The conflict between North and South Sudan is rapidly deteriorating amid talk of war. The South last Friday and Saturday reportedly shut in 900 oil wells and signed a deal with Kenya to construct a new pipeline that would divert exports away from the North. “What the South will pay to ship oil north to… Keep reading →
A 30-megawatt offshore wind pilot project will use 5 floating turbines to generate electric power routed back to the mainland in Coos Bay, Oregon. “We’re not as anxious to commercialize it, but it’s still worth getting the projects into the water and testing them,” said Belinda Batten, director of the Northwest National Marine Renewable… Keep reading →
In what has to be seen as a discouraging sign for offshore wind power – a key component of the United Kingdom’s scheme to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions – RWE said it is abandoning the planned 1,200-megawatt Atlantic Array, in the Bristol Channel. The company said unspecified technological challenges of the project made it “uneconomic for RWE at this… Keep reading →
The race is on across the U.S. as states compete to lead in the green energy industry. Solar panels, wind turbines and geothermal energy facilities have popped up all over the nation. But not every state has been successful. Maine, for example, appears to be moving in the wrong direction. As of late, the state… Keep reading →
In the first competitive lease sale for renewable energy in U.S. waters, held on Wednesday, we have a winner: Deepwater Wind. You could say the taxpayers were winners, too, in as much as Deepwater will pay $3.8 million to build in two Wind Energy Areas off Massachusetts and Rhode Island, and it will pay $500,000… Keep reading →
Add Spain to the list of countries that have offshore wind power before the United States. And on this one the U.S. really missed an opportunity. (That’s right, cool though it is, I have decided not to count that scaled-down 20-kilowatt floating turbine demo off Maine as establishment of U.S. offshore wind power.) This is the real thing… Keep reading →
Oil prices moved up sharply last week on Opec supply disruptions, Russian crude diverted east as opposed to west and North Sea maintenance. Libyan output fell as the government negotiates with militias, but the Saudis are pumping more. [CGES] A diver was killed during construction of an offshore wind farm in Germany. Last month the… Keep reading →
As an Energy Strategist focused on advanced energy solutions, I’m very excited about the historic floating wind turbine, the first in the U.S., which recently entered the waters off the coast of Maine. However, while much of the focus has been on the 65-foot tall Volturn prototype, I thought it would be useful for readers… Keep reading →
Offshore wind energy has been challenging to develop in the US despite significant promise and comparative access on the East Coast to major load centers. Finding financing is a perennial challenge for renewable energy projects of all kinds, making Cape Wind‘s recent announcement it had finalized an agreement with Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ to lead its commercial bank financing marks a more significant step in developing the planned 468 MW wind farm than it at first appears.
Barclays remains the project’s financial advisor, and Ted Roosevelt IV, the managing director there, called the agreement with the Japanese bank a “significant step toward achieving financial close.” Keep reading →
A Vietnamese employee of GE’s newly built turbine generator factory walks in front of wind turbine components inside an assembly line in the northern coastal city of Hai Phong on October 15, 2010.
GE last month celebrated its 20,000th wind turbine installation, a gargantuan achievement given the US power generation giant only stepped into the sector in 2002 when it purchased the wind power assets from recently bankrupted Enron. Keep reading →
