Floating Wind Turbines: all the systems reviewed

EUROPEAN UNION  - 29/07/2011 - 3B Conseils & Marine Renewable Energy Ltd
Original Article by Francis Rousseau. Edited and translated by Christopher Longmore.

Floating wind turbines can generate electricity where the depth is between  50 and 300 m, something that can occur sometimes very close to shore where the continental shelf drops steeply as is the case for some European countries on the Atlantic. At those depths, a fixed wind turbine is impossible and only one floating offers a viable solution. The concept of a floating wind turbne was first officially put forward by researchers at  the University of Massachusetts (UMASS) in 1972.  According to an american report produced by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) : "We had to wait until the the mid 1990`s, that is to say some time after the onshore wind farm industry was well established, before there was any further scientific research". Until  2003, the installation of offshore wind turbines was limited by the use of fixed foundations, the use of which is limited to waters no more than 30m deep. Since 2003, numerous developers all over the world have become interested in floating wind turbines. To-day there are four different types of deep water wind turbine paltforms using technologies very different from those mentioned in an earlier article of 1 June 2011 (French only)

4 PRINCIPAL TYPES OF FLOATING FOUNDATIONS.

1. "Spar Platform " : a submerged foundation with stabilised ballast equipped with catenary anchors allowing it to be simply hooked to the bottom. This is the system used by Hywind for StatoilHydro, Technip and Siemens off the coast of Norway (see article of 24 July 2009  French only). A first experimental unit was installed in 2009 off Stavanger at a depth of 22m and supporting a Siemens 2.eMw turbine. The end of the two year study is due for completion shortly.  The 100m long steel tube used in this first "spar" foundation was towed while horizontal to a Norwegian fiord, and then ballasted with water and rock while two floating cranes lifted and installed the mast and the turbine itself. The total cost according to Statoil was $72m. This foundation does not rest on the bottom of the sea; it floats and is attached to the bottom only by cables having a certain freedom of movement and fixed to anchors.

2. Tension Leg Platform are submerged platforms secured to the bottom with stretched cables themselves fixed to pillars  partly buried in the sae bed but not to catenary anchors. The cables tense and relaxmore or less in line with the swell. This is the technique used by  Blue H Technologies for their prototype described here in the article of 17 October 2008. French only). The first test phase started in 2008, after various fruitless discussions, with the installation of a first structure supporting a twin blade turbine off the coast of Italy in depths of 113m within the context of the Tricase Project. This was the world's first test of a floating platform. It was dismantled 6 months later.  At the same time Blue H started phase 2 of the development that entailed building a platform intended to carry a 2Mw wind turbine, for delivery in 2012, and still within the Tricase Project. Phase 3 is forecast for 2014 with the deployment in the high seas of the final design (see image) supporting a turbine from an as-yet unnamed maker.

3. "Semi-submersible" or stabilised floating. As its name implies, this is a semi-submerged platform, part visible above the surface. It uses a barge type structure secured to the bottom by catenary anchors.  This is the principle used in the spectacular triangular WindFloat  platform used by the American developer Principle Power Inc. They are working round the clock with  Energias de Portugal (EDP) and ASM GROUP to permit a first launch off the coast of Portugal at a depth of 43m. in all liklihood during September 2011. This tri-angular floating platform is an innovatory version of the semi-submersible platforms used in the oil and gas industries. It can be used in any depth of water and comprises three columns of light steel which makes it particularly stable and resistant to even the most extreme circumstances. Like the majority of of floating platforms, the semi-sub WindFloat  will be attached to the bottom of the sea with four cables. This structure estimated to cost US$23m has been designed to carry a wind turbine with a 67 metre high mast., and, initialy, a Vestas  Wind V80 2,0 MW unit.  Initially since Dominique Roddier, technical director of the project at  Principle Power, made it cleaer that " This platform in time is going to revolutionise the world of offshore wind power". If the experiments that are starting in September and lasting for a year, confirm their hopes, the developers have decided to plan a 150Mw offshore wind farm based on this technology offshore in Portugal. Ut may be based on Vestas5Mw turbines and, in the future, even the new 7Mw Vestas V164 7.0 de 7 MW.

4. Free Floating Platform (FFP)

The French floating platform WINFLO developed by DCNS, Nass&Wind, Saipem and In Vivo Environnement  with the support of IFREMER Brest and ENSTA, is also part of the semi-submersible category with catenary anchoring but with sufficient differences for it to be part of a different category the Free Floating Platform (FFP). Thus it is a "semi-sub" structure lighter and more independent  of the anchorage system and the float. This allows it to be disconnected and towed easily for maintenance. The WINFLO floating offshore wind farm project brings together major industrial groups in the shipbuilding, oil construction and wind turbine industries. The recent French government call for tenders of the 11 July 2011 and that yet to come in January 2012 should lead the protagonists to put in place rapidly a near full scale model of 2.5Mw off the coast of Brittany and actually linked into the grid. The project provides for the use of a nacelle specifically designed for offshore use, light and resistant to the needs and aggressions of the marine environment. The machine will be installed on a semi-submersible platform secured to the sea bed with catenary anchors that are easier to use than conventional ones.

