Power Purchase Agreements (PPA’s) are not being signed or offered to wind and renewable projects with some saying that the retailers will wait for the September election before committing to anymore renewable PPAs.

Many renewable projects under development (especially windfarms) have stalled at the PPA stage because they can not secure an agreement to sell the forecasted power to be generated from the proposed project (or negotiate a PPA to provide sufficient return on investment).

Without a PPA the projects can not secure project finance, reach financial close and construct the renewable project. The majority of the developers do not have the balance sheet to build the project without debt, nor the ability to trade 100% of what they produce (black & green energy) on the nation electricity market.

With the major retailers developing their own renewable projects, it is a buyers market for the top 2 or 3 with choices of developing their own renewable projects, offer PPA’s to other renewable project developers or buy RECs in the market to cover their requirements under the RET scheme.

Origin’s last renewable PPA was signed in May last year for the 270MW Snowtown II wind farm.

We would be very appreciative if developers and those in the industry could send us the current project information on their wind projects if they wish to have this updated information in the public domain.

The EPi Australian Windfarm Map is a free Google formatted map resource available to the industry.

For this detailed update, we are seeking the project name, location, proponent/developer, MW capacity, number of turbines, connection KV, stage (proposed, DA approved, under construction, operations etc).

Thanks
The EPi Team

http://www.nswfarmers.org.au/news/global-news/wind-farm-guide-for-host-landholders

We are hoping Santa will bring the industry increased electricity demand, security & direction of govt policies and better conditions to obtain PPAs and project finance.

Although the news room has been quite, EPi has been busy undertaking civil works for a NSW windfarm, supplying bulk products to QLD solar and CSG projects and continuing with its support for its current renewable customers.

The previous state government promised $75 million on top of the federal government’s $464 million grant for the solar flagship scheme.

The Queensland Government is putting at jeopardy the solar thermal project that could bring up to $1.5 billion in economic investment to regional Queensland, 300 construction and local manufacturing jobs and a $68 million solar research and development program at the University of Queensland.

The Solar Dawn consortium which includes Areva has not been able to reach financial close on the project and the removal of the QLD funding will place the project in a position where it could be scrapped unless more funding is gained from the Australia Renewable Energy Agency.

The new QLD government has also removed the waste levy meaning there is no incentive to recycle and waste as far as Sydney is being dumped in QLD landfills.

Kurnell Desal Plant Closure
Sydney’s desalination plant will be mothballed this weekend even though taxpayers will keep having to pay off its construction costs and the power purchase agreement with the Infigen’s Capital windfarm.

NSW Finance Minister Greg Pearce says the $2 billion development hasn’t been a waste of money. “The fact that the desal plant will be turned off from the first of July will save Sydney Water customers $50 million a year,” he told ABC Radio on Tuesday.

Mr Pearce confirmed the government was still paying $16 million a month for the cost of building the plant and pipeline.

“Labor built the desalination plant and Labor signed the contract to have it run at 100 per cent,” Mr Pearce said in a statement to AAP.
This news comes as rumours spread that the Caltex Kurnell refinery is also set to close.

Carbon Tax Floor Price
Less than a week after the launch of the carbon tax, the federal Labor government is reportedly in talks with the Greens to change the $15 floor price in the carbon tax legislation to better align the scheme with Europe’s carbon trading market, according to media reports.

Labor has been under pressure to drop the floor price to prevent the tax from being kept artificially high relative to similar schemes elsewhere in the world. Related concerns have Labor even considering moving to an emissions trading scheme earlier than the scheduled start date of 2015, when the scheme will be linked to international markets, according to The Australian.

Carbon traders and the energy industry have been vocal in their opposition to the $15 floor price.
The Greens fear that a lower carbon tax would dissuade businesses from cutting greenhouse gas emissions and investing in renewable energy sources.

Experts say that the carbon tax would fall from its introductory $23 a tonne price to as low as $6 a tonne without the price floor (inline with global pricing).

