wd nov 10 final

7/29/2019 Wd Nov 10 Final

1/60

T h e e u r o p e a n

w i n d i n d u s T r y

m a g a z i n e

Novembe 2010

Voume 29/No 5

TiNA BirBiliGreek Energy Minister

inTerview

Unravelling the gridBringing wind power tothe consumers


2/60

MINING FRONT ENDREACTORS

& SERVICESBACK END RENEWABLE ENERGIES

Wind powerDesigned for offshore

AREVA is fast becoming a global reference in renewable energies witha rich portfolio of four technologies: wind, bioenergy, solar, hydrogenand energy storage solutions.

In wind, AREVA designs, manufactures, assembles and commissions 5 MW high-output

turbines specifically for the offshore market.

Proven know-how in rotor blade design and manufacturing enables fast ramp-up of this keycomponent.

250 AREVA M5000 turbines have been selected for use in European offshore wind parks.

Most recently, the group installed and commissioned Alpha Ventus, Germanys first offshore

wind park.

www.areva.com

Energyisourfuture,

dontwasteit!-

Copyright:AREVAMultibrid-iStock-June20

10-Designandproduction:

AREVA RENEWABLES

Tour AREVA1, place Jean Millier

92084 Paris La Dfense cedex - France

Phone: 33 (0)1 34 96 30 00

Fax: 33 (0)1 34 96 34 47


3/60

3WIND DIRECTIONS | November 2010

| contents |

Wind Directions is published fve times a year.

The contents do not necessarily reect the views and policy o EWEA.

Publisher: Christian Kjaer

Editor: Sarah Azau

Writers: Sarah Azau, Chris Rose, Crispin Aubrey, Elke Zander,

Zo Casey

Design & production: www.inextremis.be

Cover photo: Stitung Oshore Windenergie

letter from the editor 5

For a greater grid

brussels briefing 6

The latest EU news

country focus 9

A closer look at Croatia

interview 11

Tina Birbili, Greek Energy Minister

wind news 14

site visit 18

Scaling the heights o technology

feature 21

A question o supply

guest columnist 27

A change o mind

wind bites & wind dates 29

focus 30

The grid that never sleeps

Powering Europe: EWEAs new grids report

How does the grid work?

Dr Klaus Rave on a citizens electricity network

mini focus 42

The wind star state

technology corner 46

Larger turbines: bigger and better?

wind energy basics 48

Is wind energy competitive?

run-up to COP16 51

That was then; this is now: the climate change hiatus

EWEA news 52

EWEA welcomes new members 55

the last word 58

Bicycles, bands and bad guys

T H E E U R O P E A NW I N D I N D U S T R YM A G A Z I N E

November 2010

Volume 29/No 5

Cert no. SGS-COC-006375


4/60

Our new wind turbine in Hamburg is 40 metres

higher than conventional ones. Since wind speed

increases with every extra metre of height, this

means 20 % more power. This 190-metre turbine

is the highest of its kind anywhere in the world.

2,500 households are now benefitting from clean,

green power, and CO2 emissions have been cut

by 3,100 tonnes a year. Is there anything we can

develop for you?

WE GIVE THE WIND

20 % MORE POWER

IF YOU WANT.

www.nordex-online.com

You ask:

Can we generate 20 % more

power from a wind turbine?

We answer:

Yes, if we make it

40 metres higher.


5/60


| letter rom the editor|

Iwant you to imagine or a minute you are walk-ing on top o a cli overlooking the North Sea.The wind is so strong you can lean your wholebody into it. Below, almighty waves, swept up in

the gale, are crashing into the rocks.

Now imagine you are in Spain, or perhaps Italy

or Portugal. The sun is soaking into your skin.

The sky dazzles with the intense southern light

that bounces glaringly o buildings and cars.

With such immense renewable sources o

power to hand, it seems incredible that Europe

is still orking out or ossil uel imports. It is as

though a armer with a huge and er tile orchard

were paying an unreliable neighbour or ruit while

his own rotted in his back garden.The analogy is o course not quite accurate

Europe is developing its renewables and ast, with

wind leading the feld or new power installations

two years running. But i the abundant winds

and the sunshine with which Europe is blessed

are not connected to those who need the power

they provide the electricity consumers we will

remain dependent on polluting and expensive uel

imports rom outside.

The grids question and more specifcally, the

idea o a supergrid, laid over Europes current power

networks and stretching out into the seas and pos-

sibly the deserts o northern Arica is discussedin this Wind Directions on p. 30. It is also the ocus

o EWEAs GRIDS 2010 event, being held rom

23-24 November in Berlin, and o our latest report:

Powering Europe: wind energy and the electricity

grid, which will be launched at GRIDS 2010.

Further away, but no less drenched in sunshine

and swept by the wind is the state o Texas, which

has seized the lead in wind energy in the US,

reaching 9,410 MW o cumulative installed capac-

ity by the end o 2009. Chris Rose travelled to

Texas or Wind Directions to fnd out more read

all about it on p. 42.

Bits and piecesIt is easy to think o a wind turbine as an

object in itsel, but it is o course made upo dierent bits, or components, which each

have to be manuactured and rigorously

tested. This was brought home when I visited

the Technology R&D headquarters o Vestas

in Denmark in September and ound out a

little bit about the complex procedures that

rame every stage o the design, building

and monitoring o every turbine (p. 18).

Chris, meanwhile, was exploring how those

components come together: who provides

the materials? How is it coordinated? What

materials make a turbine a turbine? His articleon the supply chain is on p. 21.

Aside rom all o this, we have an exclusive

interview with the Greek energy minister Tina

Birbili on p. 11, an exclusive extract rom

a speech on grids by Dr Klaus Rave rom

Investitionsbank Schleswig-Holstein, the

Technology Corner exploring larger turbines,

and the usual other sections including the

Country Focus, Wind Energy Basics, Brussels

Briefng, Wind News and EWEA News, not to

mention articles rom external contributors

Rol De Vos and Mark Edwards.

And as you read, perhaps by electric light,or on a computer screen, remember the

silent work o the grids that transported that

power to you. Oten overlooked, grids are

ast becoming the key issue on which the

urther development and use o wind energy

in Europe depends. We must ensure they

are modernised and extended to guarantee

a secure, cost-efcient and renewable-based

energy uture.

More inormation on GRIDS 2010:

www.ewea.org/grids2010

For a greater grid By Sarah AzauEditor


6/60

6 WIND DIRECTIONS | November 2010

EU energy policy must be bolder,

more effective and more ambitious

says Commissioner

EU energy

ministers: grid

interconnectionsmust be sped up

Grid projects o European interestshould automatically receive theastest possible realisation in each

individual Member State, the Energy

Ministers proposed at a recent inormal

meeting.

Having agreed on the need to improve

interconnections to integrate the energy

market properly, and shore up the EUsenergy supply, ministers stated that in

many Member States there are severe

delays or building energy transmission

and distribution inrastructure. These de-

lays could be reduced by putting projects

considered to be o European interest

into a ast track system.

Ministers also agreed that the market

should fnance energy inrastructure

projects, and that this should be made

easier by simpliying the administra-

tive procedures. One suggestion rom

the European Investment Bank was tosupport high risk energy inrastructure

projects by a customised European

fnancing mechanism.

The energy ministers have correctly

identifed the importance o improving

grid interconnections or an integrated

energy market with more renewable

energy, said Justin Wilkes, EWEAs

Policy Director. Simpliying the red tape

involved will allow this to happen rapidly

and help ensure the EU meets its renew-

able energy targets by 2020.For more inormation please contact Justin Wilkes at

[email protected].

In a speech on the preparation o the

EU energy strategy 2011-2020, EU

Energy Commission Gnther Oettinger

stressed the need to take urgent and

ambitious actions today to be ready or

a low-carbon, efcient and democratic

energy uture.

One o the guiding principles o the

energy policy should be the vision o a

largely decarbonised economy by 2050,

he said, also warning that Europe risked

losing its renewables leadership to the

US and China i action is not taken.

Oettinger stated that he wants toimprove conditions or investments

in low-carbon energy so we can look

orward to a real energy revolution, and

to develop large-scale production o

renewables.

Developing the power networks is

key to this, said the Commissioner. We

must completely renew our electricity

networks to cope with a much larger

renewable production, he said, and

cited the need or pan-European energy

inrastructure.

Commissioner Oettinger concluded

his speech by announcing that a consul-

tation on a 2050 Energy Roadmap wouldbe opened in November.

New environment information tool for

EWEA members

Need to read the latest fndings on windpower and bats? Want to show howwind turbine noise has changed over time?

