Category: Renewable Energy

Work starts on £2.4bn UK-German interconnector

Header image courtesy of Prysmian.

Construction work has commenced on a crucial link between the two largest European energy markets, as reported by ReNewz. The 1400 MW NeuConnect project will connect the UK and Germany when completed.

Horizontal directional drilling (HDD) works have been kicked off by Prysmian, a cabling contractor on the UK side on the Isle of Grain in Kent. The HDD will link the subsea cables to land. The company has also started working on attenuation ponds and an access road to the new electricity converter station, handled by Siemens Energy.

The first stage of cable installation will start next year. However, the manufacturing of the 725 km of cabling required for the interconnector has started at Prysmian’s Italian factory and Sumitomo’s Japanese plant.

NeuConnect will become one of the world’s largest interconnectors, with electricity flowing both ways between the UK and Germany. The interconnector is expected to boost energy resilience, security, and renewable energy integration in both countries.

The German end of the interconnector is located in the Wilhelmshaven region in Lower Saxony. The cables will pass through British, Dutch, and German waters.

NeuConnect is expected to come online by 2028.

Lord Johnson, UK Minister for Investment, said: “This £2.4bn project doesn’t just demonstrate continued global investor confidence in the UK, but also the successful work we are doing with our European neighbours to drive investment and deliver vital new infrastructure. The first spade in the ground is a significant milestone on a project of national importance, so I offer my congratulations to NeuConnect and its investors.”

Miguel Berger, German Ambassador to the United Kingdom, added: “NeuConnect is a key project to support Germany and the UK in achieving their climate targets and to boost energy security. It is the largest Anglo-German infrastructure project and will enable us to share excess power – preventing renewable energy from being wasted.”

Australian Aboriginal group teams up with Philippine company ACEN on 3 GW renewable energy

Header image courtesy of Lloyd Thornton/Shutterstock

Australia’s Aboriginal group Yindjibarndi has entered into an agreement with Philippine energy firm ACEN on a massive renewable energy project in the iron ore mining region of Western Australia. As reported by Reuters, the project will generate up to 3 GW from land belonging to the community.

The first phase will produce 750 MW from a combination of wind and solar energy and battery energy storage. The projected cost stands at A$1 billion (US$682 million).

The Yindjibarndi Aboriginal Corp (YAC) will own an equity stake of 25%-50% in any project and approve construction on the Yindjibarndi Ngurra, where the tribe exercises native title rights. Native titles recognize the rights of the indigenous people of Australia to control some parcels of land.

In addition to part ownership, businesses owned by the Yindjibarndi people would have preferred bidding rights for contracts, while members of the community would receive free training with job opportunities.

ACEN is a subsidiary of the Ayala Group which plans to expand its renewable energy capacity from 4.4 GW to 20 GW by 2030. The partnership with the Yindjibarndi group has been named the Yindjibarndi Energy Corp (YEC).

YAC Chief Executive Michael Woodley said, “The agreement with ACEN means that the Yindjibarndi people can actively participate in Australia’s renewable energy transition in a significant way that provides long-term economic benefits to our community.”

Major renewable energy news last week

Header image courtesy of DOTI2010/AlphaVentus

BP and Total win massive German $14 billion offshore wind tender

Oil and gas major players BP and TotalEnergies have emerged the winners at Germany’s 7 GW offshore wind site auction. The contract is worth a total of just shy of $14 billion.

Three sites included in the tender will produce 2 GW in the North Sea, with one Baltic Sea site generating 1 GW.

BP got the contract for two projects, equivalent to 4 GW, while TotalEnergies got the remaining two sites.

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Aging Scottish windfarm to get a new lease of life with new turbines

The Hagshaw Hill wind farm is getting an upgrade three decades after commissioning. The site will receive 14 modern wind turbines to replace its aging 26 turbines. Total output will jump to 79 MW from 16 MW, with an additional 20 MW of battery storage to take more advantage of the wind power at the site.

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Nordex records 1.6 GW wind power orders in Q2 2023

Nordex reports a demand of 1.62 GW of wind turbine capacity in the second quarter of 2023. This brought the total for the first half to 2.641 GW.

The average sale price was 0.89 million euros per MW in the 2nd quarter, which compared to the same quarter last year. Total orders between April and June stood at 308 from 13 markets, notably Greece, Lithuania, the United Kingdom, and Germany.

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PV module maker Meyer Burger secures €200 million from €3.6 billion EU Innovation Fund

Meyer Burger becomes a beneficiary of the EU’s Innovation Fund. The Swiss company got €200 million from a total of €3.6 billion made available by the EU. The fund will go into constructing an additional 3.5 GW of solar cell and module production capacity in Germany and Spain.

