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12 May/June 2012 | Renewable Energy Focus

Gamesa halts U.S. off shore wind prototype installation

THE COMPANY blames the

U.S. market and regulatory

conditions for postponing

installation of the off shore prototype

near Cape Charles, Va. - which the

Virginia Marine Resources Commis-sion (VMRC) approved earlier this

year.

Since September 2010, Gamesa has

been working with its collaboration

partner, Newport News Shipbuild-ing, a division of Huntington Ingalls Industries, to design an off shore wind

prototype, the G11X-5.0 MW.

According to the company, this

collaborative eff ort had focused on

turbine reliability; low maintenance

and servicing requirements; civil

engineering effi ciencies in infrastruc-

ture development; and cost of energy;

concluding with plans to install a test

turbine off the mid-Atlantic coast.

Now, however, Gamesa and New-

port News Shipbuilding will suspend

the programme upon completion of

the Critical Design Review (CDR), due

to what a statement called “a dete-

rioration in the prospects for off shore

wind development in the U.S.” The

companies have concluded that a

viable commercial market in the U.S.

is still farther out, “as much as three

or four years away, at the earliest”.

While there have been improve-

ments to siting in federal waters, the

statement read, regulatory issues still

aff ect the level and speed at which

projects can be approved: In addition,

“the pace of growth is further delayed

by the lack of an off shore grid [...]

uncertainty surrounding the Produc-

tion Tax Credit, which will expire at

the end of the year without congres-

sional action, and the lack of a federal

energy policy...”

These factors have made it diffi cult

for the companies to secure fi nancing

for projects.

Without a mature off shore wind

market in the U.S., the companies

have decided that it is extremely

diffi cult to justify “the enormous

expenditure of capital and utilisa-

tion of engineering and technical

resources that would be needed to

build and install a prototype in the

U.S.”

A joint Off shore Wind Technol-

ogy Center, opened in February 2011

in Chesapeake, Va., will wind down

at the end of the year as the CDR is

completed.

Gamesa says that its eff orts in the

off shore segment globally continue

to move forward “at a fast pace”. In

Europe, where off shore programs are

moving forward, plans are underway

with the permitting process for instal-

lation of its G128-5.0 MW off shore

wind turbine at Arinaga Quay in

Gran Canary Island (Canary Islands,

Spain).

World’s largest solar park to be created in Serbia

REPRESENTATIVES OF the

Serbian Government have

joined with Securum Equity Partners Europe to sign a MOU

regarding the possible construction of

what would be one of the largest solar

parks the world has seen. The solar

park will be built in Serbia on land

which the country will lease free of

charge for a period of 25 years.

Oliver Dulic, Serbia’s Minister of

the Environment, Mining and Spatial Planning, and Alessio Colussi and

Ivan Matejak from Securum Equity Partners, signed the agreement at the

Serbian Government building in the

presence of the Prime Minister Mirko

Cvetkovic.

The plans predict that the park

will have a total capacity of over

1,000 MW - covering an area of

3,000 hectares. It will take between

three and fi ve years to build and

provide jobs for 2,500 to 3,000 people

during its construction, with per-

manent jobs for 500 to 600 workers

once it is operational. Another 1,000

jobs will be created when MX Group,

which is one of Europe’s leading

solar panel manufacturers, moves

production to Serbia along with its

various subsidiaries.

The cost of the project is esti-

mated at around 2 billion Euros.

Serbia is likely to collect around 750

million Euros in taxes from the proj-

ect over the next 20 years.

Construction of the project could

commence as early as next year

depending on the location of an

available site, and completion of the

various permits involved, a statement

explained.

The Serbian government has

pledged its support on the basis

that the project will employ Serbian

workers and introduce new technol-

ogy into the country. At present the

intention is to import the solar pan-

els from abroad, although the long

term hope is that production will be

moved to Serbia.

Serbia was chosen because of its

excellent solar resources, and also

because there are substantial water

resources nearby - along with avail-

ability of land that is not suitable for

agricultural production.

Serbia is currently recognised

as an area of high socio-political

stability, with a predicted economic

growth rate over the next fi ve years

that is substantially higher than

many other countries in the EU.

Serbia has invested heavily in the

renewable energy sector over recent

years, particularly in the overhaul

of existing infrastructure in order

to improve the stability of its energy

supply.

Sources: Ekonom; east Media Group

(EMG)

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