All major studies on wind energy and

the environment can now be ound on

EWEAs newly launched Environmental

Impacts Inormation Tool (EIIT), exclusive-

ly available or EWEA members.The EIIT includes a review o the exist-

ing and most relevant literature on the

various potential impacts o wind energy,

both onshore and oshore. Browse

by category birds, bats, marine lie,

landscape issues, light eects, noise,

electromagnetic disturbance, and various

saety issues - search or the main docu-

ments or look or the leading experts on

each topic to get in touch with directly.The EIIT will be regularly updated with

the latest research.

| brussels briefng|

Photo: iStockphoto

Photo: C-Power


7/60


EU-Africa renewable energy

cooperation programme launched

The EU is to contribute 5 millionto a renewable energy cooperationprogramme (RECP) which it recently

launched together with the Arican Union

at a meeting o the Arica-EU Energy

Partnership (AEEP). The programme will

help contribute to the EU-Arica renew-

able energy targets or 2020.

The targets include building at least

5,000 MW o wind energy and adding over

10,500 MW o other renewables. Theyalso cover giving access to modern and

sustainable energy to at least 100 mil-

lion more Aricans by 2020, and improving

energy security by doubling the capacity

o cross-border electricity interconnec-

tions, the use o natural gas in Arica, and

Arican gas exports to Europe.

The Renewable Energy Cooperation

Programme will run or ten years.

Offshore grid gets EU Presidencyboost

In October, at a high level conerence inOstend jointly organised by the BelgiumPresidency and EWEA, representatives

rom energy ministries and industry

agreed the importance o developing

oshore electricity inrastructure. They

were ocusing on plans to build an o-

shore grid in the North Seas.

The Belgian Director General orEnergy, Marie-Pierre Fauconnier, ex-

plained that This intergovernmental

initiative aims to create an integrated

oshore electricity grid in the North Seas

[...] Building this North Seas oshore

grid is essential to meet Europes uture

energy needs secure electricity supply,

ree o carbon emissions, at an aord-

able price - as it will connect Europe with

its greatest domestic energy resource,

oshore wind.

Christian Kjaer, Chie Executive oEWEA told the conerence: It is vital

that European countries work together to

create the North Sea grid which will im-

prove security o energy supply and bring

more competition into the electricity

market. Europe needs this international

inrastructure to connect oshore power

to onshore grids.

On 2 December 2010 the North

Seas Countries that is, Belgium,

Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland,Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway,

Sweden and the UK - will sign a

Memorandum o Understanding on

what is known as the North Seas

Countries Oshore Grid Initiative. The

Memorandum o Understanding will pro-

vide a ramework or regional cooperation

to fnd solutions to questions relating

to current and uture grid inrastructure

developments in the North Seas.

To date in Europe there are 948

oshore wind turbines in 43 ully opera-tional oshore wind arms, with a total

capacity o 2,396 MW.

| brussels briefng|

Pilot network

code to be

finalised in 2011

The European grid operators pilotnetwork code or grid connection re-quirements with a special ocus on wind

energy will be fnalised in 2011, with

stakeholder consultations being carried

out in the frst three months o the year,

according to the body o European trans-

mission system operators (ENTSO-E)

drat work programme or next year.

The work programme, which has

ended its public consultation period,

also covers the plan that outlines uture

changes or additions to the power grid -the Ten Year Network Development Plan

(TYNDP). ENTSO-Es work programme

states that given the stakeholders mes-

sage o urgency on applying a top-down

pan-European approach to the TYNDP,

the Member States National Renewable

Energy Action Plans (NREAPs) will be

examined this year and, i they sug-

gest a signifcantly dierent generation

scenario or 2020 rom the pilot TYNDP,

ENTSO-E will publish the results in

mid-2011.It is very encouraging that ENTSO-E

is pushing ahead with the network code,

and that it has listened to the wind

industrys calls to integrate the NREAPs

into the TYNDP, said Paul Wilczek,

EWEAs Regulatory Aairs Advisor. It is

essential that the EU countries plans

are taken into account so that sufcient

grid upgrades are made to integrate the

planned amounts o wind and other re-

newables and meet the 2020 targets.

In another recently closed consulta-

tion, the EU energy regulators (ERGEG)asked about the so-called ramework

guidelines on grid connection require-

ments. Framework guidelines are

supposed to provide clear guidelines or

developing network codes, contributing

to the overall goals o non-discrimination

and eective competition, as set out

in the third Liberalisation Package. The

responses will go towards ENTSO-Es

work developing the network code on

grid connection requirements.

Find out more: www.entsoe.eu;www.energy-regulators.eu

Photo: Gamesa


8/60

REpowerSystems AG berseering 10 22297 Hamburg GermanyPhone: +49-40-5 5550 90-0 Fax: +49-40-55550 90-3999 E-mail: [email protected] Internet: www.repower.de

MM100:Get the Maximumat low wind speeds

CanWEA2010

PalaisdescongrsdeMontral

PleasevisitusatBooth1805

Rated power 1,800 kW

Rotor diameter 100 m

Rotor area 7,854 m2

Hub height 80 m

Certification IEC S Class(IEC IIIA annual wind,IEC IIA extreme wind)

Sound power level 104.8 db(A)

Start of Sales 2011

With its 100 m rotor diameter, the new

MM100 turbine is especially designed for

locations with low wind speeds. As such, it

has a high Net Capacity Factor which will

optimize yields even where limited grid

capacity exists. Advanced and reliable, the

MM100 incorporates all the benefits of

the proven MM series.


9/60


| country ocus |

Stretching almost the entire length othe Eastern Adriatic Sea, Croatiasplentiul coastline and long coastal

islands make it an ideal location or

wind arms. Although the country leads

the Balkans when it comes to wind

power, it is a relative newcomer to the

sector. Its frst arm with a total capacity

o 5.95 MW was installed in 2004 on

Pag, the fth largest island in Croatia.Situated in the northern Adriatic Sea,

Pag an island also amous or lace

making - is bueted by the Bora wind,

which in pre-Slavic means cruel wind.

In 2006 a second arm opened near

Sibenik one o the oldest towns in

Croatia which was frst mentioned in

1066 in a Charter o the Croatian King

Petar Kresimir IV. Currently, this arm

called Trtar Krtolin is the largest arm in

the country with an installed capacity o

11.2 MW.Croatia has a current total o

27.75 MW o wind power the com-

bined total o our wind arms across the

country. Two additional wind arms with a

combined total o 51.2 MW are under-

going a trial run. In addition, there are

several projects under construction in the

country with a combined total o 30 MW.

These arms are awaiting equipment de-

liveries, but they should be ully installed

by the end o this year. While wind power

in Croatia is still small ry compared to

nearby Italy, its total capacity is on therise: back in 2007 Croatia had 17 MW

installed, rising only slightly to 18 MW by

the end o 2008, EWEAs fgures show.

Looking at the overall power mix, the

country currently gets most o its energy

A closer look at

Croatia...

In 2010, Wind Directions will

take a look at a selection o the

developing wind energy markets

with the most potential.

Croatia the wind energy facts

rom gas, while hydropower also plays

a signifcant role. In terms o renewable

energies, Croatia is set to reach a 5.8%

renewable energy share by the end o

2010 (excluding large hydro), according to

the Energy Institute Hrvoje Poznar. Wind

power will provide the biggest contribution

in achieving this target, the Institute said.

In order to encourage a greater devel-

opment o renewables, in July 2007 fve

regulations were enacted on incentives

to generate electricity rom renewablesources, including eed-in taris. In 2010

the eed-in tari or wind power was

0.09/kWh. However, the Energy Institute

Hrvoje Poznar said that there are still

some unresolved issues surrounding the

regulations, such as a lack o coordina-

tion between energy and construction

laws. A wind arm developer may also

have to obtain several dierent permits

and have multiple contacts with dierent

state institutions beore getting the green

light or a arm.

Croatia and its surrounding countries

are also working on creating a regional

energy market. In October 2005, Croatia,

an EU candidate country, the EU and

nine other South-Eastern European coun-tries Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina,

Bulgaria, the Former Yugoslav Republic

o Macedonia, Serbia, Montenegro,

Kosovo and Romania signed the Energy

Community Treaty. (Since then, Ukraine

has also joined the Energy Community,

while Romania and Bulgaria have be-

come EU Member States.) This treaty,

which was also the frst legally binding

agreement signed by the South East

European states since the 1990 wars,

aims to create the legal basis or anintegrated European market or electricity

and gas.

