets of 6,500 MW for 2020, they said.
VBMS awarded EnBW Hohe See cabling contract
Royal Boskalis Westminster N.V. (Boskalis) announces that its subsidiary VBMS has been awarded an inter-array cabling contract with a value of approximately EUR 80 million by EnBW Hohe See GmbH & Co.KG for the 500 MW EnBW Hohe See Offshore Wind Farm. The contract includes the supply, installation and burial as well as termination and testing of seventy nine (79) 33kV inter-array cables. The project execution will commence in 2017 with cable installation activities scheduled for 2018 and 2019.
MPI Installs All Turbines at Nordergründe
Following the successful installation of the foundations earlier this year, MPI has now informed that their wind turbine installation vessel (WTIV) MPI Enterprise has completed the installation of 18 6.2M126 Senvion turbines at the Nordergründe offshore windfarm. Once commissioned, the wind farm will have an installed capacity of approximately 111 megawatt and will be able to supply more than 70,000 households with power in a year. The Nordergründe offshore windfarm has been built in water up to ten metres in depth within the 12 sea mile zone of the German North Sea.
Heavy Hitter: Meet the Hydrohammer S-4000
IHC IQIP has launched its new S-4000 Hydrohammer pile-driving system. The Royal IHC business unit’s latest development in hydraulic impact hammers is the largest available on the market, and enables the installation of offshore foundations in even the toughest ground conditions with the largest type of monopile. It‘s also suitable for applications in the oil and gas industry. As offshore wind farms are predicted to move further offshore into deeper waters, the demand for larger monopiles and, subsequently, larger hammers is also expected to increase.