IDEOL

To these four ideas for floating wind turbines, there are variations like the very interesting French system by Ideol based in La Ciotat that has the effect of limiting the wake effect of a wind turbine thanks to a mechanical solution that moves the entire turbine (see photo at left), backed by software that calculates in real time the optimal array in the light of a number of parameters this maximising the energy output. Founded just a year ago (See article of march 2011), the company hopes to install a first experimental prototype in 2013.

PROSPECTIVE FLOATING WIND TURBINES

1. Vertical axis floating turbines. 

VERTIWIND.  There is some research into vertical axis offshore wind turbines, including VERTIWIND (See article of  20 January 2011). A brief summary: vertical blades turning on a vertical mast like a domestic beater;  rotation speed that varies in line with the wind strength thus eliminating all risk of blade vibration; 90m high, so muchc less than that of traditional wind turbines; the floating platform needs only shallow (10m) water that makes towing it from land cheaper and less complex than with a conventional wind turbine. Thanks to its abiility to float above depths of 200m and more, the VERTIWIND  concept brings together the advantages of other floating wind turbines with that of  great flexibility in use thanks to its vertical blades. Technip, whom we can say are at the forefront of companies engaged in the battle for floating wind turbines, is involved in the Hywind project in  Norway, was right in launching a call for tenders in regard to Vertiwind and in setting itself the task "of designing, making, installing, and testing a pre-production wind turbine for use offshore" where the  twin peculiarities are being both floating and of vertical axis. For  Technip, VERTIWIND offers new perspectives for a second generation of offshore wind turbines for various countries, particularly in the Mediterranean basin, and even in the USA. The Vertiwind project has been cerrtified by  Pôle Mer PACA (one of our partners) and benefitrs from one of the first grants from the  Programme d’Investissements d’Avenir, (French only) launched in teh context of the  Grand Emprunt (French only) under the auspces of the French Prime Minister via ADEME.

DEEPWIND

In this race to floating gigantism and strange objects, mention must be made of the Danish  DeepWind presented in the magazine Wind Tech ien 2010 (Click here). It is a 0Mw vertical axis floating turbine studied by  the Danish Technical University (DTU). Despite its highly futuristic appearance, the Deep Wind project, launched in 2010, has received a €3m. subsidy over 4 years in the context of the european future technologies program. The concept combines a vertical axis turbine of the Darrieus type (well known technology), with a blade system and an innovative transmission and control system, linked to a floating and rotating structure. The concept includes a  direct drive generator with electronic controls located at the base of the unit and links via electric cables. A full-scale 5Mw demonstrator prototype is due tp be placed in the waters of Roskilde sound near DUT. Once they have completed this phase, the developers are planning a larger unit with a turbine that could be as powerful as  20 Mw.

2. Autres projets

SWAY
Still in the field of  prospective floating wind turbines, some UFOs are competing for the limelight! Leader of the pack is Sway®  the first studies for which go back to 2003. This absolutely unique system works on the same principal as a half full bottle of water in the sea. The one-piece, heavily ballasted,  combined turbine, mast, and foundation behaves just like the floating bottle. With the centre of gravity far below, this gives the mast enough stability to handle the  strains produced by the turbine above.  At sea the unit might swing through 5 to 8º.  Despite its apparent fragility, the system has nonetheless been approved by the very well-known practice Garrad Hassan & Partners, stating that it is "technology that best confronts the worst sea conditions." In 2009, (see. article of 1 august 2009) AREVA Wind  judged the project sufficiently convincing to start a collaboration with Sway®  to build a joint turbine of 5 Mw. In 2010 (see  artcile of 17 February 2010) Sway® and the public Norwegain company  ENOVA.no announced a  project to build a 10Mw turbine on a Sway® base, a project that was to propose the first concrete elements in 2011. A small scale prototype was launched on 10 Juin 2011 (Click here). The trials are to last for 1 or 2 years. We are still some way from the largest floating turbine in the world.

MUFOWS
Finally at the end of the chain of prospects, so to speak is the MUFOWS (Multiple Unit Floating Offshore WindfarmS) project of which details HERE. It started to see the light of day in the 1990s when interest in offshore wind farns really got going.  Developed jontly by University College of London (UCL), W.S. Atkins and the Energy research Centre of the Netherlands (ECN), the concept is based on the apparently simple idea of mounting a battery of various turbines on a single semi-sub foundation anchored to the sea bed with a cable. Two types of structure were envisaged - a backbone (photo 1) and an octagon each able to carry up to 8 turbines. Sadly, in 2000, an in-depth feasability study concluded that although the structure were perfectly doable and reliable, they had no chance of being viable in the circumstances then ruling in northern Europe. The study also concluded that the matter should be studied again if and when deep water offshore wind farms were under review. That is now the case.