By Zo Casey

Pho

to:

Thinks

toc

k

INSTALLED CAPACITY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27.75 MW

TRADITIONAL ENERGY SOURCE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . GasSUPPORT MECHANISM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Feed-in tari o 0.09 per kWh


10/60

>64G?4AC8B4A43458=4BF8=34=4A6HA4;8018;8CH

C^SPhbbPUTbc\^bcTURXT]cfX]ScdaQX]TbbWPaT^]TcWX]VX]R^\\^])

f^a[SR[Pbb;

BHBC4A;3F834

0=3A44E4AH30H


11/60


| interview|

25% o Greeces electricity will come rom wind by 2020,

says the countrys energy minister.

Boosting green

development

looks as one

of our best

alternative

for gradually

reshaping our

economy.

Modern Greek

Tina Birbili has been Greeces Minister orEnvironment, Energy and Climate Changesince October 2009. Dr. Ioannis Tsipouridis, CEO

o PPC Renewables, asked her some questions

on behal o EWEA.

Greece recently approved a bill raising its 2020

renewables target to 20%. This is higher than

the 18% target set in the EU Renewable Energy

Directive. Why did you set a higher target? How

has this affected your National Renewable Energy

Action Plan (NREAP)?

We have indeed done so because we are con-

vinced that investing in renewables, and clean

energy technologies in general, is the most e-

fcient way to achieve our medium and longer term

national targets regarding energy, environmental

protection and economic growth. At this stage, in

particular, boosting green development looks like

one o our best alternatives or gradually reshap-

ing our economy, transorming it rom a con-

sumption-based to a production-based one that

also exploits indigenous resources. Thus, setting

ambitious still realistic targets is a conscious

political decision and our NREAP reects that and

is ully compatible with that.

What proportion of the 20% do you expect wind

energy to meet?

Our 2020 target or electricity rom renewables is

40%. Out o that 40%, wind will account or 25%

and the other 15% will come rom other renewables.

This results in 10% wind contribution in the overall

20% fgure, when it comes to the total fnal energyconsumption.

What measures does Greeces renewable energy

bill include to help the wind energy industry meet

this goal?

There are two critical things. The frst has to do

with the new legislative ramework we established

by law in early June 2010 which a) accelerates

permitting procedures, b) removes non-technical

barriers or realising large projects, including grid

interconnections, in order to exploit the huge wind

potential o our Aegean sea islands, c) oresees

The energy mix in Greece

As o 2005, 6.9% o Greeces energy - 10% o

its electricity - came rom renewables. This 10%

broke down into 8% hydro and 2% wind power.

By the end o 2009, Greece had installed a

cumulative total o 1,087 MW. Wind currently

provides around 4% o Greeces electricity.

Greece has to reach 18% o its energy

rom renewables (40% o its electricity) by

2020 according to the 2009 EU RenewableEnergy Directive.

In its National Renewable Energy Action Plan,

Greece stated that this 40% renewable elec-

tricity in 2020 would break down into 24% rom

wind, 9% rom hydro, 4% PV, 1% biomass, 1%

geothermal and 1% CSP.

In its 2008 Pure Power report, EWEA

predicted that Greece would install 6,500-

8,500 MW o wind power capacity by 2020,

providing between 22% and 29% o thecountrys power.

Photo: Greek Energy Ministry


12/60


| interview|

the possibility or an increased eed-in tari or

exploiting low wind potential areas and d) taking

frst steps towards oshore development by

employing a centrally coordinated licensing and

bidding procedure. The second has to do with the

grid. New grid extension, reinorcement and inter-

connection actions are now seriously planned orthe short-medium and longer term timeline.

Greece had 1,087 MW of wind energy capacity

installed by the end of 2009. What are the main

barriers to wind energy development in Greece?

How are they being tackled?

The problems were always well known; the

complicated and unriendly legislative ramework,

the grid inadequacy, and public acceptance.

In all three o them we have now made some

real eorts or change. For the grid we already

discussed earlier. We have much improved the

legislation in an attempt to shorten the licens-ing period rom (practically speaking) our to six

years to one to 1.5 years and, most importantly,

we have built a One-Stop-Shop in the ministry to

accelerate the licensing procedures. We also did

some indirect work regarding public acceptance

by providing incentives, through the reduction o

their electricity bill, to people living close to wind

arms. We are aware that much more has to be

done regarding public acceptance and awareness

and we plan to put additional eort into that.

What do the Greeks think of wind energy? Do you

have any issues with social acceptance?

NIMBY (not in my backyard) is a universal dis-

ease. We defnitely ace social acceptance issues

as we already discussed earlier.

Greece has a lot of coastline. Are you planning to

develop offshore wind?

Yes, we have started doing so under a centrally

coordinated scheme, as I already mentioned. Wehave concluded the preliminary sitting exercise

and now we are quickly moving to the needed

Strategic Environmental Assessment procedure.

Although the sea in Greece is much deeper than

it is in northern Europe, it looks like our country

has some signifcant oshore resource as well.

The country is heavily reliant on coal and two

new lignite plants will have been built by 2017.

Surely this is cancelling out the positive steps

taken developing CO2-free wind energy?

It is clear or us that lignite will continue tocontribute to our electricity mix as an important

indigenous resource that we cannot just ignore.

Evidently, the technology we will use or our new

power plants will be much cleaner and efcient

that it used to be beore. O course, this is not

solving the CO2

emissions problem. It is also clear,

on the other hand, that the lignite contribution into

the energy mix will be continuously ading in the

uture and the resulting defcit will be mainly substi-

tuted by RES electricity. The two new lignite plants

replace others that will be shut down.

At the upcoming COP16 meeting in Cancun, coun-

tries will again try and come up with a binding

agreement on climate change. Do you think they

will succeed? What needs to be included in the

agreement in your opinion?

This is a very difcult one. We went to

Copenhagen under better global economic condi-

tions than today and, still, we ailed to achieve a

binding agreement. I dont know how Cancun can

do better in that. What I can say is that Greece is

a very strong supporter o the European position

that urges or such a binding agreement and we

believe that it is just a matter o time that everynation will streamline with this belie. But, per-

haps, time is not enough.

Tina Birbili was born in Athens in 1969. She graduated with a degree

in Physics rom the University o Athens in 1990. Ater a Masters

course at Imperial College, University o London on Environmental

Technology, she did a PhD on environmental management and eco-

nomics, completing it in 1995.

From 2004, she was advisor to the President o the Panhellenic

Socialist Party.

Ater the elections o October 2009 she was appointed Greeces frstever Minister or Environment, Energy and Climate Change.

New grid

extension,

reinforcement and

interconnection

actions arenow seriously

planned for the

short-medium

and longer term

timeline.

Pho

to:

HWEA

Wind energy-related

activities were organised

in Greece or this years

Global Wind Day.


13/60


14/60


|wind news |

BRAZIL

Three wind arms to be builtEnel Green Power has signed a contract

or three 30 MW wind arms to be built in

Brazil, at sites at Cristal, Primavera and

Sao Judas (state o Bahia) where the

capacity actor is nearly 50%. The wind

arms should come online in the sec-ond hal o 2012, doubling Enel Green

Powers installed capacity in Brazil.

More inormation: www.enelgreenpower.com

CANADA

New rotor blade manuacturingacility to openSiemens Energy intends to invest in

setting up a new rotor blade manuactur-

ing acility in Canada, which will cre-

ate up to 300 jobs, the company has

announced. Siemens has also signed

a ramework agreement with SamsungC&T Corporation or the supply o wind

turbines with a combined capacity o

600 MW to various projects in Ontario,

which is sufcient to supply power to

the equivalent o 240,000 Canadian

households.

More inormation: www.siemens.com

GERMANY

Developers order new Vestasturbines

German developers PROKON have placedthe frst ever order or the new V112

turbine rom Vestas. The 17 turbines,

which each have a capacity o 3 MW, will

be used in the Krackow wind arm project

in Germany. They will be delivered by the

beginning o 2012.

More inormation: www.vestas.com

Central German wind arm toexpandGE is supplying three wind turbines

totalling 7.5 MW or the expansion o the

wind arm Gro-Santersleben Sd near

Magdeburg in central Germany, to add to

the 12 MW currently in operation there.

More inormation: www.gepower.com

Upcoming 74.8 MW wind armnear RostockREpower is to deliver and install 22 o its

3.4 MW wind turbines at the 74.8 MW

Hohen Luckow wind arm near Rostock,northern Germany. The arm, which is

being developed by German company

Denker & Wul, is expected to be built by

mid 2012.