40 other large-scale clean tech projects got funding from the EU, including €54 million going to Norwegian Norsun for expanding production capacity. Midsummer also received over €32 million for a new 200 MW plant for producing thin film solar cells.

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Saudi Arabia signs MoU with Engie on green hydrogen projects

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) has announced on Twitter it has signed an MoU with French Engie. The agreement focuses on green hydrogen and derivatives in the Arabian kingdom.

NiSource completes 465 MW solar projects in Indiana

NiSource, through its subsidiary Northern Indiana Public Service Company (NIPSCO), has completed two solar parks in Indiana. One of them, the Indiana Crossroads Solar, located in White County, will generate 200 MW and contribute more than $42 million in taxes in the next 35 years.

The second park, Dunns Bridge I Solar in Jasper County, has a total capacity of 265 MW in the first phase. The second phase will add 435 MW of solar power with 75 MW of battery energy storage capacity.

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Aging Scottish windfarm to be repowered with new turbines

Header image courtesy of 3REnergy

The Hagshaw Hill windfarm is getting a new lease of life as the owner, ScottishPower, gets ready to repower it with new turbines, according to The Guardian. The upgrade will see the farm produce five times the original capacity with about half as many turbines.

ScottishPower will replace 26 aging wind turbines with 14 modern ones on the South Lanarkshire site. The replacement turbines are over 650 ft in height, compared to 180 ft for the older ones.

The facility will also be equipped with 20 MW of battery storage to take more advantage of the renewable energy. The total capacity of the turbines was 16 MW when they were commissioned in 1995, but will now output 79 MW once the upgrades are complete.

Chief Executive of ScottishPower Renewables, Charlie Jordan, said about the project, “Wind power technology has improved so much in the last 30 years. Three modern wind turbines could produce as much power as the whole [Hagshaw] site. Although Hagshaw is our oldest site, there were a number of windfarms built in the late 1990s which are coming to the end of their operational lives. We have a dozen more to repower over the next three or four years.”

Mississippi gets first utility-scale wind farm courtesy of Amazon, AES

Header image courtesy of MaxyM, Shutterstock

The state of Mississippi in the US is getting its first utility-scale wind farm, a result of a partnership between online retail giant Amazon and AES, as reported by The Clarksdale Press Register.

The farm, to be located in Tunica, will have 41 wind turbines on a 14,000-acre site used for agriculture. Interestingly, the farmers will continue to farm rice, soybeans, corn, and wheat as the winds from the Mississippi Delta power the wind turbines.

AES is the developer and owner/operator and has highlighted how the landowners have diversified their income with the land retained in the family.

The Tunica wind farm will produce 184.5 MW of energy and lots of agricultural produce. The electric output will power about 80,000 Mississippi homes annually. The project will generate tens of millions of dollars in tax revenue for the county and school district, along with many employment opportunities.

AES’ partner, Amazon, has been expanding its renewable energy footprints globally with more than 400 projects like this. Charley Daitch, director of Energy and Water Strategy at Amazon Web Services (AWS), said, “Amazon is on a path to powering our operations with 100% renewable energy by 2025, and we want to ensure the local communities where our customers live and work are also benefiting from the solar and wind projects that we support. These energy projects are helping provide clean energy to local grids, create jobs, support local businesses and farmers, and boost the rural tax base in the southeast, which are all part of Amazon’s commitment to become a more sustainable company.”

Turbine installation commences on 756 MW Victoria wind farm

Header image courtesy of Vestas

The Golden Plains Wind Farm in Victoria has reached another milestone as it commences the installation of turbines, as reported by Renewables Now. When completed, the 122-turbine plant will be the largest wind farm in Australia.

Total output from the TagEnergy-owned farm is 756 MW, with plans for a 300 MW battery energy storage solution. Production is scheduled to start in the first quarter of 2025.

The first phase of the Golden Plains Wind Farm will cost $1.33 billion, with the completed project expected to generate 1.3 GW with a total of 215 turbines, or enough to satisfy 9% of Victoria’s energy needs, about 765,000 homes. The second stage is planned to kick off in early 2024. TagEnergy will use Vestas Wind Systems’ V162-6.2 MW wind turbines designed for low to medium wind sites. With a swept area of over 20,000m², the V162-6.2 MW™ applies the largest rotor size in the Vestas’ portfolio to achieve industry-leading energy production paired with a high capacity factor.

Major renewable energy news this week

Nigeria completes 700 MW hydro plant

The Nigerian government has announced the completion of the $1.3 billion hydro plant on the Kaduna River near Zungeru. The new facility has an output of 700 MW. Mainstream Energy has won a 30-year concession to operate the plant, with $70 million to be remitted annually to the government.

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France approves winners for 1.1 GW of onshore wind energy tenders

The French government has given out contracts for more than 1.1 GW of tenders for its latest round of onshore wind energy bids. Seventy-three proposals got the nod, representing an average price of EUR 85.29 per MWh.