Sources : Sites lnked and mentioned. Photo 1 : Eolienne Windflfoat ©Principle Power Inc. 2: Hywind  floating turbine ©Technip/Statoil. 3: Descriptive Schema  Windfloat©Principle Power. 4 et 5 : Winflo ©DNCS. 6 : Ideol©Ideol. 7.Vertiwind vertical axis turbine © Technip. 8 : Darrieus floaating turbine Deepwind ©DTU. 9. Eolienne Sway © Sway® . 10Mufows on backbone  and 11 Mufows octagon ©UCL


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GICAN and SER also committed to Marine Renewables

GICAN and SER also committed to Marine Renewables

SATURDAY, 23 JULY 2011 17:36 BRIGITTE BORNEMANN

Paris (France-UE). 22/07/2011 - 3B Conseils - Brigittte Bornemann. Editted and translated by Christopher Longmore.

Following on from Thursday's article, marine renewable energies are now in the sights of both civilian and the defence industries. Jean-Marie Poimboeuf, president of GICAN and Jean-Louis Bal, president of SER (Syndicate of Marine Renewables), on July 13th sent a letter to Christian Steiff, president of the jury of IEED to indicate their support for FRANCE ÉNERGIES MARINES*, the consortium led by."The GICAN members at the same time made clear their sujpport was alongside AREVA, DCNS, STX Europe and Pôles Mer Bretagne and PACA, all deeply involved in the marine reneables industry...

Indeed, marine renewable energies for France represent an impoartant challenge in terms of diversification of energy produciton and industrial competitiveness. The energy potoential as well as the strengths in naval shipbuilding and offshore engineering, bring together the cards needed for the development of a real industrial sector, that has to be brought up to European and global standards. At the beginning, the development of an emerging sector needs a pooling of the players and the support of the state in unblocking technical obstacles.  The first ADEME calls for tender chose 5 technical demonstrators; this was an improtant first step. Beyond those projects, limited in time, lies the challenge of capitalising on the results, analysing what was learnt, developing the prototypes, and on to new projects.… in a word creating a real dynamism in the various technological sectors involved.....During the one day of Juy 19th, the DCNS incubator site at Brest welcomed three notable visitors: Jean-Yves Le Drian, president of the Brittany Regional Council;  Rajendra K. Pachauri, president of the GIEC (group of international cliamte change experts), accompanied by Serge Lepetier, French ambassador to the UN climate change negotiations. The purpose was to meet the assembly teams for the first OpenHydro tidal turbine that is to be installed offshore from Paimpol-Bréhat in north Brittan. (see article dated 21/07/2011 at www.marine-renewable-energy.com)

* France Energies Marines is a consortium of  54 industriel companies, co-ordinated by Yann-Hervé de Roeck (IFREMER). The first management meeting will be presided by EDF.  IFREMER is presided by Jean-Yves Perrot

**  The call for tenders for projects of excellence in the domaine of carbon free energy is managed by the Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR). Endowed with a total budget of €1bn ,« Instituts d’Excellence dans le domaine des Energies Décarbonées» (IEED) will allow the emergence of 5 to 10 IEED in this world class incubator.

Bretagne Developpement Innovation, DCNS, Pôles Mer Bretagne et Paca are all partners of this blog

Source : Gigan

Originally published in French at defenseetenvironnement.blogspot.com

The partial or total reproduction by any person physical or corporate on any media of the documents and information placed on-line in this blog without the prior written permisison of 3B Conseils and the citation of the source of that information, its date, and authors is strictly forbidden and will result in immediate legal action.

CADIZ - (Spain) - 19/07/2011 - 3B Conseils - from the Oringinal Article by Francis Rousseau; translated and editted by Christopher LONGMORE.

The Spanish renwable energies giant Acciona and naval shipbuilder Navantia have made it known that they are going to co-operate in the specific field of offshore wind farms. The two companies state that they are determined to " develop projects, and insdustrial and technological activities in collaboration with different institutions with a view to contributing to the creation of an offshore wind farm industry". Their co-operation in the domaine of offshore wind power also intends to cover fields as diverse as "the construciton of mono-pile or jacket foundations, building sub-stations and electricity stations, meteorological stations, maintenance ships and platforms for the installation of dismantlement of unts".  Acciona and Navantia also announced that they are going to undertake a number of enquiries and evaluations in order to assess the capacity of Spanish ports and the existing Navantia installations for use in the offshore wind farm industry". 

