Victoria
Victorian wind energy developments totally $3 billion could be at risk under the new coalition government.
Victoria has up to $9 billion of new wind farm investment proposed over the next ten years. The CEC has said $3 billion of wind energy investment maybe taken interstate if the proposed Baillieu are adopted.
Transfield
Transfiled has been singled out by the NSW Coalition and the Greens for not disclosing Labor party donations in the Collector wind farm planning application.
Investec
Investec has secured approval from the South Australian government to build the Cherokee $750m, 1000MW gas fired power station. Tepko was chosen as the site so power could be fed into the Tungkillo sub-station and the existing Tungkillo-Tailem Bend electricity transmission line.
The power station will be built by the Tungkillo Power Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of asset management company Investec Bank. The project will be built in stages with the first 250MW, $200M stage to be completed by 2013 and total completion of 1000MW by 2021.
Newcastle
A natural gas industry off the coast of Newcastle has the potential to create tens of thousands of jobs and generate billions of tax dollars for government.
Advent Energy, through its subsidiary company Asset Energy, plans to begin exploratory drilling for natural gas 55 kilometres off Newcastle next month.
The exploratory drilling plan could lead to a gas extraction industry with the potential to attract up to $12 billion in investment, similar to the North-West Shelf off Western Australia.
REpower
REpower Systems, aims to double revenue from offshore wind projects to 30 percent by 2015 after winning an order to supply a Belgian offshore project.
The Hamburg-based unit of Suzlon Energy Ltd., India’s biggest wind-turbine manufacturer, secured an order this week to supply 48 turbines with a capacity of 6 megawatts each to the Thornton Bank wind farm off Belgium’s coast. Banks have agreed to lend $1.16 billion to the 1.29 billion-euro ($1.7 billion) project. It’s the biggest-ever project financing in offshore wind, C-Power NV, a Belgian wind farm developer, and Suzlon said.
CBD Energy
CBD unveiled a solar equipment manufacturing deal with China’s Tianwei Group and said it was in talks on acquiring wind-farm development assets through a soon to be confirmed JV.
Victoria
The Victorian Coalition promises include in their election promises:
■ A subsidy scheme to encourage solar, wind, fuel cells and other low-emission power, that would pay a premium rate to households, businesses, farms and community groups for all the energy they generated, whether used on site or fed into the grid.
■ Doubling the funding available for pilot clean energy plants to $82 million.
■ Banning windfarms in or near national parks and tourist areas, and within two kilometres of a home without permission from the resident.
■ Holding a cost-benefit analysis into smart meters.
■ Adopting a number of government policies, including its energy efficiency target, 5 per cent target for energy from large-scale solar power by 2020 and proposed emissions limits for new power stations.
Gamesa
Gamesa is leading a project with 10 more companies including Alstom SA, Acciona SA and Iberdrola Renovables SA to build a 15-megawatt turbine in a bid to drive down costs of offshore wind power.
Under the Azimut program, Gamesa will oversee the turbines, while Acciona Windpower will undertake the technology required to convert wind energy to electricity. Acciona Energia will carry out construction, operation and maintenance of the offshore sites and Alstom will be responsible for the sea-based substructures. Iberdrola Renovables will manage integration of offshore wind energy into the electricity grid.
Nordex
Nordex SE won a contract to supply 18 2.5 megawatt turbines for the Susurluk wind farm in Turkey.
Vestas
Vestas won an order for 43 turbines of its V90-1.8 megawatt model for a project in Argentina.
Woolnorth
The Greens have used State Parliament to raise concerns about the death of a wedge-tailed eagle at the Woolnorth wind farm. That is the 22nd to die at wind farm in Tasmania’s north-west. The rising number has led to wind farm operator, Roaring 40s, testing bird-scaring devices and halting some of the farm’s 62 turbines in wind conditions judged more risky for the birds.
Waubra
Noise testing at properties neighbouring the Waubra wind farm has revealed some breaches of the farm’s planning permit conditions. The wind farm’s operator, Acciona Energy, commissioned the testing and the report was submitted to Planning Minister Justin Madden last month.
Senegal
Senegal is constructing two wind turbine parks along its northern shore, including a 125 megawatt farm that will come online next year. A second 50 megawatt plant will be built on the northern shore in a different location. The ministry also aims to cover 15 percent of national energy needs by 2020 through bio-fuels, up from the current 0.6 percent. Currently Senegal’s state power company produces 548 megawatts of electricity.
Vestas
Vestas, has won an order for 50 V100-1.8MW turbines for a project in Michigan.
