QUICK NEWS, January 18: 630 MW OCEAN WIND LONDON ARRAY ADVANCES; MARINE ONE HOSTED BY SUN; 200 MW WAVE ENERGY PROJECT GETS BACKING

630 MW OCEAN WIND LONDON ARRAY ADVANCES
London Array gets foundation approval
Paul Garrett, 17 January 2012 (Windpower Monthly)

"An innovative type of wind turbine foundation designed for the UK's London Array offshore wind farm by contractor ABJV has received approval by industry certifiers…

"…[A] conical joint is to be used at the top of the London Array [monopole foundations] to prevent transition piece slippage. Nearly 100 have been installed already."

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"Work on the new design was prompted by some problems previously reported in other monopile foundations. As well as addressing…grouting and slippage problems, the new design takes into account variation in water depths and moveable seabed conditions across a wind-farm site.

"The 630MW, 17-turbine first phase of London Array, in the outer Thames Estuary in south-east England, is due for completion at the end of this year. It is being developed by a consortium of Dong Energy, E.on and Masdar."


MARINE ONE HOSTED BY SUN
Suniva Solar Panels Powering Solar Array at Hangar Housing President’s Marine One Helicopter; Roof-top System to Reduce Site’s Electric Bills; Help Meet Rigorous DON Alternative Energy Targets
January 10, 2012 (Suniva)

"Suniva, Inc….announced its [high-efficiency crystalline silicon solar cells and modules] panels are being used to power the newest— and largest— solar array installed by FLS Energy at the Marine Helicopter Squadron 1’s greenside hangar at Quantico, home to the president’s Marine One helicopter.

"The 120-kilowatt system features 500 of Suniva’s ART-245 panels and is expected to produce approximately 150,000 kWh of electricity per year—enough to reduce the site’s electric bills by as much as $10,500 annually and help the base…meet rigorous energy mandates set by the secretary of the Navy (50 percent of energy used to meet the Department of the Navy’s demand must come from alternative energy sources by 2020)…"

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"The solar photovoltaic system on the hangar is expected to provide two credits toward the LEED certification required under guidelines that all DON MILCON projects meet LEED standards. The building’s energy efficient lighting and HVAC system, low flow fixtures and other energy efficient technologies are expected to provide the rest of the credits required to achieve LEED Silver Certification.

"Suniva's high-efficiency modules contain more than 80 percent U.S. content and are fully ‘Buy America’ compliant…"


200 MW WAVE ENERGY PROJECT GETS BACKING
Alstom and SSE Renewables create joint venture to co-develop world's largest wave farm off the coast of Orkney, Scotland
January 17, 2012 (Alstom)

"Alstom and the leading Scottish marine developer SSE Renewables have signed a new joint venture agreement to develop the Costa Head Wave Project, an up to 200 Megawatts (MW) wave energy site located north of mainland Orkney, in The Crown Estate’s Pentland Firth and Orkney Waters Strategic Area.

"Alstom and SSE Renewables will work together to obtain the necessary permits and intend to populate the site with AWS-III wave energy converters, [a floating device with a rated power output of 2.5 MW]…Alstom acquired a 40% equity share [in the technology] in June 2011.. A 1:9 scale model of the AWS-III was tested in Loch Ness in 2010. Full scale component testing will commence in 2012…with a full-scale prototype planned for deployment at the European Marine Energy Centre in 2014]…"



"The Costa Head site is located in water depths of 60 – 75m approximately 5km to the north of Orkney Mainland. SSE Renewables and Alstom propose to carry out detailed site surveys and an environmental impact assessment (EIA),to develop the site with an initial phase of around 10MW [4 AWS-III devices of 12 cells, each measuring around 16m wide by 8m deep, arranged around a structure with overall beam of up to 60m and a structural steel weight of less than 1300 tonne], before moving on to install the full site capacity. [The AWS-III will be slack moored in water depths of 65 to 150m using standard mooring spreads. Devices will be arranged in arrays or ‘farms’ of up to several hundred MW total rating. Each AWS-III will be connected to a central offshore substation via a high-voltage umbilical link]

"Wave energy is a widely distributed renewable resource worldwide, with an estimated potential market of 200 to 300 Gigawatts(GW). Its proximity to densely populated regions of Europe and North America makes it an attractive new source of renewable energy. The AWS-III technology consists of a multi-cell array of flexible membrane absorbers which convert wave power to pneumatic power through compression of air within cells that are inter-connected. Turbine-generator sets are provided to convert the pneumatic power to electricity…"