Although the onshore wind turbine industry is quite highly developed in Spain and the number of turbine builders is sizeable((Acciona, Gamesa, Iberdrola), the same is not true of fixed offshore units. This is due adiz o the fact that Spanish companies have focussed their research and work mainly on floating turbines because of the narrow continentail shelpf off their coast, that plunges to great depths relatively close to shore.  "Spain is number 2 in Europe and number 4 worldwide in the onshore wind turbine industry and our two companies agreed that it was essential to seize the  growth opportunity offered by the anticipated spectacular growth of the offshore industry in coming decades. We need to ensure that we are not overtaken and displaced by groups coming from outside the country, and that are already interested in the industry for electricty production"; explained Carmen Becceril, Manaiging Diector  of Acciona. Navantia is the fifth largest naval shipbuilder in Europe, and one of the ten largest worldwide. They affirm that their installations in the Bay of Cadiz and elsewhere (unspecified) have the infrastructure for storage, assembly, installation, exploitation and maintainance of offshore wind farm equipment. Navantia claims to be able as of now to undertake R&D for the conception of floating structures and the ships for the installation and support of offshore wind farms in deep water some in collaboration with Acciona. That company likes to put forward its 3Mw offshore AW3000 turbine, generally considered as outdated given the capacities now beng advanced by Siemens, Vestas, REpower, let alone Areva or Alstom. They are late to market when operators are seeking greatly to reduce the costs of operating offshore wind turbines by increasing the output per unit. On the other hand, Acciona does have considerable expertise in marine and port construction, as well as onshore wind farm operation, with some 220 on-shore farms having a total capacity of 6.38 GW. Acciona  sees itself undertaking a technology transfer from onshore to offshore as well as the optimisation offshore based on its marine and onshore wind farm experience, as the basis for its success in the market. Its weakness is in the turbines, but there have been discussions with the Japanaese firm Mitsubishi Electric in June with a view to setting up a joint venture, or even an offshore consortium to serve the markets of Northern Europe.  It is still not known if Navantia has agreed to this or excluded such an alliance. In any event since the framework agreement of €2Bn signed in 2009 between Acciona et Mitsubishi as a result of which Mitsubishi took a stake in Acciona's giant solar plant in Portugal, the two companies have been in regular contact as soon as renewables were being discussed. Thus In February 2011, Mitsubishi acquired 15 % of Acciona's thermal actvities.  According to the Danish consultancy BTM Consult ApS, in 2020 installed offshore wind farms will amount globally to 75,000Mw of which 52,000Mw will be in Europe, 19.600 MW in China and only 2.000 MW in Canada and the USA combined. ccording to EWEA by 2030, 150.000 MW will be installed in Europe alone, representing ana investment of some €16.5Bn p.a. The market therefore has plenty to whet the appetites of several large European industrial groups.

Sources : Sites linked and  mentionned. Photos : turbine AW3000 © Acciona

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DCNS starts to assemble an OPEN HYDRO

BREST (France) - 20/07/2011 - 3B Conseils - Original Articles by Francis Rousseau and Brigitte Bornemannopen, editted and translated by Christopher Longmore.

As we had been led to expect, part of the  OpenHydro tidal turbine that is to join the EDF test site at Paimpol-Brehat at the beginning of August arrived on the 18th July at Brest commercial harbour, transported by Filia Ariea from Greenore, north of Dublin.

The unit, accompanied by a technician seconded from OpenHydro, is the turbine weighing 110 tonnes and of 16 metres diameter of the tidal turbine that DCNS is going to start assembling after transport to the Basin 9 of the naval harbur by the barge "Le Ter". To-day the Le Ter is going to make another trip laden with other tidal turbine components. Delivery of the OpenHydro tidal turbine to the Brest site started on 21 June 2011 with four elements of the base manufactured in the workshops of Construction métallique et préfabrication (CMP) in Dunkirk and transported on the cargo ship Beaumare.

OpenHydro got the order for four tidal turbines each of 500Kw that are to enter service in 2012 at the first French EDF using the tidal currents at Paimpol-Bréhat, Côtes d'Armor, Brittany. Initially the project was for a total of 10 tidal turbines to be in place in 2011. The four OpenHydro units eventually ordered for the current revised project, partly built in Ireland, will be assembled by DCNS in Brest, either in the naval base or at a site in the commercial port. The decision will be taken before the end of the year. The first tidal turbine is currently being assembled in Basin 9 of the navla harbour is planned to leave there at the end of August bound for the Horaine site off Bréhat where it will be submerged until Octobre 2011 for a series of tests in full operational conditions. The objective et in 2008 has therefore been respected L'objectif fixé en 2008 est donc  given that an OpenHydro will indeed be oerational in 2011.

The unloading of the various components of this first tidal turbine has been possible thansk to the help from varioous partners in the Port of Brest at the request of Blue Water Shipping. These include CCI Brest, Atlantic Docks Stevdoring (ADS) - Port de Brest and Manuport Brest.

According to a DCNS Communiqué, Jean-Yves Le Drian, president of the Britanny region came to view the turbine for himself and was able to see, when visiting the DCNS site, that the region has fulfilled its commitments. The President of the region said "Brest is postionning itself to be THE port for the French marine renwables industry. Brittany is mobilised to give an example nationally, and this is the first step that we are taking here in brest to-day". He also drew attention to the role of the Regional Council, and also that of businesses like EDF and DCNS in the creation of the marine renewables sector.

Brest City Council (BMO) is particularly involved in the domain of marine renewables, notably in its activities via SMBI (Syndicat Mixte Brest Iroise), the four partners of whch are the Brittany Regional Council, the General Council of Finistere, the Chamber of Commerce of Brest and BMO is already active politically to make Brest the Brittany port for marine renewables.

On July 19th, another important visit was that of the president of the GIEC (group of inter-governmental experts on the evolution of climate) Dr Rajendra K. Pachauri, accompanied by Serge Lepeltier, the French ambassador responsible for climate change negotiations at the UN. He came to view the tidal turbine at the DCNS site and to view the assembly operations. He was in Brest on the occasion of the holding of the annual working group meeting of the GEIC, co-presided by Thomas STOCKER, Qin DAHE, and Jean JOUZEL vice-président du GIEC.