Mumbida Windfarm
Word has it GE is having some issues with their machines at the Mumbida project.

GE is in a consortium with Leighton Contractors, for the 55MW $130 million project by the Verve Energy and Macquarie Capital joint venture for the Mumbida Wind Farm development, 40 kilometres South-East of Geraldton in Western Australia. The project is being delivered by an EPC contract, using GE’s 2.5MW wind turbines mounted on 85 metre towers.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries
Mitsubishi, will suspend construction of its wind turbine manufacturing plant in Fort Smith, Arkansas because of sluggish demand in the U.S.
The price of wind turbines fell 4 percent in the second half of last year from the previous six months to 910,000 euros (US$1.2 million) a megawatt, the lowest since at least 2008.

AGL
AGL Energy acquires the Silverton wind farm project, in a clear sign it expects an improvement in the climate for renewable energy investments.
The energy generator and retailer bought the development rights for a potential 1000-megawatt wind farm north-west of Broken Hill that could cost $2.5 billion to develop in full, according to The Australian Financial Review.

AGL acquired the Silverton venture from Germany’s Epuron and Macquarie Capital Wind Fund for an undisclosed sum. The project already has planning approval for an initial 282 wind turbines involving 300 megawatts of capacity. Construction of this stage, which Deutsche Bank says may cost $750 million, could start next year, AGL said.

Final approval is yet to be secured for subsequent phases, involving a further 316 turbines, which could be subject to stricter planning regulations in NSW for wind projects.

Vestas
Vestas said a V112 3.0-megawatt turbine caught fire at the Gross Eilstorf wind farm in Lower Saxony, Germany. No injuries were reported. The cause of the blaze, which was burning out under “controlled conditions,” hasn’t been determined.

Suzlon
Suzlon Energy’s ability to repay US$700 million of debt may be worse than expected after U.S. customer Edison International said the earliest it can pay off a contract with the turbine-maker is next year.

Suzlon, the third-biggest wind-turbine maker by sales, said last month that it hoped to recoup a $206 million payment from Edison before June when the first of its foreign-currency convertible bonds matures.

“Suzlon’s cash crunch seems more severe than expected,” Charanjit Singh, alternative energy analyst in Bangalore for HSBC Bank Plc, said yesterday. Singh estimates the company may fall short by as much as 30 billion rupees ($592 million) in repaying $700 million of debt due over the next 12 months.

The payment issue centers over Edison’s 240-megawatt Big Sky wind farm in Illinois, financed by Suzlon with a loan in October 2009 that has a “final maturity” in 2014, according to its Feb. 29 filing. Early repayment could happen “as early as February 2013,” Edison said.

Suzlon may seek options to raise cash such as selling a stake in other businesses or getting dividends or advances from Repower, Singh said yesterday. Suzlon can’t tap 750 million euros in financing raised by Repower on Feb. 29 to pay off debt, Repower said in an e-mail last week to Bloomberg News.

Waikato Wind Farm
A decline in demand for electricity in NZ has put on hold plans to construct Waikato’s largest wind farm. Contact Energy won consent to build the Hauauru ma raki (HMR) wind farm along the Waikato west coast in May last year but yesterday said it could be years before development begins.

Spokeswoman Janet Carson said electricity demand had dampened over the past three years and the outlook for wind development was not economic.
With three wind farms currently consented for Waikato, and Te Uku wind farm near Raglan already operational, Mr Pyle said the region was a driving force for wind energy.

“The Waikato coast – you’ve got Te Uku there – and what that farm is showing is there’s a tremendous wind resource on that coast. It’s a good consistent wind. It’s certainly one area of the country that’s had a lot of attention.”

Contact Energy’s wind farm site runs from south of Port Waikato to Te Akau. Should the project go ahead as intended, HMR wind farm would generate up to 504 megawatts of power from 168 turbines, providing power to around 170,000 homes. Contact Energy expected it would generate about $180 million of regional income, including $115m of household income over the five-year construction period. It would also create an estimated 1033 jobs once operational.