REpower has signed a 15 year con-

tract to service and maintain the wind

turbines, which have a hub height o 128

metres.

More inormation: www.repower.de

INDIA

5,000 MW o wind powerSuzlon Energy Limited, Indias largestwind turbine manuacturer, announced

it has now reached 5,000 MW o wind

energy capacity in India. The installed

turbines avoid 8.5 megatonnes o CO2

every year.

More inormation: www.suzlon.com

POLAND

Further wind energy growth insouthwest PolandVestas is to supply 29 o its 2 MW

turbines to subsidiaries o Polish Energy

Partners S.A, or wind arms in ukaszw

and Modlikowice in the southwest o

Poland. Delivery o the turbines is sched-

uled to be completed in 2011.

More inormation: www.vestas.com

SWEDEN

Sweden builds wind powertechnology centreThe centre has been set up in Sweden to

support the countrys wind energy sector.

The Swedish Wind Power Technology

Centre (SVTC) has total unding o nearly

11 million rom the Swedish Energy

Agency, the wind energy industry andChalmers university o technology. The

centre will ocus on wind power design

and on training engineers.

UK

Worlds largest oshore windarm opensThe 300 MW Thanet oshore wind arm,

12 km o the coast o Kent in the UK,

opened in late September. The wind arm is

made up o 100 o Vestas V90 3.0MW tur-

bines, which were installed in less than 100days. The turbines have a tip height o 115m.

The Thanet arm boosts the UKs

oshore wind energy capacity by nearly

one-third, and will produce enough power to

supply more than 200,000 homes per year

with clean energy.

More inormation: www.vattenall.co.uk

Parts o Brazil oer

a 50% wind energy

capacity actor

Photo:Su

zlon

Tradition and modernity: India is installing more

and more wind turbines

Pho

to:

Ke

enpress

Pu

blis

hing

Sisse

Brim

berg

&Co

tton

Couls


15/60


|wind news |

Growth planned or one o

Europes largest wind armsThe Whitelee wind arm in Scotland is to be

expanded to 539 MW as rom 2012, own-

ers Iberdrola Renovables have announced.

69 Alstom turbines will add 250 MW to the

arms capacity. The wind arm should sup-

ply the equivalent o more than 300,000

households with power, while avoiding

840,000 tonnes o CO2per year.

More inormation: www.iberdrola.es

New actory to build oshore

oundationsTag Energy Solutions, a UK company,

has secured fnancing worth

23.5 million in order to build an

oshore manuacturing plant in

Billingham, northeast England. The

actory is to produce monopiles or

oshore oundations in the

North Sea.

More inormation: www.tagenergysolutions.com

Hornsea oshore wind armgranted grid connectionThe frst 1 GW o the planned 4 GW

Hornsea oshore wind arm, situated o

the north-east coast o England in water

depths o up to 70m, has been granted

grid connection. The frst section will be

built and connected in 2014, and the

other 3 GW between 2015 and 2020.

The Hornsea arm is owned by the SMart

Wind consortium, led in a joint venture

by Mainstream Renewable Power and

Siemens Project Ventures.

More inormation: www.mainstreamrp.com;

www.siemens.com

US

Monitoring station opens inOregon

Iberdrola Renovables has openedPortland NCC, a renewable energy control

acility that will monitor the companys

wind arms and substations in the US all

year round, then story the inormation

or analysis. Iberdola currently operates

nearly 3,900 MW in the US, rom 41 di-

erent wind arms. The centre will employ

25 members o sta.

More inormation: www.iberdrola.es

Pho

to:

Keenpress

Pu

blis

hing

SisseB

rim

berg

&Co

tton

Cou

lson

The UKs oshore sector

is expanding

wpm??? 1/2??

industry expertWith 25 years of experience in the wind sector to draw

on, no other publication matches our expertise as an

independent source of news, views and analysis.

How to subscribeVisit windpowermonthly.com/subscribeEmail [email protected] Europe +45 86 365 900 US & rest of the world +1 951 325 8010


16/60


17/60


Discover

five reasonsto join EWEA

EWEA is the voice of the wind industry, actively promoting

the utilisation of wind power in Europe and worldwide

For further information visit

www.ewea.org/membership

Access to the largest network o wind industry proessionals

Key inormation about the wind sector

Significant discounts on exhibition stands, delegate ees and advertising

Improved visibility and usage o Member o EWEA logo

Representation at the highest level

Did you know? As an EWEA member you receive 5 key benefits:


18/60


Reading trade news stories rom thewind energy sector, one could beorgiven or thinking that building a windarm is a simple matter. Order wind tur-

bines, pay money, get turbines delivered,

put them up. Hey presto: more clean,

ree energy or consumers to enjoy. O

course, one o the things those stories

simply do not have space to cover is the

enormous amount o technology research

that goes into every component o each

turbine design, and the extensive monitor-

ing o its perormance once its up.

My recent trip to the Technology R&D

headquarters o Vestas, situated on the

east coast o the Danish mainland in thetown o Aarhus, gave me a glimpse into

the extraordinarily advanced technolo-

gies used to control and optimise every

part o the development o a wind arm,

rom siting to designing and building

to monitoring.

In the lab, failure is knowledgeWhere the wind turbine itsel is con-

cerned, Vestas technological expertise

works towards two main goals: robust-

ness and reliability.A wind turbine has to be ten times

more robust than a car, pointed out

Bjarne Ravn Srensen, President o

Vestas Control Systems. A 2 MW tur-

bine runs or 8,750 hours a year on aver-age, with two maintenance visits, while a

car runs around 500 hours a year1 with

two maintenance visits.

At the product laboratory, we had a

practical demonstration o how robust-

ness is achieved, as engineer Niels

Martin Henriksen showed us a chamber

or testing components, and told us how

it is used.

All products degrade over time, and a

turbine has a lietime o about 25 years,

so we build in a degradation margin.

This means we overstress the product atthe testing stage and make sure it can

withstand conditions ar more extreme

than it will ever encounter, he explained.

We can fnd out in a day what would

happen over the turbines lietime; in the

lab, ailure is knowledge.

In order to do this, the chamber contains

a platorm oating on springs with ham-

mers that punch the component. The

component is subjected to temperatures

o 200C which are then brought down to

minus 100C with liquid nitrogen.Other tests include resonance to

ensure no two turbines have the same

Scaling the heights o technology

1 40,000 km at 80 km/hour.

| site visit |

requency and electromagnetic compat-

ibility, which is checked in a room entirely

covered with oam pads and spikes, aswell as vibration, humidity and a lightning

simulator. There is also a heavy duty

test centre at Aarhus Harbour where

they test complete systems.

Choosing your spotFinding the optimal turbine design with

the most robust components is one

thing, but choosing where to install the

turbine is quite another.

Turbines are not dropped randomly

like bombs: we put a lot o eort into

planning where they go, says LarsChristian Christiansen, Vice President o

Vestas Wind & Site Competence Centre.

He explains that they have worldwide

weather data going back ten years, and

receive updates rom the 33,000 meteor-

ological stations around the world every

six hours to have a complete overview o

wind conditions everywhere over time.

Showing us a wind map o the United

States, he demonstrates how unsuitable

wind arm sites can be eliminated with a

click o a mouse.

By Sarah Azau

Photos: Vestas Wind Systems AS

Inside the oam-covered electromagnetic capacity testing room


19/60


Simulating a turbine

So that engineers and technicians can amiliarise themselves with the turbines

beore they have to work on them, and customers see more o their purchase,

Vestas have developed a virtual reality centre which simulates what it is like

inside the nacelle o a real machine.The centre is a replica nacelle o a V90 turbine, empty except or the screen

that covers the end wall. Stepping into it eels rather like stepping into one o the

simulators o rockets or cars you sometimes come across at theme parks.

We put on 3D glasses as instructed, and as the screen comes on we see,

not the latest oering rom Pixar, but a row o oshore turbines at sea. We

whiz towards them and fnd ourselves in a nacelle, this time ully equipped and

unctioning.

As Visualisation Designer Rasmus Dejgaard Jensen works the controls, he

explains that we are inside a 3 MW V112 turbine, which should go into serial

production in the second quarter o 2011. In the simulator, we can explore the

dierent components and move around as though we were inside.

The virtual nacelle is liesize - that is, 14 metres long, and the real thing will

weigh 230 tonnes. The V112 turbine itsel will have a tip height o 175 metres.

I can have dierent options allowing

me to eliminate any land that is over

1,500 metres high which makes wind

turbines less efcient, any areas where

wind speeds are less than 3m per

second, cities, national parks, airports

and so on. So I instantly see areas to

avoid or my wind arm. I can then alsozoom in on a very precise spot and

see the wind conditions there. The tool

even allows me to calculate where I

should position each turbine within a

particular site.