Sources : sites linked and quoted.  Photo 1 : Turbine Open hydro © Ouest France. 2 : Hydrolienne Open Hydro©open Hydro

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ATLANTIC POWER CLUSTER: a transnational European project

EUROPEAN UNION - 22/07/2011 - 3B Conseils. Original Article by Francis Rousseau, translated and editted by Christopher Longmore.

The Atlantic Power Cluster was presented at the start of the month at Carrefour In'Energie, an event organised by the Région des Pays de la Loire with the help of the local economic development agency. It was created in 1989 under the presidency of the Region Bsse Normandie at the instigation of the Commission Arc Atlantique.

It aims to bring together several European countries with Atlantic coastline (the UK,Ireland, France, Euskadi, Spain, and Portugal) and 25 French regions with 3 main objectives::

1. Develop a transnational strategy for Marine Renewable Energies (MRE) based on the complementarity between the regions and partner organisations.

2. Strengthen competitivness and innovation via the development of MRE.

3. Contribute to a greener energy produciton model in Europe (strategy UE 2020).

The group revolves around the Commission Arc Atlantique with the following members:

Portugal : Wave Energy Centre (WavEC) founded in 2003 and intended to support companies wanting help in terms of information about the exploitation of wave enerrgy and to promote that technology. INEGI Institute founded in 1986 to act as interface between universities and industry in the fields of R&D, innovation, and technology transfer.

Spain : FUAC (La Coruña University Foundation) very R&D oriented ; FAEN Asturias Energy Foundation) ; SODERCAN (Cantabria Development Agency) ; EVE (Basque country energy agency) created in 1982 by the Basque regional government, very implicated in marine renwables, and about whom we will return soon. CIEMAT (Energy and Environmental research agency attached to the ministry of Science and Innovation.

France : the Aquitaine Region that is very committed to the development of MRE; Pôle des Éco-industries de Poitou-Charentes that supports innovation and follows devlopment of businesses in Poitou-Charentes that contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gases; Société publique régionale des Pays de la Loire already mentionned above ; Bretagne Développement Innovation, partner of this blog, and resulting from the merger in 2011 of the Agence économique and Bretagne Innovation. Its aim is to help achieve the major strategic objectives of regional economic development policy, and to sustain the economy by the performance of its companies in preparation for to-morrow's economic challenges; Région Basse Normandie whopse commitment to MRE is well known.

UK : Regen South West, a centre of expertise in renewable energy and innoative products for the south-west of England. SEGEC (Scottish European Green Energy Centre) very involved with institutiions, networks, and technology platforms n order to influence the future political agenda, and identify niche opportunities that allow collaboration between different industrial sectors.

Ireland : Galway County Council nterested in and committed to the development of marine renewable energies. CIT (Cork Institute of Technology) very focussed on R&D and has made itself a psecialist in building bridges between innocation and industry.

Each one of the partners has a precise role to fulfill. Thus management and co-ordination falls to the Spanish SODERCAN ;the study or regional benchmarking with the theme "Understanding and comparing the regional strategies for MRE" - Commission Arc Atlantique ; social acceptability to Galway County Council charged with devloping the methods and communication adapted to the different public sectors concerned by MRE so as to reach a consensus; development to our partner Bretagne Développement Innovation charged with identifying new markets for Atlantic companies;the skills and manpower training needed by the MRE industry to CIT (Cork Institute of Technology) ; the development of the Atlantic Cluster, that is to say the conception of the cooperation structures c'est-àîdire la conception de structures needed by MRE to EGEC (Scottish Green Energy) Centre ; and finally communication to the Région Basse Normandie.

The experimental sites in the Atlantic can thus be seen as a new element in the value chain of MRE. A precise map of the sites has been drawn up of the European offishre wind farm inustry, to which we will return in detail on another occasion, and includes the henceforth famous EMEC operating in the Orkneys in the UK. It seems the star and to be THE test site, used to test the no-less famouswave energy converter Oyster by Aquamarine Power ; Galway Bay (working in the UK) ; Wave Hub (in the process of being set-up in the UKi) ; Belmullet under development in Ireland); Nissun Bradning in use in Denmark ; Alpha Ventus (in use in north Germany) ; SEM-REV (dedicated to wave energy and under development in France) ; BIMEP (under development in the Basque country) and Aguçadoura in use in Portugal and which was the first wave energy experimental site in the world. It is where the Pelamis systems (see photoabove right) are tested with a view to creating a 20Mw park.

Sources. Sites linked and mentioned. Map and Photos. 1 : Map of the members of the Atlantic Cluster © Commission Arc Atlantique. 2. Map of European wind strengths © aquaret.com 3:Pelamis Wave Farm à Aguçadoura (Portugal) 4. Map of MRE in the RTA region © extrait Carrefour Sin' Energie 2011- presentation by Stéphane Peyhorgue, Energy Manager.