Two other wind farms – Taumatatotara and Taharoa –have been consented for development south of Kawhia Harbour.

Can Risk Be Designed Out of Wind Energy O&M?
$40billion worth of turbines will come out of their warranty period in 2012, or to put it another way somewhere between 20,000-40,000 turbines will need their future O&M strategy accounted for reported by wind energy update.

Wind Energy Update report that regardless of the outcome for the PTC, Utilities and Independent Power Producers (IPPs) who own assets operating in North America will have to closely evaluate their Wind Farm aftercare strategies in a constant effort to lower operational expenditure (OPEX).

Power generation and consequently selling that power has, and always will be, an energy company’s prime directive. Efforts to increase yield or reduce downtime (scheduled or unscheduled) are already forefront in wind energy operators business plans.

But the options for maintenance are not equal. As Wind Energy Update’s recent end of Warranty wind farm O&M options report states “Corrective maintenance of gearboxes often takes 14 more days than preventative maintenance!”. That is potentially two weeks additional lost revenue, and something which can be avoided through implementing a low-risk O&M strategy.

By taking the time to gather useful data, talk and share studies of operational success a business has a far greater chance to identify not only as many end of warranty options, service providers and products by also to establish the ones right for them.

Waubra
A decision to turn off night aviation lighting on the Waubra Wind Farm has been met with relief from residents who live nearby.

The lights are fitted to 48 of the 128 turbines in the wind farm and were originally used as a precautionary measure to ensure air safety for planes. But the Civil Aviation and Safety Authority (CASA) has recently advised the lights are no longer required, and Minister for Planning Matthew Guy has given his consent to turn them off.

The request to turn the lights off was made by the wind farm operator Acciona, and it is now up to them to decide when that occurs.

Golspie Wind Farm project
Wind Prospect CWP is continuing to investigate more than 100 potential turbine locations for the Golspie Wind Farm project. The proposed 250MW Golspie Wind Farm is located around Golspie, north of Crookwell, between Goulburn and Bathurst, NSW.

The land area being assessed for the project has now been revised from the initial area identified when the project application was submitted to the NSW Department of Planning and Infrastructure in March 2011. Wind Prospect CWP intends on submitting an Environmental Assessment to the Department of Planning and Infrastructure within the next 18 months.

Acciona, has joined Pacific Hydro in a venture seeking Australian funds to build the Moree solar farm in New South Wales state after partner BP Solar pulled out.

Acciona will provide engineering and construction services to the solar-power project, while Pacific Hydro and Fotowatio Renewable Ventures will take up the ownership stake previously held by BP. The venture will sign a power purchase agreement (PPA) with Pacific Hydro, which plans to start its own retail energy group, according to the statement.

While the partners in the proposed A$923 million solar plant won government funds last year, they failed to sign a power-purchase agreement in time to reach a December financing deadline. That prompted the government to reopen the funding competition to other bidders, including AGL.

Minister approves Hawkesdale, Ryan Corner wind farms
Two Victorian wind farm developments at Hawkesdale and Ryan Corner have been approved by Planning Minister Matthew Guy after months of negotiation.

Spanish proponents Union Fenosa announced yesterday that work on the two sites would start as early as next month, ahead of state government reforms of the renewable energy sector. More than $500 million will be pumped into the two projects, one which is located in farmland south-east of Hawkesdale and the other between Yambuk and Orford.

Union Fenosa managing director Domingo Asuero said the company would provide site possession to Portland-based GR Carr Construction. He said early works on the sites would start within weeks. The two projects will generate a combined 196 megawatts of renewable electricity, enough to power the needs of about 80,000 houses.

Abengoa Beats Estimates as Construction Surges
Abengoa net income jumped last year, exceeding analysts’ estimates by 22 percent as sales from its engineering and construction division surged.

