Vestas, the world’s largest wind turbine manufacturer, is to restructure its operations, entailing the loss of 2,335 jobs, as it seeks to reduce its fixed costs by more than Eur150 million from the end of 2012. The job losses, equivalent to about a tenth of its workforce, will result from factory closures and the streamlining … Read more
County Cork company Windturbines.ie and L-Power, based in Puglia, Italy, have signed a wind turbine supply agreement for the export of reconditioned wind turbines to Italy. Windturbines.ie will source, recondition and adapt the turbines to suit the Italian wind energy market, while L-Power will market, install and service the turbines for the end user. The … Read more
Offshore wind energy capacity increased in the first half year of 2011, with a 4.5% rise in installations compared to the corresponding period of 2010. According to the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA), 101 new offshore wind turbines, with a total capacity of 348 Megawatt (MW), were connected to the power grids in the UK, Germany … Read more
GE has expanded its Wind Services portfolio in Europe to include Production Based Availability Guarantees (PBA) as an option for new and existing operations and maintenance contracts on all GE 1.5 and 2.5 megawatt series wind turbines. Available later this year, GE’s production guarantees have been designed with the goals of its customers in mind; … Read more
Stuart Young Consulting, with support from the John Muir Trust, has released a report studying the ability of wind power to make a significant contribution to the UK’s energy supply. It concludes that the average power output of wind turbines across Scotland is well below the rates often claimed by industry and government. Indeed, says … Read more
Onshore wind energy alone can provide up to 65% of Germany’s electricity requirements, according to a new study published by the Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy and Energy System Technology (IWES) on behalf of the German Wind Energy Association (BWE). With just 2% of land area in Germany available for wind power production, Fraunhofer calculated … Read more
Belfast Harbour and DONG Energy, a world leader in offshore wind farms, are combining to establish a new hub for the burgeoning offshore wind energy sector. As part of the project, Belfast Harbour is to fund and build a new £40m, 450m quay and 50-acre logistics space on the County Down side of the Harbour. … Read more
GE has signed a ten year contract with Spanish wind developer Cobra Energia to provide advanced services for 178 GE wind turbines installed at eight wind farms across Spain. The agreement is GE’s largest wind energy services contract in Europe, and reinforces the company’s position in Europe’s highly competitive wind turbine services sector. The agreement … Read more
Energia, a member of the Viridian Group, has achieved financial close for its Eur72 million investment in 51 megawatts of electricity capacity in new wind farms at Crigshane and Church Hill in County Tyrone. The development forms part of Energia’s all-island renewable energy plans. Energia has completed Eur65 million in non-recourse project financing with Nord/LB … Read more
SSE Generation, the power generating business of SSE, the second largest electricity generator across the UK and Ireland, has signed a comprehensive and flexible service agreement with GE. The ten years contract covers SSE’s fleet of 127 GE wind turbines in operation across the UK and Ireland. The new agreement will provide a wide range … Read more