Turning such highly detailed inorma-

tion into a user-riendly tool needs a

powerul computer.

In 2008 we bought a 9 metre long,

8 tonne computer that produced enough

heat or 18 Danish houses. That com-

puter is now too small and we have just

ordered one that is 40 metres long. Itcosts $500 just to hit enter....

Following throughOnce the turbines are installed, they

need to be constantly monitored

throughout their lives so that any errors

or aults can be quickly fxed or, preer-

ably, prevented. Vestas does all this

rom its global perormance and diag-

nostic centre, which is also situated in

Aarhus. A small, circular room, it seems

unbelievable that 20% o the worldsinstalled wind power capacity 27 GW,

| site visit |

Vestas Technology R&D is situated in the green heart o Denmark

rom 16,000 turbines is monitored

rom here.

Operations Engineer Helle Kirstine

Lauridsen explains how it works.

We base our calculations on a

standard deviation. That means we

compare the perormance o the turbine

against the standard perormance othat model to see how ar it deviates.

We have dierent deviation ratings so we

know how serious the issue is.

The beauty o the system, she says,

is that it can oten predict the problem

even beore it becomes one, and alerts

the person in charge o the wind arm.

Since the system was installed a ew

years ago the average time between

inspections has doubled.

The Vestas customer is also able

to log on to the system and ollow the

perormance o their turbines, which isupdated every ten minutes. They also

access an FAQ section which shows all

the aults there have previously been

with that type o turbine, and in what

proportion.

The height o modernity: inside Vestas Technology R&D


20/60


Q&A with Finn Strm Madsen, President of Vestas Technology R&D

What is the most exciting technology trend for

you right now?

Our aim is not to go with any particular technol-

ogy, it is to make wind the cheapest energy

source on the planet. We are not religiousabout which type o technology we use to do

this.

What is essential is that the technology is

reliable and lowest cost.

When will onshore wind energy become the

cheapest power generating technology?

I expect to see it happen in the next fve to 10

years. The cost o onshore wind energy is going

down all the time. Today, oshore is 2.5 times

higher but the gap will close.

What will be the main technology develop-

ments that will help the industry get there?

The developments that will help include substantially bigger rotors, the shape

o the blade, more advanced control system and sotware and the use o lighter

materials such as urther development o carbon fbre and other composites.

Do you think it most important to focus onshore or offshore wind technology

development in the coming years?

Both! We need to make onshore more attractive and bring down the costs

o oshore.

A sea of technologyTravelling rom Aarhus to Brussels

involves changing planes in Copenhagen.

As we take o rom Copenhagen airport,

I peer out o the window at the windturbines dotting the sea. It is difcult

to imagine the complex, cutting-edge

technology behind them as they turn

graceully, yet nowadays this determines

everything about the wind turbines we

see, rom their shape, to the materials

used or them, to their location and their

continued efciency.

| site visit |

Photo: Andr Andressen

D;M;D;H=OD;;:;:5

:C:G8!8DCI:BEDG6GN!8JII>C7@79A;JC?AHECEHF>8EJJB;D;9AEDI>EH;>O:HEFEM;H+CM97:C?KC7FFH;DJ?9;I>?F9ED9;DJH7JEH9E(EF;H7J?ED7B9KHH;DJ9EEB?D==H?:9E:;C7?DJ;D7D9;8JBCKBJ?9HOIJ7BB?D;L:9FH;II97A;


21/60


| Feature |

Although photographs o wind turbinesgraceully generating electricity havebecome the easily recognised icons othe wind energy sector, the success o

the growing industry actually depends on

thousands o components and services.

Called the wind power supply chain,

these diverse ingredients which

include grease, wrenches, computer

printouts, test studies, minerals, metals,

plastics, trains, boats, trucks, concrete,

fbres and bolts and muscle power

are vitally necessary on a long, arduous

and expensive journey rom the planningstage o a wind arm to grid connection

completion.

Michael Holm, head o the global

press ofce or Danish company Vestas

Wind Systems, says having a unctional

supply chain is the oundation o the

wind power industry.

I we dont have a supply chain, we

dont have a business, said Holm. Its

that simple.

Pointing out that the average wind tur-

bine has approximately 9,000 dierentcomponents, Holm said Vestas which

has about 16,000 employees in Europe

A question o supplyBehind the booming wind power sector is a highly important supply chain. By Chris Rose

and another 7,000 around the world puts most major turbine components

together except or gearboxes.

He added, however, that Vestas gets

many types o materials or its turbines

rom various suppliers in dierent parts

o the world.

Holm said that while the company

does not rely only on single-source sup-

pliers, it does work hard at developing

sound relationships with its suppliers

so that materials and components are

available when needed. By doing so,

he added, Vestas which expects toachieve an EBIT (earnings beore interest

and taxes) margin o 5-6% and revenue

o 6bn this year attempts to keep

warehousing costs to a minimum.

This is an evolving industry and we

work together with our suppliers, he

said, adding that one challenge to having

a universally seamless supply chain is

the act that in some parts o the world

suppliers are not as ully developed as

in others.

He added it is extremely importantto have a dependable supply chain that

can deliver high-quality materials on

an agreed to date. We will not startproducing our turbines beore we have a

signed order.

Feeding the supply chainSupplying the growing wind power sec-

tor both onshore and oshore has

become a huge business in recent years

as nations and companies around the

world try to tap into the emerging green

electricity market as a way o replacing

ageing ossil uel and nuclear

power plants.

Indeed, in its 2009 annual reportthe Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC)

noted wind power grew a staggering

41.5% compared to 2008.

More than 38 GW o new wind power

capacity was installed around the world

in 2009, bringing the total installed ca-

pacity up to 158.5 GW, the GWEC report

said. This represents a year-on-year

growth o 31.7%.

GWEC also noted that last years mar-

ket or turbine installations was worth

about 45 bn, and that they expect toreach close to 200 GW worldwide by the

end o 2010.

A2SEAs Sea Jack vesselis specially converted

or oshore wind turbine

installation

Photo: Medvind


22/60

| Feature |

A 2009 EWEA report provides one way o

trying to understand wind power supply

chain costs. The Economics o Wind

Energy notes that about 75% o the total

cost o energy rom a wind turbine is

related to upront expenses such as the

cost o the turbine, oundation, electrical

equipment and grid connection.

Additionally, a recent drat EWEA

research paper notes that the main

materials used in wind turbines include

stainless steel, aluminum, copper, epoxy

and polyester resins, glass and carbon

fbres, oam, concrete, balsa wood and

nickel. Many, i not all, o these materi-

als are also required in other industries,

making a smoothly operating wind power

supply chain all that more important.The drat paper adds that the

European wind power sector is becom-

ing an increasingly important player in

the raw materials market as it con-

tinues to grow in terms o capacity

installed.

Supply chain management is key to

wind turbine supply, says EWEAs 2009

edition o Wind Energy The Facts.

The relationships between manuac-

turers and their component suppliers

have become increasingly crucial, thereport notes. Supply chain issues have

dictated delivery capabilities, product

strategies and pricing or every turbine

suppler. Manuacturers have sought to

strike the most sustainable, competitive

balance between a vertical integration o

component supply and ull component

outsourcing to ft their turbine designs.

According to a MAKE Consulting Supply

Side report published in May, last years

ongoing economic crisis

created some difculties

or the European and

American companies in

the wind energy supply

chain, as orders dropped

by more than 40% over

2008 measured by MW

orders announced.

Following years o

shortages o several important compo-

nents in the wind power supply chain, the

supply balance shited towards overca-

pacity in 2009, the report said.The report said this was rom tight

project fnancing, slowed development

plans, a considerable number o wind

turbines on the resellers market, and

increased sales o existing wind arms by

distressed developers.

Predicting that situation will improve

in the latter hal o this year, the MAKE

report said the tremendous wind power

growth in the Asia Pacifc region in 2009

largely shielded it rom the fnancial cri-

sis elt elsewhere in the global sector.Overall, global supply capacity did

not experience any bottlenecks in 2009,

but wind power installations in 2009

approached the nominal annual capacity

o bearings, orgings, and castings, the

report said. However, there has been a

large expansion o capacity in the compo-

nents during 2009, particularly in the

Asia Pacifc region.

The report said it did not expect short-

ages o any o the main

wind power components

this year and in 2011.

