| From: Eric | 9/14/2024 8:15:14 AM | | | | | | Wind powers a record summer for renewable energy in Britain, record low for fossil fuels
Humber Gateway offshore wind farm. Image: Power Technology
Grant Wilson, Daniel L Donaldson & Iain Staffell
Sep 13, 2024
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Great Britain’s electricity system made a big leap forward in August 2024. The amount of power generated by fossil fuels fell to 3.6 terrawatt-hours (TWh), its lowest level in over a century. This meant that each kilowatt-hour of electricity consumed during August emitted on average just 84 grams of CO2.
The record-low contribution of fossil fuels to British electricity in August will have affected household emissions.
Heating your home with an average heat pump in August would have been eight times cleaner than using a gas boiler for instance, while charging a typical electric vehicle could have been about ten times cleaner than a petrol car....
Before August 2024, monthly generation from fossil fuels had never dipped below 4 TWh, even during the lockdowns of 2020 when demand for electricity and transport fuels plummeted.
What’s more exciting is that this was the first time fossil fuels (98.5% gas and 1.5% coal) fell to third place in the British electricity mix over an entire month. (Just to note, Northern Ireland not part of the British grid, it is part of the integrated Irish electricity grid).
This year’s milestones are encouraging signals that Britain’s energy transition is gathering much needed pace, paving the way for a future with less reliance on volatile imported fossil fuels and less impact on the environment. Indeed, by the end of September 2024, the UK’s last coal-fired power station will close, leaving gas as the only fossil fuel left to phase out.
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| From: Eric | 9/16/2024 1:53:51 PM | | | | | | 
1st Offshore Wind Lease Sale in Gulf of Maine to Power More than 4.5 Million Homes
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Lease areas have potential to power over 4.5 million homes
WASHINGTON — The Department of the Interior today announced it will hold an offshore wind energy lease sale on Oct. 29, 2024, for eight areas on the Outer Continental Shelf off Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine. If fully developed, these areas have a potential capacity of approximately 13 gigawatts of clean offshore wind energy, which could power more than 4.5 million homes. The announcement follows the Department’s recent announcement that it has approved more than 15 gigawatts of clean energy from offshore wind projects since the start of the Biden-Harris administration— equivalent to half of the capacity needed to achieve President Biden’s goal of 30 gigawatts of offshore wind energy by 2030.
Since the start of the Biden–Harris administration, the Department has held five offshore wind lease sales, including a record-breaking sale offshore New York and sales offshore the Pacific, Central Atlantic, and Gulf of Mexico, and approved 10 commercial-scale offshore wind projects. Earlier this year, Secretary Haaland announced a schedule of potential additional lease sales through 2028.
“The growing enthusiasm for the clean energy future is infectious. Today’s announcement — which builds on the execution of the nation’s first floating offshore wind energy research lease in Maine last month — is the result of years of thoughtful coordination between our team, the Gulf of Maine states, industry and the Tribes and ocean users who share our interest in the health and longevity of our ocean,” said Secretary Deb Haaland. “The Biden-Harris administration’s unwavering commitment to building a vibrant and sustainable offshore clean energy sector is strengthening our fight against the climate crisis and building a healthier, more resilient planet for generations to come.”
“The upcoming Gulf of Maine offshore wind energy auction reflects our all-of-government approach for reaching the Biden-Harris Administration’s energy goals while combatting the climate crisis,” said BOEM Director Elizabeth Klein. “Together, we can do our part to facilitate a new American industry while fostering job growth and promoting equitable economic opportunities for all communities.”
The President’s Investing in America agenda is growing the American economy from the middle out and bottom up – from rebuilding our nation’s infrastructure, to driving over half a trillion dollars in new private sector manufacturing and clean energy investments in the United States, to creating good-paying jobs and building a clean energy economy that will combat the climate crisis and make our communities more resilient.
Today’s announcement is built upon the best available science, including the National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science’s ecosystem-based spatial suitability model, as well as over two
Image from BOEM years of extensive engagement with Tribes, fishing interests, and stakeholders across the region. Information gained through this engagement, including public comments, was instrumental in determining the final location, size and shape of the eight lease areas.
