Preview Newsletter
SFCE Sept 1
-
China Plans to Spend $300B to Improve Electrical Grid
Sep 1, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Michael Standaert
China is expected to spend “no less than” 2 trillion yuan ($313 billion) on its electric grid and distribution systems through 2020 to expand coverage in rural areas and to add smart grid systems in urban zones, the National Energy Administration said in an action plan released Aug. 31. -
Brazil: Auction delivers over 800 MW of PV at 8 cents/kWh
Sep 1, 2015 | PV Magazine
By Diaz Lopez
With water shortages threatening its hydroelectric resources, Brazil is continuing to diversify its renewable energy resources and has completed its second solar-only auction. The auction, carried out last Friday, will see 30 large-scale PV projects be developed across five Brazilian states, at prices that are comparable with other emerging PV markets. -
Siemens plans 7MW turbine factory – but is already eyeing 10MW+ model
Sep 1, 2015 | Recharge
By Bernd Radowitz
As Siemens signed off on the new German factory that will produce its landmark 7MW offshore turbine, Recharge learned that the company has far bigger plans for the site — a machine of 10MW or more. When the 170,000-square-metre manufacturing plant starts production in mid-2017, it will be “not the end, but the...
Industry News
Full Text of Stories Below
-
China Plans to Spend $300B to Improve Electrical Grid
Sep 1, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Michael Standaert
China is expected to spend “no less than” 2 trillion yuan ($313 billion) on its electric grid and distribution systems through 2020 to expand coverage in rural areas and to add smart grid systems in urban zones, the National Energy Administration said in an action plan released Aug. 31.
In addition, the central government said it will expand its Internet + strategy, a nationwide plan to integrate mobile communications, cloud computing and big data to further develop communications and electronic commerce.
The action plan directly addresses fixing “weak grid connectivity” in remote rural areas and standardizing power distribution equipment to better unify the electric grid, the NEA said.
By 2020, all major cities in China should have a 99.99 percent reliability rate, up from a current 99.95 percent, with no more than one hour of power outages annually and a 99.98 percent, up from a 99.8 rate, at all other urban areas, with no more than 10 hours of power outages annually. The rate of reliability for connected rural areas is expected to reach 99.72 percent by 2020, with no more than 24 hours of annual power outages.
Grid connectivity projects in the Tibet autonomous region and the provinces of Qinghai, Sichuan, Yunnan and Gansu will be a major focus of the rural connectivity projects, as well as the 592 poorest counties across the country.
The NEA said detailed regulatory plans for a pilot program for rural and urban grid convergence and technical guidelines for planning and design of future distribution networks will be released in 2016, with a full revision of technical standards expected by 2020.
China's ability to meet diversified energy loads from distributed power generation such as distributed solar power, intermittent power connections such wind and other solar, as well as addressing power needs to supply energy to plug-in vehicles will be helped along by 4.8 million sets of charging points that can provide charging for 5 million electric vehicles by 2020.
High-voltage power lines also will be extended to more than 1 million kilometers, 1.4 times greater than 2014 levels.
Urban Distribution Networks Planned
The action plan includes setting up a pilot program featuring 60 new urban distribution network demonstration areas by 2020 and integrating energy and Internet systems with urban planning, construction, water supplies, road networks and natural gas and other pipeline systems.
In addition, pilot programs for onshore power systems to power ships in port will be in place at several major port areas by 2017, providing 50 percent of the power needed for ships at berth in those ports by 2020, the NEA said.
Link (subscription needed): http://news.bna.com/deln/DELNWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=75050347&vname=dennotallissues&fn=75050347&jd=75050347
-
Brazil: Auction delivers over 800 MW of PV at 8 cents/kWh
Sep 1, 2015 | PV Magazine
By Diaz Lopez
With water shortages threatening its hydroelectric resources, Brazil is continuing to diversify its renewable energy resources and has completed its second solar-only auction. The auction, carried out last Friday, will see 30 large-scale PV projects be developed across five Brazilian states, at prices that are comparable with other emerging PV markets.
Spain’s Solatio and Italy’s Enel Green Energy were two of the successful companies in the auction. Solatio was awarded five projects in the second auction, with five 30 MW projects, near the town Minas Gerais in the Pirapora municipality, a particular standout.
SunEdison and Renova were also winners under the auction.
Enel Green Power (EGP) said on Monday it was awarded projects with a capacity of 553 MW in the auction, totaling more than half of the total capacity under the auction. As a result, the company will build two solar projects with 103 MW and 158 MW in the state of Bahia, along with a further 292 MW of utility scale arrays, primarily in the state of Piaui.
SunEdison was awarded two projects worth 16 MW in the municipality of Bahia.
The winning projects are to be located across five municipalities: Bahia, Minas, Gerais, Tocantins, Piaui and Paraiba. Bahia in particular will see a great deal of activity, with 12 projects worth 325 MW to be developed. Piaui and Minas Gerais, will both see a lot of development, as indicated earlier, with the latter seeing 150 MW installed across five projects. Paraiba is set to be the fourth most active state under the auction, with three projects worth 84 MW to be installed.