Towards 2012 we

orecast that bearings,

particularly main bear-

ings, may once again

become a key restraint

or the industry and

that increasing demand

or larger [wind turbines] could create

bottlenecks or some o the large sized

components such as gearboxes and

blades. Nevertheless, overall globalcomponent capacity will be sufcient to

meet demand.

The report also identifed several supply

chain challenges in the next three years,

including increasing capacity to meet

Northern Europes oshore wind demand

or large and specialised components,

increasing capacity to meet Asia Pacifcs

demand or larger turbines and compo-

nents, and expanding the US supply chain.

Nicolas Fichaux, a technical consult-

ant with EWEA, agrees with the MAKEreports prediction that there will be no

signifcant shortages in turbine compo-

nents beore the end o 2011.

What we see are the eects o the

fnancial crisis, Fichaux said, adding that

he also agrees with MAKEs suggestion

The relationships

between

manufacturers

and their suppliers

have become

increasingly crucial.


Photo: LM Wind Power

This 61.5 metre long blade will be installed

on a 5 MW wind turbine at sea


23/60


| Feature |

the industry could start acing supply

chain bottlenecks again ater 2012.

Thats because, he added, the industry is

continuing its shit towards oshore wind

and increasing turbine size rom 3 MW

machines to 5 MW and larger.

Melding a companys abilities withthe needs of wind energyWhen people think o materials and serv-

ice supplied to the wind power sector, it

is a sae bet they likely do not ocus on

adhesives, glues and sealant products.

Yet Sebastian Schilling, Henkels

business manager or industrial adhesive

technologies in the Benelux countries,

says his companys products are ex-

tremely important elements o the windpower supply and material chain.

Schilling said about 24,000 o

Henkels 50,000 employees working

around the world are employed in the

companys Adhesive Technologies unit,

which last year generated 6.2 bil-

lion working with various industries,

including the transportation, consumer

products, electronics, packaging and

aerospace sectors.

But dealing with the wind power sec-

tor is an important part o the industrialadhesives units work, he said.

As an example, he said his unit helps

Hansen Transmissions with its gearbox-

es. Our products are used in dierent

parts o the gearbox production, such

as threadlocking, gasketing and retain-

ing applications, he said, adding that

adhesives help protect against corrosion.

In a way, then, he said Henkel is a

supplier o a supplier

since Hansen is well

known or providing wind

power manuacturerswith its noted gearboxes.

Schilling said the wind

power sector is a target

market or his company

which, according to its website, also

provides UV- and weathering-resistant

sealants or blades, nacelles and steel

tower segments and anaerobic thread-

locking systems or mechanical engineer-

ing since it is always changing and

improving. Also, the wind power market

believes in sustainability and Henkelwants to be as sustainable as possible.

Theres a good ft between our company

and the wind power sector.

He added he can not think o a windenergy company that Henkel does not

supply. I cant imagine there is any

wind turbine in the world that is without

our product.

LM Wind Power, which is involved in

blade manuacturing, brake manuactur-

ing and service and logistics, describes

itsel as the worlds leading component

supplier to the wind

turbine industry, says

the companys sen-

ior communications

manager Helle LarsenAndersen.

Headquartered in

Kolding, Denmark, LM

Wind Power employed

4,676 people globally by the end o

2009 and had annual revenues o

777m, Andersen said.

LM Wind Power supplied rotor solu-

tions to 28 and brake systems to 44

wind turbine manuacturers worldwide

last year, he said, adding the more

than 130,300 blades the company hasproduced in over 30 years corresponds

to approximately 43 GW o installed wind

power capacity.

Andersen also said more than 46,000wind turbines have been supplied with

braking systems over the past 20 years

and the companys newly-created Service

and Logistics division helps increase the

lietime value o the investment o wind

arm owners.

Asked how competitive it is or a com-

pany to be involved in the wind power

supply chain, Andersen said competition

is increasing as the sector becomes

more mature and additional companies

enter the industry. LM Wind Power still

has a strong oothold in the wind energymarket and we are determined to con-

tinue to grow our market share.

LM Wind Power is a good example

o a company growing and develop-

ing along with the wind energy sector.

Noting that LM Wind Power (at that time

LM Glasfber) started producing blades in

1978, Andersen said the blade produc-

tion was a spino o the companys

activities within boat manuacturing.

Ater continual product refnements, he

said the company is now the leadingindependent supplier o blades.

The industry could

start facing supplychain bottlenecks

again after 2012.

Europes oshore industry needs

12 new installation vessels to

meet its 2020 targets

Pho

to:

A2SEA


24/60


| Feature |

Employing and building specialequipmentOnce materials or wind power compo-

nents have been located and the various

parts have been manuactured and as-

sembled, the nearly-completed turbines

still need to transerred to the site wherethey will fnally be erected.

For the onshore wind sector this

phase usually means using trucks or

reight trains. For the oshore sector it

means special vessels or transportation

and installation.

Danish company A2SEA has installed

60% o the worlds oshore wind turbines

since 2000, said Chie Sales Ofcer

Kaj Lindvig.

A2SEAs project teams strive to com-

plete every installation saely, on time,and on budget, Lindvig said.

With 220 employees in Denmark and

another 20 around the world, the com-

pany is owned by DONG Energy but in

June, Siemens invested 115 million to

buy 49% o A2SEAs shares, putting the

value o the company at around

250 million.

Lindvig estimated the value o A2SEAs

contracts with wind power companies

last year at 80 million.

He said the only challenge A2SEAaces is having the right installation

equipment or the products being in-

stalled or serviced.

Equipment and vessels the company

currently uses include two identical sel-

propelled crane vessels equipped with

our jack-up legs that are eective or

mounting turbines in shallow waters, a

specially constructed barge loaded with

advanced equipment that enables o-

shore tasks to be carried out with great

precision in deeper waters and high tidal

ranges, and a modern jack-up barge spe-

cially equipped to operate oshore wind

and install a wide range o equipment.A2SEAs website also notes that it is

having a next generation wind turbine

installation vessel built that will be able

to operate in the more challenging con-

ditions that will be encountered urther

oshore and in deeper water.

In keeping with EWEAs Oceans o

Opportunity report published last year,

which emphasized that the European

oshore industry will require 12 new

installation vessels, each costing about

200 million, i the sector is to meet atarget o 40 GW by 2020, Fichaux noted

that construction on our new vessels

began earlier this year.

And there will be more o them,

Fichaux predicted, adding the rapid

expansion o the UK oshore sector is

driving much o the demand or the sup-

ply chain to come up with new ships.

The rotor is

about ready to

be hoisted into

positionPho

to:

LM

WindPower


25/60



26/60

The backboneo Europes energy uture

Grids 2010, Berlin, Germany, 23-24 November 2010

Upgrading, extending and connecting Europes electricity grids is essential to meet

Europes emissions reduction and renewable energy targets. Without new and better

grids Europe cannot exploit its enormous wind energy resources and rapidly move

towards a renewable energy economy.

This two-day conerence and exhibition will explore the fnancial, technical, policy

and regulatory issues that will shape the development o a grid that meets Europes

energy, consumer and climate needs.

Photo:Chrtien

Rudy

ORGANISED BY:SUPPORTED BY:

www.ewea.org/grids2010

Register onlineto attend this essential debate


27/60


Inrastructure has fnally made it to the top othe agenda o policy makers and what iseven more important o investors. It took quite

some time to achieve that position. I still recall a

specialist meeting in Amsterdam, some ten years

ago, concluding that inrastructure is the key to a

sustainable energy supply. But during ten years

since that meeting, no real development in this

direction has occurred in grids. That is about to

change substantially, and it is about time!

It is not hard to understand why knowledgeable

people came to the conclusion that inrastructureis a very important asset in an energy transition.

Building a sustainable energy supply is not simply

a matter o replacing coal or gas-fred power

stations with wind arms, bio-energy power or pho-

tovoltaics and connecting them to the grid. That

simply doesnt work, because eatures o renew-

able power generation and use are quite dierent

rom ossil ueled energy generation.

Grid investments lagged behind or a

number o years, especially in EU power grids.

Liberalisation o the EU energy market caused

a hiatus in the responsibility or the grids.Organisations like the International Energy Agency

and the European Union acknowledged the urgen-

cy o renewed investments to secure the reliable

supply that we are used to. Several new initia-

tives started, such as the trans-European energy

networks (TEN-E) project, coordinating a solution

or a number o bottlenecks in the EU.

Do we really have to regret that investments

lagged behind or so many years? Yes we have,

but I am also quite sure that had we made

investments previously, we might have invested in

old-ashioned types o grid which would possibly

have ended up prolonging the lock-in situation inwhich we are at present.