Solar Millennium
California regulators in July approved Southern California Edison Co.’s contract to buy two 242MW facilities from the CA Solar 10 project, near Blythe to be built by Solar Trust of America LLC, a joint venture between Solar Millennium and German contractor Man Ferrostaal AG.
Rugby Wind Farm
A planning focus meeting was held last week for the proposed Rugby wind farm. Preliminary Environmental assessment work has been undertaken for a proposed large $390 million wind farm on 100,000 ha, in-between Rugby and Boorowa in South West NSW.
Windlab Developments, together with Suzlon Energy, are jointly investigating the development of the Rugby Wind Farm, located between Rugby and Boorowa. Windlabs has been investigating the area since 2004. The proposed wind farm will comprise of up to 90 wind turbines, up to 160m tall and aims to connect to the 132kV line to the West of the site. Wind speeds are said to be in low 8m/s to high 7m/s range. The developers have submitted a Project Application for consideration to the NSW Department of Planning.
In 2005, Windlab partnered with Investec Bank to develop wind projects across the country. Now utilising Suzlon’s wind turbine and project delivery experience the partners are pursuing sites for development and construction.
Suzlon aims to sell more turbines in the Australian market through developing wind sites, however it is now competing with other developers and potential customers for competitive sites and power purchase agreements.
Goldwind
Goldwind, will invest an additional 2.15 billion yuan ($325 million) in five different wind units, using funds from the initial public offering in Hong Kong.
MacGen
Tomago Aluminium has finalised an 11 year power purchase agreement with the state owned Macquarie Generation. The finer details of the 900MW PPA contract have not yet been released but it said to interruptibility clauses to allow MacGen to suspended power in times of severe generation disruptions. The contract also hedges the power price to the London Metals Exchange price from Aluminium, this clause cost MacGen dearly in 2008 when the price of aluminium fell sharply.
Hydro Aluminium’s smelter plant at nearby Kurri Kurri has been in negotiations with Delta Electricity. These negotiations have been suspended for both parties to digest the Tomago contract.
Infigen
Infigen Energy’s biggest stock holder, The Children’s Investment (TCI) Master Fund (~22%), has demanded a seat on the company’s board, trigger the resignation of the then chairman Graham Kelly.
The recent performance of Infigen has put a lot of pressure on the board and the TCI’s pressure could be good for the performance of the stock.
ACT
The ACT Government has admitted that its solar power feed-in schemes will add $225 to the average annual household bill in Canberra. The scheme promises to generate up to 25 per cent of the city’s power within a few years with solar farms dotted around the territory and vast photovoltaic panels on shopping centre and warehouse roofs.
Iberdrola
Iberdrola Renewables has begun construction on a 26.8MW biomass power plant in southeastern Oregon, forging ahead with an expansion of its business lines in North America.
The facility will be cooled entirely by air, reducing water use by more than 80 per cent compared with conventional plants, and derive sawmill waste from Collins Pine as fuel. Collins will also purchase the equivalent of 2MW of steam from the project to run its lumber drying process more efficiently. The project is due for completion in 2012.
Risø DTU
The Danish National Laboratory for Sustainable Energy, Risø DTU, has been granted DKK 20 million from the EU to develop a 20MW offshore vertical wind turbine.
CEC
Last week the Clean Energy Council released a technical report from experts on the noise impacts of wind farms in Australia. The report provides independent technical advice that concludes there is no evidence that residents will suffer any direct health effects as a result of living near wind farms.
Key points of the report include:
See the CEC paper or the
Victorian Work Safe document
Ararat
Protestors from across the state descended upon Penshurst to rally against one of Victoria’s largest wind developments on Saturday. Busloads of racegoers travelling through Penshurst on the way to Dunkeld were greeted by scores of placards from an imposing group of anti-wind farm lobbyists spouting slogans such as “Wind Farms Make Me Sick” and “Wind Farms Kill Birds”. Representatives from RES were in town holding an open day with displays of birds-eye turbine layouts and photographic predictions of the Ararat wind farm project.
BP Solar
BP is vying for a slice of the Australian government’s Solar Flagship funding to develop a solar energy project in Moree, NSW.
BP’s proposed $600 million, 150 MW PV project, is proposed near the country town of Moree, 640km northwest of Sydney. SunTech/Infigen are also proposing a smaller 60MW solar project in Moree as part their four site Solar Flagship proposal.
IEA
The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates $5.7 trillion will be invested in electricity generation from renewables such as wind and solar power during the next 25 years, according to their World Energy Outlook, published yesterday.