The area included in the Final Sale Notice (FSN) is approximately 120,000 acres less than what the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) included in its Proposed Sale Notice, which was announced earlier this year. BOEM prioritized the avoidance of offshore fishing grounds, sensitive habitats, and existing and future vessel transit routes, while still retaining sufficient acreage to support the region’s offshore wind energy goals.
The FSN for the Gulf of Maine auction includes details regarding the auction, provisions, and conditions of the leases, the lease form, information on bidding credits, criteria for evaluating competing bids, award procedures, appeal procedures, and lease execution. The FSN includes several lease stipulations designed to promote the development of a robust domestic U.S. supply chain for floating wind and create good-paying union jobs, advance flexibility in transmission planning, minimize habitat impacts, and collect data on protected marine mammals. The FSN will publish in the Federal Register on September 17, 2024.
The issuance of any lease resulting from this sale does not authorize the construction and operations of an offshore wind facility. A lease provides the right to submit project-specific plans. Such plans, if submitted, would be subject to environmental, technical, and public reviews prior to a decision on whether the project proposals should be approved.
Details on the FSN, along with a map of the lease areas can be found on the BOEM’s website.
Courtesy of US Department of the Interior.
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| From: Eric | 9/20/2024 7:15:29 PM | | | | | | The Rise of Floating Offshore Wind Technology
Engineering with Rosie
95.1K subscribers
Aug 30, 2024
Forget everything you thought you knew about wind farms. We're about to dive deep into the world of floating offshore wind, where turbines dance on the waves and clean energy knows no bounds.
In this video, we're going to explore the floating offshore wind industry, from the fundamental principles that allow these massive structures to float, to the innovative designs that could shape the future of wind energy.
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| From: Eric | 9/27/2024 11:37:07 AM | | | | | | Australia’s biggest wind farm proposed to fill gap as last coal generators exit grid
Image: Acciona Energia
Giles Parkinson
Sep 27, 2024
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A 3 gigawatt (GW), $6 billion wind project has been proposed for the south-west corner of Western Australia to help fill the gap created by the expected closure of the state’s last coal generators at the end of the decade, and to tap into the growing industrial demand for cheap and clean power.
Spanish giant Acciona Energia is in the midst of a series of community meetings in the region to discuss its plans for the Bellwether wind project, which would comprise some 400 wind turbines sited along a proposed new transmission link.
The site is around 60 kms east of Collie, the site of the state’s last coal fired generation units, all of which are expected to close by the end of the decade.
It joins a host of multi-gigawatt scale projects in the region, including the 2,240 megawatt hour (MWh) Neoen battery at Collie, and the 2,000 MWh Synergy battery in the same town. Both are under construction. An even bigger battery, at 2,640 MWh, has been proposed by Chinese solar giant Trina Solar south of Perth.
Acciona Energia is currently commissioning what remains for now the biggest wind farm in Australia, the 930 MW MacIntyre project in Queensland (pictured above), although that will soon be overtaken by the `1.33 GW Golden Plains wind project in Victoria when its second stage is completed.
The 3 GW proposed for Bellwether will trump those and other gigawatt scale projects that have now become the preferred size as developers and project owners look for scale and bigger turbines to keep costs low.
The project will be sited in the state’s wheatbelt – near the towns of Darkan, Arthur River and Tarwonga – and is being pitched as a way to “drought-proof” the region which is suffering from significant changes in climate and impacts on agriculture.
If it can get the support of local landowners, and First Nations peoples, and the required environmental approvals, Acciona Energia hopes to begin construction in 2028, meaning the first power could be delivered by 2030, around the time the last of the coal units will be closing.
Western Australia currently has a renewables share of just over 40 per cent, but this is expected to change rapidly in coming years as the last coal fired power stations exit, and because of the surge in electrification, both in homes and businesses.
The growing prospects of green industries has led to a government study that predicts up to 50 gigawatts of new wind, solar and storage capacity will be needed in the coming decades to meet that demand.
That will require significant investment in new transmission lines, and because W.A. is an isolated grid, with no connections to other states or countries, it also presents an interesting challenge to the market operator.
W.A. has a high share of rooftop solar, and the two big batteries at Collie, and others at Kwinana and Wagerup, are designed to soak up excess PV and put it back into the grid in the evening peak.