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Record 2011 Costs to date for Reinsurers

Insurance Costs of Natural Disasters
Cause	Region	Loss in $US	Loss in €	Sums Insured	Date 2011
Earthquake, Tsunami	Japan	210	149.90	30	11/03/11
Earthquake	New Zealand	20	14,27	10	22/02/11
Storms & Tornados	United States	7,5	5,35	5	22-28/04/11
Floods	Australie	7,3	5,21	2,55	Dec 10 – Jan 11
Storms & Tornados	United States	7	5	4,9	20 to 25 May

A Munich Re Press Release of to-day July 13th states "An exceptional accumulation of very severe natural catastrophes makes 2011 the highest-ever loss year on record, even after the first half-year. Already, the approx. US$ 265bn in economic losses up to the end of June easily exceeds the total figure for 2005, previously the costliest year to date (US$ 220bn for the year as a whole). Most of the losses were caused by the earthquake in Japan on 11 March.

In total more than 355 natural disasters were recorded throughout the world in the first six months of 2011 as compared to the 390 average for the same period in the last ten years. However the damage in Japan were enormous; US$210Bn for that disaster on its own (€151Bn)

For the insurers, the losses generated by this double catastrophe totalled US$30Bn (€21.60Bn), an amount lower than the loss generated by Hurricane Katrina that struck Louisana in 2005.

The New Zealnd earthquakes in February and June caused US$20bn of damage (€14.30Bn) of which more than half were insured.

Meteorological disasters were also numerous and violent in the firsst six months of the year, particularly those derived from the La Niña phenomenon, which created serious perturbations by cooling the tropical Pacific Ocean.

With 1,600 tornadoes recorded in the world between January and June, the first six months of 2011 has already almost beaten the 2008 record - also a La Niña year according to Munich Re. The south and centre of the USA were affected by particularly violent tornados on April and May.

At the beginning of the year, the North-East of Australia was the victim of violent floods and then of Cyclone Yasi - the most severe storm seen in the region for almost a century.

Last March a Swiss Re - world number 2 reinsurer - showed that in 2010 natural disasters had caused economic damage estimagted at US$218Bn and costing insurers US$43Bn (€154.40 and €30.50 respectively). Also according to Swiss Re, the cost of damage was 3 times greater than the €68Bn recorded in 2009.

Original Article by Brigitte Bornemann at http://science-ethique.blogspot.com/ - translated by Christopher LONGMORE

Sources: AFP, Les Echos, Reuters, Munich Re.

Calls for French Offshore Wind Farms - D-Day!

PARIS - (France) - 11/07/2011 - 3B Conseils & Marine Renewable Energy Ltd
Orginal Article by Francis Rousseau; translated by Christopher Longmore

While the Ministry of Ecology, Energy, and Durable Development planned to announce the presentation of the paper General Direction of Energy & the Climate for Tuesday 12th July from 09:00 to 12:30 a.m., giving details of the first tranche of the invitation to tender for the development of French offshore wind farms addressed to industry professionals, the minister in charge Eric Besson cut the grass from under their feet by announcing on radio at Europe 1, (and that was taken up by the prees agency AFP, le Point ...) the publication of that same invitation to tender on Monday 11th July (to-day) on the site of the Commission de Régulation de l'Energie (CRE).  (Procedure for the presentation of  tender requirements and notice of appearance in the  Journal officiel of the EU ; tender requirements; downloadable canditature form).

THE TWO  TRANCHES OF THE CALL FOR TENDERS

As we all now know, the call for tenders launched to-day and to-morrow by the French government relates to Phase 1 of  3000Mw (3Gw) out of the 6000Mw (6Gw) planned for installation by 2020


The complete programme requires an investment of €20bn. The cost excess of offshore wind power will be offset by the contribuiton made by the public to the creation of this service.

To finance the programme, this contribution will be raised between 2015 and 2020 to a sum equalling 4% of the average electricity bill - that is some €25 per household per year. This amount will fall thereafter, subjet to the evolution of the electricity market.

The second tranche, also of 3000Mw (3Gw) is planneed for early 2012.

To-day therefore we are talking about the launch of the first phase of 3GW. To make this figure more easily understood, this means erecting 600 turbines of 5Mw (the AREVA for example) or 500 of 6Mw (the Alstom illustrated left for example).

This would represent 9m Megawatt hours, or 1.7% of France's electricity generation.


According to ADEME,(Agence de l'Environnement et de la Maitrise de l'energie) the French wind farm  industry already employed 11,000 people at the end of 2010, and by the end of 2012 this number is expected to have increased to 17,000 and to remain at that level for the foreseeable future.

The two tranches combined imply placing between 1000 and 1200 turbines according to their output, making a total of 6Gw or 3.5% of French electricity consumption. The tender document, put together in consultation with the interested parties, will be finalised by the minister resposnible for energy.

THE FIVE "PLOTS" on OFFER.
The 5 zones or "plots" covered by to-day's invitation to tender contain no surprises having been the subject of discussions, presentations, and preliminary agreements (See article of 25 January 2011 and the map published on the left), but to-day nonetheless  makes them official.

The five are :

- Le Tréport (Seine-Maritime, Somme) plot size 110 km2, and a maximum power output of 750 MW.
- Fécamp (Seine-Maritime) plot size 88km2, for a maximum power output of  500 MW.
- Courseulles-sur-Mer (Calvados) plot size 77 km2, for a maximum power output of 500 MW.
- Baie de Saint-Brieuc (Côtes-d'Armor) plot size 180 km2, for a maximum power output of 500 MW.
- Estuary of the Loire at Saint-Nazaire (Loire-Atlantique) plot size 78 km2, for a maximum power output of 750 MW.