Looking at the TEN-E initiatives and other re-

cent assessments like the Roadmap 2050 o the

European Climate Foundation (ECF), new invest-

ments in old inrastructure are still necessary.

ECFs analysis shows that analysed that a signif-

cant expansion o grid interconnection between

and across regions in Europe will be needed to

acilitate large shares o renewables by 2050.

But while investing too little, we also saved

some money to be spent in a more sustainable

direction.When thinking about new development,

it helps me to get out o the box by asking

A change o mindmysel: what would we do i humanity started

all over again, on a new planet (because the

resources on the old one would be used up)?

With our current knowledge we would defnitely

optimise on sources like wind, solar, ocean en-

ergy, hydro pump storage, and in the end maybe

even some ossil uels. But we would have to dig

them up again, p.

So ar or this little brain experiment; lets go

back to reality and build on our ormer achieve-

ments. We defnitely need to expand the grid and

overcome some grid barriers right now.So interconnections need to be improved and

cables need to be thicker. On a lower level, distri-

bution networks have to get smarter. I we want

to harvest all renewable possibilities, we have to

start at the end-user and explore local opportuni-

ties frst, like local storage, demand control, and

so on. And last but not least, we have to work on

intra continental super-connections. Think o har-

vesting energy rom the oceans, solar power rom

southern Europe, storage in Scandinavia, etcet-

era. These sources will ourish with a supergrid.

In any case, the most important thing thathas to be applied to grids is a change o mind.

Instead o centering the grid on large central

power stations, ueled by ossil uels, grids have

to be designed or many local and also many

central power generators, and or many small and

many large users.

| guest columnist |

Grid

investmentslagged behind

for a number of

years.

By Rol de VosJournalist at Ecoys International

By invitation

Pho

to:

iStoc

kp

ho

to

We must work on intra continental

super-connections


28/60

Wind is the Leading Trade Fair for WindGeneration Technology, Componentsand Services. No other trade fair canshowcase your innovations more effec-tively. The focus of attention across theentire industry, this event will give yourbusiness a real boost. Find out more at:hannovermesse.de/wind_e

For further information please contact: Hubertus von Monschaw, Tel: +49 511 89-31303, [email protected]

TECHNOLOGY GIVES WIND ENERGY THE POWERTO DRIVE BUSINESS. DONT MISS IT.

Youcanbenetby

becomingan

exhibitor

now.Simplyb

ookat:

obs.messe.

de

GET NEW TECHNOLOGY FIRST48 April 2011 Hannover Germany


29/60


|wind bites |

I believe that Northern Ireland

needs, and is able, to move rapidly

to much higher levels of renewable

electricity production and so am

confirming that Northern Ireland will

seek to achieve 40% of its electricity

consumption from renewable sources

by 2020. I see this new target as a

real challenge.

Arlene Foster, Northern Ireland Department o

Enterprise, Trade and Investment Minister

Overall, wind energy continues to

be a growth market, weathering the

economic crisis much better than

some analysts had predicted.

Steve Sawyer, Secretary-General o the Global Wind

Energy Council

Scotland has

unrivalled green

energy resources

and our new

national targetto generate

80 percent of

electricity needs

from renewables by 2020 will be

exceeded by delivering current plans

for wind, wave and tidal generation.

Alex Salmond, Scottish First Minister

The Government has a very ambitious

target of reducing carbon emissions

by 80% by 2050. As we look to rebuild

the whole of our energy infrastructure

the development of wind is going to bea very important part of that process

both onshore and offshore and so its

critical towards achieving our goals

of low carbon energy and energy

security.

Charles Hendry, UK Minister or Energy

I firmly believe we should be

harnessing our wind, wave and tidal

resources to the maximum.

Chris Huhne, UK Secretary o State or energy and

climate change

Wind bites

We need to do for energy what

we have done for mobile phones:

real choice for consumers in one

European marketplace.

Jos Manuel Barroso, European Commission

President

The larger the renewables industry

in Europe becomes, the sooner

European industry can benefit from

economies of scale, ultimately making

renewables more competitive.Paul Rbig, MEP

Renewables have gone from being

a sideshow to being the key solution,

together with energy efficiency, for the

transition to a low-carbon economy.

Willy De Backer, Head o the Greening Europe

Forum, Friends o Europe

Wind power really impacts the energy

scenarios of today.

Ingmar Wilhelm, Executive Vice President o ENEL

Europe must do

whatever we can to

protect and develop

our stronghold

within the energy-

efficient and

renewables sectors.

Connie Hedegaard,

European Commissioner or Climate Action

Wind power is an opportunity for

Turkey. In order to exploit this poten-tial, permitting procedures must be op-

timised and the government must put

in place a legal framework that offers

stability and certainty to those who

want to invest for the next 15 years.

Murat Durak, Chairman o the Turkish Wind Energy

Association (TREB)

We are seeing real changes and a

historical transition in low carbon

technology.

Nobuo Tanaka, IEA Executive Director

The European

Union is a world

leader in wind

energy but faces

serious competition

from China, the

United States,

Japan, South Korea

and India. I would hate to see Europe

losing out.

Christian Kjaer, CEO o EWEA

The 32 GW of installed capacity

proposed by the offshore wind energy

developers for 2020 would supply a

quarter of the UKs electricity needs.

This means the UK will have a secure

and low carbon electricity supply. In

addition, the UK economy will benefit

as offshore wind is a growth industry

that will create new businesses and

jobs as well as attracting inward

investment.

Roger Bright CB, Chie Executive o The Crown

Estate

Europe must become more

independent from energy imports.

Alejo Vidal-Quadras, centre-right MEP

Something to say?

Do you have something to say

about Wind Directions, wind energy,

renewables, EWEAs events or any-

thing else? Write to Sarah Azau at

[email protected] with the

subject title: Wind Directions letters

page, and your letter could appear

in the next issue!

Photos: EWEA


30/60

| ocus |


Photo: inmagine


31/60

| ocus |

The grid thatnever sleepsWhen European Commission president Jos Manuel

Barroso recently spoke to the European Parliament o

the need to complete the internal market o energy,

build and interconnect energy grids, he was voicing a

point o view that is becoming ever more widespread.

By Sarah Azau



32/60


| ocus |

While it would be unthinkable or Europe

not to have the most modern telephones,

motorways or aeroplanes, our power grids inra-

structure that is even more undamental to our

daily lives are embarrassingly out-o-date and

old-ashioned. The links carrying power between

countries known as interconnectors are ew

in number and unable to handle much electric-

ity. As a result o this, variable renewable ener-

gies like wind power are not exploited properly

and there is little cross-border trade in electric-

ity. As Eddie OConnor, CEO o wind developers

Mainstream Renewable Power points out, 95%

o power in Europe is consumed in the country inwhich it is produced.

An updated, Europe-wide power grid, with

stronger, more numerous interconnectors, would

allow wind power to be transported rom wherever

in Europe its blowing to wherever in Europe the

consumers are.

It would also mean power could be traded

in an internal electricity market. Think what it

would mean i you could only buy shoes made

by one company: you would pay whatever price

was set. Opening up the power market in Europe

would have a ar greater impact on thousandso consumers, bringing prices down as uel-

ree wind power and other renewables would

be preerred by the market to ossil uels with

unpredictable costs.

Yet the theory is o course surrounded by a

host o practical questions. What has to be done

frst? How and who by? Who will pay? What needs

to be built? Where does the material come rom?

And who is in charge o the process?

Supersizing the gridThe grid at EU level need to develop in a more

coherent way and ocus especially on intercon-nection to integrate large amounts o wind and

renewable energies, says Jos Luis Mata rom

Spanish transmission system operator (TSO) Red

Electrica. Or as President Barroso put it in his

speech: We need to make rontiers irrelevant or

pipelines or power cables.

One o the most talked about grid concepts

o the past ew months is what is known as a

supergrid. This supergrid is not just a bigger

version o the grid we have had or years, but a

whole new concept. The Friends o the Supergrid

(FOSG) - a group o companies who have come to-gether to lobby or, and work towards, a supergrid,

explain this clearly on their website:

Supergrid is not an extension o existing or

planned point to point HVDC interconnectorsbetween particular EU states, it says. Even the

aggregation o these schemes will not provide

the network that will be needed to carry marine

renewable power generated in our Northern seas

to the load centres o central Europe. Supergrid is

a new idea.