The state has already hit a peak of 82 per cent renewables, which AEMO boss Daniel Westerman noted in an interview on the Energy Insiders podcast earlier this week is a remarkable achievement given its scale and isolation.
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| From: Eric | 10/5/2024 8:30:37 AM | | | | | | Australia’s largest operating wind farm sends first power to Sunshine State grid
MacIntyre wind farm. Source: Acciona Energia
Sophie Vorrath
Oct 4, 2024
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The largest operating wind farm in Australia, the 923 megawatt (MW) MacIntyre project in south-western Queensland, has marked a significant milestone, with the first export of renewable energy to the national electricity market announced on Friday.
Located in the Southern Downs outside Warwick, the MacIntyre wind farm has connected 27 wind turbines to the grid that will begin powering Queensland over the course of October, with exports progressively ramping up as the project progresses.
Wind farm majority owner and operator Acciona Energia says another batch of 27 turbines are expected to be exporting energy by Christmas. Once fully operational, in the second half of 2025, the 162 turbine project will almost double the total amount of wind generation capacity in Queensland.
MacIntyre wind farm is neck-and-neck with Victoria’s 1,330 MW Golden Plains wind farm as the biggest in Australia, with MacIntyre taking the title of biggest in operation – for now. Both have been injecting small amounts to the grid in recent weeks, although Golden Plains now appears to be further advanced in its commissioning process.
MacIntyre will ultimately be joined by the Herries Range Wind Farm – first unveiled in late 2022 – which will more than double the size of the “Big Mac” wind precinct to around 2GW – enough to power the equivalent of more than a million homes.
MacIntyre wind farm. Source: Acciona Energia
“Today marks a significant milestone for Australia’s diversification of its energy sources with the southern hemisphere’s largest operating wind farm now generating renewable energy,” said Acciona managing director Brett Wickham on Friday.
The MacIntyre wind farm is a joint-venture between Acciona Energia and Ark Energy, a subsidiary of Korea Zinc, which will use some of project’s power to support its sister company, Sun Metals and the Townsville refinery’s decarbonisation plans.
“Decarbonising industry and producing green metals will also put Sun Metals, and Queensland and Australia’s metal exports, at a significant competitive advantage internationally,” said said Ark Energy CEO Michael Choi.
The huge wind farm also has offtake agreements with the Queensland government owned Stanwell Corporation and CleanCo totalling 550MW. CleanCo had opted to build its own 103 MW wind farm – Karara – within the MacIntyre precinct, but withdrew that plan citing grid connection issues and delays.
“Major projects such as the MacIntyre Wind Farm will make a material contribution to decarbonising Queensland’s energy consumption, particularly in hard-to-abate industrial sectors,’’ Wickham said.
“Helping large industrial and commercial energy users to decarbonise supports these important industries to stay in Australia.
“From concreters to caterers, we have sourced more than $115 million in work and services from more than 80 businesses in and around the Darling Downs region and hired hundreds of local workers.”
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| From: The Kiwi Investor | 10/6/2024 5:53:56 AM | | | | | | Australian renewable problems Like wind and solar.
A big problem for the Australian Renewable energy market. In south Australia after a major bush fire burnt the power lines. Private citizens started buying a lot of solar panels to put on their houses because having no electricity in 40 degrees heat is very uncomfortable to say the least.
Now what's happened 40 percent of private citizens have installed solar panels on their houses and sell the excess into the grid. So some days the majority of electricity is generated by private homes. So if the rest of Australia catches on then the major generators are in trouble and what's worse is that the Australian government subsidies people to install solar panels on their houses.
Another example of how bizarre the Australian electricity market is. A couple of years ago Meridian energy which is 52 percent owned by the New Zealand government owned a renewable Power Station's in Australia and then sold up and left in 2022. |
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| From: Eric | 10/10/2024 11:45:23 AM | | | | | | Plans to be unveiled for 250 turbine wind project – the biggest in main grid – in state pine plantation
MacIntyre wind farm. Source: Acciona Energia
Giles Parkinson
Oct 10, 2024
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Plans for what could turn out to be the biggest wind project in Australia’s main grid will be released next week, with 250 turbines to be spread across the state-owned softwood plantations in the central west of NSW.