All together they represent  533 km2 of sea area.


The closing date for the submission of tenders is Wednesday11 January 2012 at 14:00

THE PORT AREAS INVOLVED.
The port areas ready and able to handle the requirements of the future offshore wind farms and the infrastructure required for their construction are:

1. ENGLISH CHANNEL/NORTH SEA :

Dunkirk (See. article of 17 may 2011).
The site of the Port of  Dunkirk is one that has long brought together strength in energy, metallurgy, mechanical engineering, and logistics. It is one of Europe`s leading ports in terms of maritime traffic. and boasts vast capacity for the storage and transport of turbine components. Its strategic geographical position confers on it a massive advantage in the development of the facilities needed to develop offshore wind farms on the Atlantic coast, the English Channel, and the North Sea, eventually including those of Great Britain, Holland, Germany, and Denmark. It should also be remembered that Dunkirk was the assembly point for the Thanet Park located off the coast of England and to date still the largest offshore wind farm in the world.

Le Havre (see. article of 21 December 2010 and article of 26 January 2011)
The territory of the  Departement of Seine-Maritime  already has the port and energy infrastructure required by the storage and transport of heavy equipment like that required by the offshore wind farm industry.

The Port of Rouen/ Le Havre (Port 2000) is the largest sea port in France. Many industrial sectors are present in the area: petrochemical, automobile, aeronautical, chemical, electronics, etc.. The territory also includes numerous sub-contractors in the field of foundry, metal-working, plastics, building materials, and boilermaking, ship-building and industrial maintenance. It is also the port for the future Grand Paris.

Cherbourg (see. article of 26 November 2010)
Basse-Normandie has been engaged in a collaboration that brings together the Conseil Régional, the Département de la Manche e and the City of Cherbourg .   With Ports Normands Associés (PNA), Miriade (Mission pour l’innovation et le développement économique régional), the region has the necessary capacity for the development of the offshore wind farm industry and the assembly of the turbines.
Ports Normands Associés (PNA)  has decided to increase the capacity of the port by extending the quay des Flamandas by 220 metres. That represents an investment of €50m, and increases the attractions of this site.

2. BRITANNY.

Brest (See. articles  of 9 May 2009,  29 October 2010 and  1 March 2010)
The Brittany Region brings together all the skills and know-how required for the sector with around 100 companies, subsidiaries, or offices of major industrial groups, as well as highly skilled, innovatory, and active small companies.

Bretagne Innovation, and Pôle mer Bretagne-Paca (partners of this blog), and the  Bretagne Pôle Naval  cluster are piloting the development of the industrial side of marine renewable energies. There are 70 companies involved with almost 800 employees operating in the naval shipbuilding and offshore wind farm industries. They are mainly shipbuilders, engineering firms, specialists in the fields of metal working, panel beating, electricity, and electronics, equipment suppliers (masts, composite structures, measuring systems and devices) and companies offering ancilliary services (logistics, trasnsport, and handling). Mention must be made too of local higher eduction establishments like: ENSTA, ENIB, Ecole navale, Institut Universitaire Européen de la Mer - UBO. Brittany also has the skills of  IFREMER Bretagne,the underwater cabling of  France Telecom marine, the 'Agence des aires marines Protégées,  and the Service Hydrographique et Océanographique de la Marine (SHOM).

The main Brittany ports belonging to the Conseil Régional de Bretagne enjoy the best geographical position for the Channel and Atlantic projects. The ports of  Brest and Lorient are particularly well suited to manufacturing at quayside with respectively 36 and 5 hectares available. Actions already under way will allow local businesses to offer their servives as suppliers or sub-contactors to the development of the project and their partners for logistics, foundations, metal structures, equipment suppy, assembly of the wind turbines,  electrical infrastructure, exploitation and maintenance.

Various options have been studied with IFREMER to offer experimental sites for the fabrication of part or all of the wind turbines.  Thus the Brest polder project managed by the public/private syndicate Brest métropole océane (a partner of one of our sister sites entretiens Science et Ethique 2011) could be used for building the foundations. assemblilng the different components, and their maintenance thanks to the ease of access and  the space available. The Port of Lorient and the  Port of Saint-Malo could be used for assembly or sub-assembly and maintenance.

3. ATLANTIC

Nantes - Saint Nazaire (See. article of 1 March 2010)
The Région des Pays de la Loire brings together a strong concentration of know-how and experience in the ship-building that is a major local economic activity. In view of the prospect of the development of offshore wind farms in France, various insustrial groupings came together in recent months, around the  Chambre de commerce et de l’industrie de Nantes Saint-Nazaire, to offer foundations building, cable manufacture land assembly, logisitics, maintenance, the fabrication of mechanical components, and electromechanics.