This notion is supported by Konstantin

Staschus o European grid operators body

ENTSO-E, who says a supergrid would be over-

laid on Europes existing inrastructure, work-

ing together with the current grid and the entire

electric system. ENTSO-E is developing a work

programme to plan or a 2050 supergrid, andsays it intends to take a lead role in developing a

pan-European supergrid.

OConnor, who is involved in FOSG, was one o

the frst to launch the idea o a pan-European and

oshore network in which the dierent national

grids would be linked together at points called

supernodes, and baptise it the supergrid, in

around 2001.

We saw a research paper rom the University

o Kassel in Germany that pointed out that the

wind is always blowing somewhere, and we

realised that i we could smooth out the uctua-tions we would solve the intermittency issue, he

explains.

95% of power

in Europe is

consumed in

the country

in which it is

produced.

Photo: Hemera


33/60


HVDC network which would provide interconnec-

tion between dierent countries, which is how itwould work in a supergrid - than to connect each

arm directly to shore as is currently the case.

For OConnor, this direct

to shore, or point to point

connection is illogical. Its

rubbish! he says. It makes

no sense to connect each

oshore project individually to

land in the UK they only get

40% use out o a wind arm

like that. They need to think

about what theyre doing.

OConnor believesthe supergrid could dra-

matically change the amount o use o renewa-

bles by linking together ar-ung sources o

carbon-ree energy.

I we build the frst leg rom Norway running

down to Scotland and the UK coast, going into

German waters and fnishing in the Rhr, we can

have Norway with its hydro capacity as the bat-

tery, Scotland can develop its oshore wind, and

trade and system reliability will be boosted, with

the countries selling electricity to each other. We

should get 90% utilisation o the lines.

The supergrid is essential or integrating large

amounts o wind energy in the long term, agreesMata.

The EU is pushing or renewables, which

means we have to go and pick

the electricity where it is or

example wind energy rom the

North Sea, solar energy rom

the desert and take it to the

consumption points. We need

a supergrid or that.

Frans Van Hulle, consultant

or EWEA, believes that or the

time being, reinorcing what

we currently have should bethe frst step.

There is no economic case or a high voltage

direct current (HVDC) overlay grid1 or supergrid

today, but we do need in the short and me-

dium term - an intelligent solution or connecting

oshore arms in Northern European waters, he

says, and reers to the IEE-unded OshoreGrid

project (see box p. 38) which is investigating the

best way, technically and economically speaking,

to integrate oshore wind into an oshore grid

using computer-based models.

Van Hulle points out that the OshoreGridproject has already shown that it is more econom-

ical to connect oshore wind arms in a meshed

We need to make

frontiers irrelevant for

pipelines or power

cables.

1 See section on A technical matter.

The wind is always blowing somewhere

| ocus |


34/60


| ocus |

A technical matterThe vision painted is certainly attractive, but ques-

tions remain on the practicalities, such as which

cable technology to use. Currently, high-tech

turbines are plugged into one o Europes ageing

onshore grids - Finn Strm Madsen, President

o Vestas Technology R&D, describes this as

like plugging your new laptop into a switchboardrom the 1940s. When electricity rom oshore

turbines is being carried 30km or more just to get

to land, the power loss rom traditional cables can

be considerable.

As reported in Science Corner in the

September issue o Wind Directions, new types

o cables known as High Voltage Direct Current

or HVDC are being developed which promise a

good deal. These have ar less power loss than

the traditional alternating current AC cables,

while being able to carry ar more power. The tech-

nology is ar more expensive, but once the cable

in question is longer than about 80 kilometres,the power losses avoided by HVDC justiy the ad-

ditional cost.

The people I spoke to were generally cautiously

positive on HVDC.

I cant speculate too much on it, but we are

currently talking about putting 40 or 50 GW o

power in the North Sea, while we currently have

cables which carry just 1 or 2 GW, says Crouch.

We should not underestimate the challenge!

Strm Madsen and OConnor are more a-

frmative. We need to create superhighways

o HVDC, says Madsen. OConnor states thatA wide DC grid will open Europe up to being

energy-independent.

However, using DC oshore would necessitate

highly sophisticated and expensive breakers,

to convert it back into AC or the onshore grid.

Financing, when discussing any aspect o the

supergrid, is key. Building a new power line is not

like putting up a wind turbine. It takes an aver-

age o seven years in the EU and it is a major in-

vestment. EWEAs new report Powering Europeestimates the investment cost o a transnational

oshore grid to be 20 to 30 billion up to

2030. An entire supergrid would o course cost

ar more: according to OConnor, between 300

and 600 billion, but he stresses that prices will

go down.

Grids are really airly cheap, considering

they are permanent and low maintenance. Once

theyre under the ground, its unlikely theyll have

to be dug up again.

And o course, the benefts the supergrid would

bring in terms o security o supply would mean

a good deal less European money going towardsuel imports, and the increased use o renewables

would bring power prices down.

Ownership mattersEventually, it seems certain that the cost o the

new lines would be paid or by the consumer,

but who would make the initial investments, and

above who should own the supergrid, is a matter

o some debate.

When talking about an oshore super-

grid, the ownership question is one o the real

challenges, says Mata. Should each powerproducer build his own wind arms with his own

link, or should they really all sit down and plan

It makes

no sense to

connect each

offshore project

individuallyto land.

Better interconnection is essential to create an internal electricity market in EuropePho

to:

Thinks

toc

k


35/60


| ocus |

it? Should the new lines be decided nationally or

in a pan-European way? Some TSOs such as

Belgium, the Netherlands, the UK and Germany

are trying to sit down and do this together but

they have no mandate to do so.

OConnor suggests several pos-

sibilities or the ownership o the

frst leg o the supergrid, including

the grid companies or a consor-

tium o private companies.

Staschus believes that the

TSOs should own the supergrid as

they are responsible or operating

and planning it. In the immediate

uture, however, ENTSO-E are, with

their ten-year network development

plan (TYNDP) which includes

all new grid lines and projects up to 2020 and isupdated every two years - providing all grid stake-

holders with a valuable insight into what is actually

planned in terms o upgrades and new lines.

Martin Crouch rom the European energy regulators

group, CEER, stresses that the TYNDP is key or

seeing what the next steps are.

Although the TYNDP is certainly not a super-

grid plan, its essential or improving the current

network, and seeing the weak grid points to be

reinorced, says Mata.

Van Hulle also thinks that one o the crucial ac-

tions to be taken rapidly is to reinorce points on thegrid where there are bottlenecks, meaning the line is

at times unable to transport enough power. He points

out that the IEE-unded TradeWind project identifed

42 points in the European transmission network,

mainly interconnections between dierent countries,

that need to be strengthened and ound that this

would bring about savings o 1,500 million per year,

justiying investments o around 20 billion up to

2030. The European transmission system operators

(TSOs) need to act quickly to ensure

this happens. The onus is on the

TSOs, agrees Crouch.

The TSOs themselves in theorm o ENTSO-E are working

towards a Roadmap towards

a pan-European power system

2050, which will involve consulta-

tion with grid stakeholders and the

European Commission. In their

preparatory work, ENTSO-E have

identifed three categories o issue

to address technological (or example, technical

easibility and voltage levels), economical/fnancial

(which includes realisation and ownership o the

supergrid and electricity prices) and political/socio-political (such as the legal and regulatory rame-

work and permitting processes).

For OConnor, the next steps are above all politi-

cal a policy debate on the supergrid should

be launched by the industry with the EU and

national decision-makers, he says. He believes

that the supergrid must be thought out in the

next our years, and we need to

start building in 2015 to 2020.

Otherwise, theres no way coun-

tries like the UK can meet their

oshore 2020 targets.

Others are slightly more cau-

tious when they look to 2020.

Well have the same grid as

now, says Mata. But it will be

reinorced, better connected, and

without the main constraints we

currently have.

In 2020 Europe should have an improved,modernised transmission network with increased

capacity and some additional lines, says Van

Hulle. At distribution network level, there will

also be increased use o smart grid principles,

which include more active network management

through enhanced communication and demand

response, assisted by smart meters.

A 2050 visionBy 2050, according to Mata, there could well be

a supergrid overlaid on the current grid, taking

power long distances to where it is needed.This timerame is backed up by ENTSO-Es work

on a 2050 supergrid roadmap.

While it is perhaps impossible now to specu-

late too ar ahead, what is certain is that great

change is aoot or Europes grids, which have

or too long been ignored by the modernisers.

The wind industry, which has lobbied legislators

to upgrade and extend the network or many

years, is now being listened to. Legislation like

the European Commissions up-

coming inrastructure package

is a sign that grid development

is being taken seriously.It is esse

wd nov 10 final

Documents