Owner TagEnergy is currently building the 1.33 GW Golden Plains wind farm in Victoria, which will stake its claim as the biggest in the country when complete next year, and is one of a number of groups granted permits by the state owned Forestry Corp to explore the feasibility of wind projects in the Gurnang, Mt David and Vulcan state forests.
Its proposal for the Pines wind project is for up to 250 turbines – each rated at about 8 megawatts each – that would deliver total capacity of around 2,000 MW. It says the project would generate as much power as five million solar panels and equivalent to the needs of 1.25 million homes.
The draft layout for the wind turbines is expected to be published next week ahead of planned drop-in sessions with local communities in Oberon, Burraga and Black Springs.
The Lisbon-based TagEnergy will own and operate the project, but it has engaged Stromlo Energy, a company also headed by former senior executives from Neoen Australia, to lead the investigations and permitting phase.
It says the final design and layout is not locked in, and could get even bigger given the interest of neighbouring landowners to also host turbines.
“The draft layout will evolve as the design progresses and will be influenced by detailed studies (for example traffic and transport routes, fire risk management, grid studies, visual impact, noise,ecology, heritage, constructability, wind resource, etc) and further discussions with the community,” it says in a statement published on its website.
It says some neighbouring landholders had expressed interest in hosting wind farm infrastructure, including turbines, which could mean that the size of the project will grow over time.
It says the project will deliver direct benefits to landowners who wish to host turbines and other project infrastructure, and to neighbouring residences who would be eligible for Neighbour Benefit Program payments.
There will also be a Community Benefit Fund and an Electricity Bill Credit program which it says could deliver up to $20 million in electricity bill reductions over the life of the project.
“The final size of the project will be determined by discussions and agreements with neighbouring landowners, the capacity of the existing transmission line, the outcomes of studies, as well as feedback from neighbours, potential wind turbine hosts and the community,” it says.
It is also still subject to approvals from the Department of Planning, Housing, and Infrastructure.
The Pines wind project is one of three awarded feasibility permits in the central west by Forestry Corp in May, with the others being a 500 MW project called Sunny Corner proposed by Mainstream Renewables and Someva Renewables, and Iberdola’s Four Mile Creek project, formerly called Canobolas.
A fourth permit was issued to Neoen Australia for the Bondo wind project in the south of the state near Tumut.
The drop in sessions for the Pines project next week will begin at the Oberon Library and Community Centre on October 17, following by the Black Springs community hall on October 19, and the Burraga community hall on October 22.
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| From: Eric | 10/14/2024 3:52:58 PM | | | | | | World’s biggest wind turbine – 26 MW – rolls off production line in China
Image Credit: Dongfang Electric
Joshua S Hill
Oct 14, 2024
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Chinese state-owned manufacturer Dongfang Electric says it has completed the production of a mammoth 26MW offshore wind turbine, by far the most powerful turbine yet to roll off the production line.
Dongfang Electric shared photos of the huge turbine dwarfing company employees on social media.
Designed to operate in areas with wind speeds of 8 metres per second (m/s) and above, the turbine is also built to withstand typhoons.
And, if it were to operate in an area with average wind speeds of 10m/s, a single unit would be capable of generating 100GWh of clean energy each year – enough to power 55,000 homes on its own.
A single unit would therefore be able to cut standard coal consumption by 30,000 tonnes and reduce CO2 emissions by 80,000 tonnes.
State-owned media outlets were also in attendance for the unveiling, reporting that the turbine would operate with a blade swept area of over 310 metres, and that the hub height would measure at 185 metres.
Image Credit: Xinhua
Though it has not actually been installed anywhere, the 26MW offshore wind turbine is easily the largest of its kind in the world.
In late August, Chinese renewable energy equipment manufacturer Mingyang Smart Energy took the lead in the race to build, install, and operate the world’s largest wind turbine when it completed the installation of a 20MW turbine – which is capable of generating 80GWh each year and a swept area of between 260 to 292 metres.
If Dongfang Electric are able to install its new 26MW anytime soon, it will skip away with the lead, as there have been very few reports of a turbine that could match it.
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