Global subsidies for renewable energy totaled $57 billion in 2009. The agency estimated that last year $37 billion of support was given to electricity from renewable power, and $20 billion to biofuels. Government support for the industry can be justified “by the long term economic, energy security and environmental benefits they can bring,” the agency said.
Transfield Services
Transfield Services had recently made improvements to increase the efficiency of the poor performing turbines at Starfish Hill wind farm, but that was not enough to stop a turbine fire two weeks ago. The details of the fire are yet to be released.
Wind Farm Tender
Industry rumours have indicated that a large energy retailer may go out to tender next year for Australian wind farm projects to develop and construct.
This is good and bad news for wind farm developers, as it means there is demand for wind projects, however it also means the prospects of securing a power purchase agreement (PPA) from an energy retailer are slim.
To be successful in the tender process, developers will have to put forward the most competitive project(s) in terms of estimated capital cost, capacity factor, grid connection including marginal loss factors (MLF), any development risks/conditions and land owners agreements.
Suntech/Infigen
Sunntech Power Holdings Co. and Infigen Energy propose building four solar farms in NSW as part of the Solar Flagship Scheme.
The consortium’s Flagship submission outlines the following proposed projects;
Infigen is also investigating a site in Mildura, in Victoria state, for a potential solar farm, according to its website.
Meridian
New Zealand government-owned Meridian Energy Ltd has appointed Ben Burge as the chief executive to develop its business in Australia. Mr Burge will be responsible for driving the company’s growth in the Australian market.
Carbon Price
President Barack Obama’s abandoning of the attempt to get a US emissions trading scheme sets back Julia Gillard’s bid to put a price on carbon, a member of her business advisory group on carbon pricing has said.
Origin Energy
Origin Energy’s $1 billion, 630 MW combined cycle Darling Downs Power Station was officially opend on Friday. The CCGT plant is located 40km west of Dalby is powered by coal seam gas piped from the Australia Pacific LNG gas fields. The plant consists of three 120 MW gas turbines and a 270MW steam turbine,
The construction of the power station also included a 205 kilometre pipeline that stretches from the Wallumbilla gas hub near Roma to the Talinga gas production facility. The pipeline will provide up to 44 petajoules of gas to the power station each year.
Suzlon
Suzlon will lay off 110 employees at its turbine rotor blade plant in Minnesota, citing the sluggish US economy and downturn in the wind energy sector.
Energy Australia
Energy Australia has warned of a $600 million blow-out in power bills next year, claiming the federal government has underestimated the number of certificates it will issue as an incentive for installing small-scale solar energy systems on homes and businesses.
Original modelling showed that up to 11 million of Small-scale Technology Certificates, worth $40 each, would be issued next year. But Energy Australia, backed by other business and industry groups, claims this will blow out to about 30 million because the take-up rate of solar energy will be greater than anticipated.
Approval for Yaloak South and Morrabool Wind Farms
Two wind energy facilities south of Ballan at Yaloak South and Moorabool have received conditional approval with planning permits. The Department of planning and Community Development (DPCD) approved the Moorabool wind farm project under delegation and the Governor in Council has approved the Yaloak South permit.
The WestWind Energy Moorabool Wind Farm will comprise 107 wind turbines and have the capacity to produce up to 321 megawatts.
The Pacific Hydro Yaloak South Wind Farm, which comprises 14 wind turbines and has a total capacity of 29 megawatts, was ‘called-in’ by the Minister for Planning from the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) and referred to an advisory committee to ensure the cumulative impacts of these two projects could be considered in a coordinated manner.
Carbon Price
The federal government has been warned electricity prices will rise further unless power generators get a clear carbon price by 2012, and that Australia’s greenhouse gas reduction targets are already ‘difficult to achieve’.
The ”incoming government brief” to the new Climate Change Minister, Greg Combet, said there was considerable evidence that uncertainty over climate-change policy was stalling long-term investment in efficient, cheaper power generation, which was resulting in sub-optimal investment and higher electricity prices with little environmental benefit. This news is similar to the noise all the power generators and developers have been making for the last 24 months.
Siemens
Siemens has beaten rival Vestas to sign a framework deal to supply 600MW in wind turbine capacity to Enel Green Power with an option to go up to a total of 1.2GW.
Vestas
Vestas adds to its order book with a deal to supply Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems (UAMPS) with 32 V100-1.8MW turbines.
Gamesa
Gamesa has launched its new G97-2.0MW turbine platform for the North American onshore market and expects more than half of future orders to be for low velocity wind sites.