Au sein de ce regroupement, le cluster Néopolia regroupe plus de 130 entreprises, possédant des compétences dans les secteurs naval, aéronautique, offshore et ferroviaire. Il a constitué une filière marine d’une soixantaine d’entreprises, qui prépare aujourd’hui sous forme de partenariat entre entreprises une diversification de ses activités vers l’éolien offshore, notamment pour la fabrication de mâts, la logistique, le déchargement, l’entreposage des composants d’éoliennes. Les infrastructures portuaires sont en cours d’évolution afin de proposer une offre adaptée à l’éolien offshore. En effet, le Grand Port Atlantique Nantes-Saint-Nazaire qui a reçu en début d'année les Certification ISO 9001 et ISO 14001 (ICI) est spécialisé dans la manutention de charges lourdes, avec la présence de plusieurs acteurs importants qui réceptionnent déjà les éoliennes destinées aux installations à terre, avant de les stocker à Montoir. Le territoire possède une longue expérience de la fabrication d’ensembles métalliques complexes pour la construction navale et aéronautique. Le port de Saint Nazaire et le site du Carnet sont des sites pouvant servir à l’assemblage d’éoliennes destinées à des parcs offshore.
Un accord avec le Port du Havre a été réalisé. L'Ecole Centrale de Nantes, Ifremer Centre Atlantique, et DCNS Nantes Les Indrets sont aussi concernés par les énergies renouvelables de la mer.

Bordeaux (cf. article du 22 Juin 2010)

La Région Aquitaine compte aujourd’hui plusieurs industriels éoliens dont EADS Astrium qui fabrique des pales d’éoliennes et Plastinov qui réalise des pièces en matériaux composites. Plusieurs sous-traitants de l’aéronautique, de l’automobile et de la construction navale, représentant 400 entreprises, soit plus de 20 000 emplois, souhaitent se positionner sur le marché de l’éolien offshore comme sous-traitants des constructeurs d’éoliennes, avec des compétences en mécanique, logistique, électricité, usinage… Bordeaux bénéficie de sa position au cœur de l’Océan Atlantique et possède les infrastructures portuaires et fluviales adaptées à l’acheminement des grandes pièces dont les composants destinés à l’installation des parcs éoliens en mer.
Le Grand Port Maritime de Bordeaux (GMPB) pourrait dédier la zone du terminal du Verdon à l'éolien offshore (stockage et transport de mâts, de turbines et de pales). Une zone de test de 100 ha dont 14 immédiatement utilisables pourrait également être mise à disposition pour l'installation de prototypes. Un appel à proposition doit être rendu le 15 novembre prochain. Des synergies industrielles sont possibles avec l'Eco-parc de Bordeaux Blanquefort, et le site portuaire de Grattequina (article ICI), où 20 millions d'euros sont investis pour la création d'un nouveau terminal portuaire, permettant notamment le chargement de pièces de grandes dimensions. Le Grand Port Maritime de Bordeaux peut disposer aussi de l'appui potentiel du puissant réseau industriel et scientifique du Cluster Eolien Aquitain.

LES PREMIÈRES RÉACTIONS INDUSTRIELLES

Avant même la publication officielle aujourd'hui de l'appel d'offres et avant même d'en connaitre les modalités financières exactes, dès la semaine dernière, des regroupements industriels et une certaine agitation commençaient à peupler le paysage en devenir de l'éolien français !
Dès le 29 juin AREVA et IBERDROLA annonçait un accord de partenariat stratégique "en vue de l’appel d'offres français" (cf. notre article du 1 juillet 2011) ; le 4 juillet EDF Energies Nouvelles et DONG Energy annonçaient leur association "pour répondre à l'appel d’offres français" avec en ligne de mire l'utilisation de la turbine 6MW d'ALSTOM (cf. notre article du 5 juillet 2011).
Le 7 juillet enfin, un responsable d' EDP Renovaveis, filiale énergies renouvelables du portugais EDP, confiait à l'AFP que la compagnie envisageait de " répondre à l'appel d'offres du gouvernement pour environ 1.200 éoliennes au large des côtes françaises ". Le groupe portugais s'intéresserait depuis " quelques mois à plusieurs sites sur les cinq proposés ", sans en spécifier le nombre exact. Il réfléchirait par ailleurs à des alliances, mais n' a pas précisé lesquelles.

Les réponses à ce premier appel d'offres de la part des industriels et développeurs sont attendues début janvier 2012, pour une désignation des lauréats début avril 2012, selon le calendrier fixé par le ministre de l'Industrie chargé de l'Energie.


Sources : Sites liés et cités. Syndicat des énergies renouvelables, BB 3B Conseils - entretiens Science et Ethique, Photos 1 : Eolienne flottante ©Winflo. 2 et 3 : Eolienne Alstom 6GW © Alstom. 4 : Carte des 5 zones éoliennes de la premier tranche d'appel d'offres ©Blog énergies de la mer. 5 : Vue panoramique du Port de Dunkerque © Port de Dunkerque. 6 : Port 2000 ©Port du Havre. 7 : Vue panoramique du Port de Cherbourg ©Port de Cherbourg. 8 : Projet d'aménagement du polder de Brest ©Port de Brest. 10 Vue panoramique du Port de St Malo ©Port de St Malo. 10 : Vue panoramique du Port de Nantes-St Nazaire © Port de Nantes-St Nazaire 11 Aménagement de la zone du Verdon © Grand Port Maritime de Bordeaux. 12 : Turbine éolienne Areva M5000.


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