The Spanish based company, which develops solar thermal power plants, builds power transmission lines and ethanol refining facilities, posted profit of 257.4 million euros compared with a mean forecast of 210.3 million euros in a survey of 13 analysts.

GE and JP Morgan Chase
GE and JP Morgan Chase & Co. jointly purchased a minority stake in the Capricorn Ridge wind farm in Texas for US$225 million from NextEra Energy Inc.

The 662.5-megawatt Capricorn Ridge wind farm, which began operating in 2007, uses turbines produced by both GE and Siemens AG (SIE) and can produce enough power for about 220,000 homes.

Suzlon
It is rumored that Mauritius’s state-owned Central Electricity Board named a group led by Suzlon Energy Ltd. as the preferred bidder for a 29.4-megawatt wind farm, the Port Louis- based Le Mauricien reported.

This news comes after Suzlon Energy’s convertible bonds have been falling at the fastest pace since 2009 after India’s biggest wind-turbine maker signaled it will fall short of funds to repay debt maturing this year.

Suzlon is exploring options including asset sales to meet $569 million in bond redemptions this year as losses widen, said Chairman Tulsi Tanti.

Fitch Ratings sees “extremely high” risk of default for a fifth of Indian convertible bonds due this year, according to a report dated Feb. 21. Another 17 percent of the debt may need to be reorganized, mostly by extending maturities, Amey Joshi, a Mumbai-based analyst at Fitch, wrote in the report.

The global wind power market rose 6 percent to 41 gigawatts last year, led by China, the Global Wind Energy Council said in a report on Feb. 7. Suzlon currently has orders worth $7.5 billion, according to a Feb. 11 statement. Vestas Wind Systems A/S of Denmark, the biggest turbine maker, announced a loss in 2011 that was four times wider than expected on Feb. 8. Sinovel Wind Group Co., China’s biggest supplier, said Jan. 30 it expects 2011 earnings to fall by more than 50 percent.

The Greens are attacking the government on its handling of the solar flagship scheme, as the two selected projects have missed a critical deadline with them not being able to secure a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA).

For large scale renewable projects a PPA is required to ensure the project has a contracted revenue stream (the sale of both energy and RECs), allowing the proponents to satisfy a large project finance hurdle before reaching financial close.

Both the Areva/CS Energy Kogan Creek and BP/FRV Moree projects have missed the deadline to find commercial finance backers in addition to the government support under the solar flagship scheme.

The unsuccessful bidders in the tender process who felt the governments chosen projects were dubious are now lining up to revive their applications including AGL and Infigen.

Wind in the Pub
Drinks for wind professionals.

Details:
Venue - The Oaks Hotel, 118 Miltary Rd, Neutral Bay
Date - 15th Feb 2012
Time - 4:30 PM-6:30 PM

The ACT Government Re-opens it call for large scale solar proposals
After a few years of little direction renewable energy companies with proposals to establish large scale solar generation in the ACT are again being invited to submit proposals to the Government as part of the ACT Labor Government’s plan to make Canberra Australia’s solar capital, Minister for Environment and Sustainable Development, Simon Corbell, announced today.

“The request for proposal has been facilitated by the Electricity Feed-In (Large Scale Renewable Energy Generation) Act 2011, enacted in December 2011, and allows for 40MW of generating capacity to be established in the first auction. The Government will shortlist proposals based on those with the best capacity and track record to deliver the projects before inviting pricing offers.

See the attached link.

Stage 1 of the 330kV transmission line would be from Neerabup to Three Springs, enabling the connection of the mid-west mining projects.

Stage 2 of the 330kV transmission line would be from Eneabba to Moonyoonooka (Geraldton).

Once the power line is completed some of the proposed windfarms that may connect to the transmission line include:

• Verve Energy’s 90MW Mumbida project (and stage 2),
• Badgingarra windfarm 130MW   (Emu Downs 2),
• PacHydro’s 100MW Nilgen windfarm, and the planned
• Infigen Energy’s Walkaway windfarm stage 2 & 3 expansions totalling up to 400MW.