The first Brazilian solar-only tender saw 31 projects selected for around 890 MW of PV generating capacity. Previously solar had competed against other renewable sources under the country’s renewable energy program and were often out-competed by wind projects on price.
11 GW of PV projects were qualified by administrators for Brazil’s second solar auction, according to the country’s Power Research Company (EPE), although many were not able to achieve competitive prices under the auction.
Speaking to pv magazine last week, GTM Research’s Adam James noted that approval under the auction process does not automatically result in a project being realized.
“The projects that clear in the auction will still need to overcome some barriers to development, especially currency risk with power purchase agreements signed in Real and high taxes on PV equipment,” said GTM Research’s James.
Intersolar South America gets underway tomorrow in Sao Paolo. pv magazine will be reporting from the trade show floor. Click here for full coverage of Latin America PV markets in Spanish.
Link: http://www.pv-magazine.com/news/details/beitrag/brazil--auction-delivers-over-800-mw-of-pv-at-8-cents-kwh_100020875/#axzz3kUPOR6HT
-
Siemens plans 7MW turbine factory – but is already eyeing 10MW+ model
Sep 1, 2015 | Recharge
By Bernd Radowitz
As Siemens signed off on the new German factory that will produce its landmark 7MW offshore turbine, Recharge learned that the company has far bigger plans for the site — a machine of 10MW or more.
When the 170,000-square-metre manufacturing plant starts production in mid-2017, it will be “not the end, but the starting point of a development”, Siemens Wind chief executive Markus Tacke proudly announced at a signing ceremony last month at the German North Sea port of Cuxhaven.
While Tacke concentrated on the initial tasks of the new factory, Siemens offshore wind chief executive Michael Hannibal gave Recharge more detail on how the industrial giant will put Tacke’s claim into practice.
“Later, there could be a shift to a next platform. And the factory we are building here will be able to fully cope with that next platform’s requirements,” he says.
Siemens told Recharge last year that it was planning a 10MW platform for the next generation of offshore wind farms. But Hannibal reveals for the first time that the company’s plans are even more ambitious.
“We don’t call it a 10[MW], we call it a 1X[MW], because we do not know how big that X will be,” he tells Recharge. Hannibal does not divulge how the development of this platform is progressing, but he makes it clear that Siemens considers this to be an essential project.
“It is important that we have a development road map,” he says.
Hannibal also reveals that the upgrade of its established 6MW model to a 7MW unit will not be the end of that platform’s development.
“The 7[MW model] will have more evolutions, which will increase its output,” Hannibal says, but remains cautious when asked how powerful that future upgrade might be.
“Whether 8[MW] will be the optimum [size], or more, or less, is a good question,” he admits. “And we are also working on the rotor size, looking into how large the next set of blades should be so that you find the optimum length.”
Siemens’ work on ever-larger offshore turbines is part of its push to lower the levelised cost of energy.
“Costs must go down,” says Tacke. “Our target until 2020 is to reach less than €0.10 [$0.11] per kWh. Cuxhaven is making an essential contribution here. It will be a truly industrialised factory for what is still a very young industry.”
Siemens is also keeping a close eye on the emerging floating offshore market, where the plus-size machines it is developing will have a disadvantage. 8MW turbines will be too heavy for floating platforms, Siemens chief executive Joe Kaeser tells Recharge, proving that the company has already put more thought into the issue than it has so far conveyed.
Siemens is developing a promising new fibre that could make components of offshore turbines lighter, Kaeser reveals, adding that the company is determined to find new ways to make high-performance turbines lighter.
“There is no doubt for Siemens that floating turbines work, and we are monitoring where the markets could be,” Hannibal says.
He adds that Siemens is “looking into” the follow-up project to Hywind, which was the world’s first floating wind turbine, installed off Norway in 2009 by Statoil using a 2.3MW Siemens turbine. It was supposed to simply be a pilot turbine that would be dismantled once testing had concluded.
“[But] it is running so well that they have actually decided to let it run,” Hannibal explains.
“We are also in dialogue with other customers for floating turbines. We may have one in UK waters — Scotland could be a good hint,” Hannibal says, without disclosing further detail. “And then we are also working with other customers, giving support to their developments on what floaters could look like.”
There are two floating wind arrays planned off the Scottish coast. Statoil is planning a 30MW, five-turbine follow-up to Hywind called Buchan Deep, while start-up Pilot Offshore Renewables is about to hand in plans to the UK government for a 50MW demonstration project.
Siemens is already leading the offshore market by a considerable distance and, judging from what Recharge has learned in Cuxhaven, the company is working hard to keep itself in first place. Competitors should take note.
Link: http://www.rechargenews.com/wind/1409544/siemens-plans-7mw-turbine-factory-but-is-already-eyeing-10mw-model
Industry News
Full Text of Stories Below
Add recipients
Suggested