The latest bids will bolster France’s bid to meet its 2030 renewables targets.

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UAE to triple renewable energy production with $54 billion in investments

The UAE, the host of COP28, has announced it is tripling its renewable energy production before 2030. The oil-rich nation will invest up to $54 billion to achieve this target and meet its growing electricity demand.

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First power from Iberdrola’s first French offshore wind farm in Brittany

Iberdrola’s Saint-Brieuc offshore wind farm in France has sent the first to the grid. The farm will supply 9% of Brittany’s electricity consumption, or about 1,820 GWh/year.

Production will increase as 62 wind turbines are added and commissioned.

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Renewables account for 61% of Portugal’s electricity in H1 2023

According to the National Energetic Networks, most of Portugal’s electricity needs were met with renewable energy, representing 61%. Photovoltaic production took 7%, natural gas supplied 19%, and biomass took 6%.

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US DoE to invest $1 billion in demand-side hydrogen initiative

The US Department of Energy is to invest $1 billion in a demand-side scheme to help meet the demand for hydrogen at regional clean hydrogen hubs (H2Hubs) in the future. This will provide market certainty for the producers and the consumers in the H2Hubs, thereby encouraging more private-sector investments.

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Nigeria completes 700 MW hydro plant

Nigeria has announced the completion of the $1.3 billion hydropower project on the Kaduna River near Zungeru, Niger State. The facility is ready to transmit power to the electricity grid, as reported by Energy & Utilities.

The power project has an output of 700 MW and was funded partly by a $984.23 million preferential loan from the Export-Import Bank of China. The federal government provided the rest of the financing.

Construction on the plant started in 2013, carried out by a JV of Sinohydro and China National Electric Engineering Co (CNEEC). The facility has a 90 m high and 1,090 m wide dam, an intake tower and diversion tunnel, and an underground powerhouse.

Mainstream Energy Solutions Limited has won the 30-year concession for the new plant. The company will remit $70 million to the federal government annually throughout the duration of the contract.

Nigeria is working on another 3,050 MW hydropower plant in Mambilla, although legal issues have delayed construction.

UAE pledges to triple renewable energy production ahead of COP28

Header image courtesy of C40 Cities

COP28 will be held in UAE, and the host is already making sustainability pledges. The oil-rich nation has announced it will triple renewable energy production, in addition to other environmental initiatives, as reported by France24.

While the UAE did not reveal many details about the new policies, which are coming about five months before COP28 in Dubai, the updated national energy strategy will triple the contribution of renewable energy over the next seven years.

The UAE is one of the world’s biggest exporters of crude oil but has now put in place strategies for hydrogen and electric cars. It aims to “consolidate the country’s position as a producer and exporter of low-emission hydrogen over the next eight years” by strengthening supply chains and infrastructure and establishing a research and development center. Also in the works is a national network of charging stations for electric vehicles.

Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum revealed that up to 200 billion dirhams (US$54 billion) will be invested to meet growing electricity demand.

COP28 will come up in November, with about 200 nations discussing tackling global warming and its impacts.

Major renewable energy news you might have missed this week

Header image courtesy of Philip Gostelow

AngloGold Ashanti to power gold mine with renewable energy

AngloGold Ashanti Australia will build one of Australia’s largest renewable energy projects in the natural resources sector. The project will power the company’s Tropicana Gold Mine, consisting of a 50 MW solar farm and an 18 MW battery energy storage system. The development will cut the mine’s carbon emissions by 160,000 t annually.

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The UK government defends green levies on energy bills; will bring down future costs

After a two-year suspension due to the pandemic, the UK government is bringing back green levies on energy bills. The levies will add £170 per year to the average bill.

Down Street insists the levies will bring down energy bills over time by stimulating renewable energy investments.

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Noria Energy launches largest floating solar project in South America

Noria Energy has launched a new solar power system that floats on the Urra Dam reservoir in Colombia. The 1.5 MW solar development will demonstrate that hydroelectric dams with fluctuating water levels can be paired with a floating solar generation to enhance energy reliability and boost production.

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Africa REN secures € 32 million funding for the first battery storage project in West Africa

Africa REN has announced it has secured funding for the first battery storage project in West Africa. The project is located in Senegal and funded by the Dutch development bank FMO and the Emerging Africa Infrastructure Fund (EAIF).

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BlackRock secures $500 million to build Australia’s biggest battery

BlackRock, the world’s biggest fund manager, has raised more than $500 million from co-investors to build the largest grid-scale battery project in the southern hemisphere in Australia, with 850 MW and 1680 MWh of capacity. The Waratah Super battery in NSW will help drive Australia’s transition to a low-carbon economy.

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