Expected to have a capacity between 800MW and 1GW, the Thor offshore wind farm will be located 20km off the coast. The project is expected to come online between 2025 and 2027.

The Danish Energy Agency had pre-qualified the 50/50 partnership to submit a bid for the wind farm which will be located in Danish North Sea.

The Total and Iberdrola partnership stated that it is developing a competitive bid and expects to be selected by the Danish Energy Agency by the end of this year.

Total Denmark country chair Martin Rune Pedersen said: “Total has a strong ambition to reach net zero by 2050 together with society and to play a major role in the energy transition in Europe.

“Our participation in the Thor tender is in line with this ambition as it underpins our desire to support the energy transition in Denmark, where we build on more than half a century of Danish offshore operational experience being a reliable energy partner to Denmark.”

The Thor wind farm is first of the three large offshore wind farms to be built in the country before 2030, a decision taken under the Energy Agreement in 2018.

Last month, Iberdrola entered the Polish offshore wind market, by signing an agreement to acquire 50% stake in Sea Wind.

Sea Wind plans to develop seven projects, with a total capacity of  about 7.3GW.

Iberdrola offshore wind global managing director Jonathan Cole said: “The continued development of offshore wind is vital to deliver a decarbonized world, and Thor will be a very important project for Denmark’s energy transition.

“As a global leader in offshore wind, with major projects already operating in the North Sea and Baltic Sea, we look forward to bringing our experience to this exciting new venture.”

Total forms JV with 174 Power Global

Separately, Total has agreed to form a joint venture with 174 Power Global to develop 1.6GW utility-scale solar and energy storage projects in the US.

Under the joint venture, the portfolio which includes 12 utility-scale projects will be transferred from 174 Power Global’s development pipeline.

The first project of the portfolio started operations last year, while the remaining projects, located across the states of Texas, Nevada, Oregon, Wyoming and Virginia, are expected to come online between 2022 and 2024.

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The transaction will enable Edison to fully acquire E2i Energie Speciali, as it already owns 30% stake in it.

E2i Energie Speciali has a portfolio of 38 wind farms with an installed capacity of over 700MW, with an additional 4 projects with 74MW and three small solar plants.

The company operates in Abruzzo, Basilicata, Calabria, Campania, Emilia-Romagna, Molise, Piemonte, Puglia, Toscana, Sicilia Regions and generates nearly 1TWh of clean electricity per year, which can be used for powering up to 370,000 Italian households.

Upon completion of the deal, which is expected to close in the first quarter of this year, renewable assets controlled by Edison will reach a total installed capacity of more than 1GW.

Edison CEO Nicola Monti said: “Edison has a leading role in the Italian energy transition. Through this transaction, we concretely demonstrate our commitment to renewables and our contribution to reach National Integrated Energy and Climate Plan (PNIEC) targets.

“I would like to express my warm thanks to our partner F2i: today we are one of the most relevant wind operators in Italy thanks to many challenges we’ve faced together since 2014.”

Edison has also signed an agreement with 2i Rete Gas for the sale of 100% of Infrastrutture Distribuzione Gas (IDG). 2i Rete Gas is a company participated by the investment funds managed by F2i, Ardian and APG .

IDG manages the grids and plants for the gas distribution in 58 Municipalities of Abruzzo, Emilia-Romagna, Lazio, Lombardia and Veneto Regions.

The two transactions are part of Edison’s strategy to increase the renewable generation to 40% of the production mix by 2030.

In December 2019, the company announced plans to build 760MW natural gas-powered thermoelectric power plant in Presenzano in the province of Caserta, with an investment of €370m ($408m).

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The company has started the integration of Vestas and MHI Vestas Offshore Wind (MVOW), after closing the agreement to acquire the latter in December last year.

The MVOW acquisition , which was announced last October, was expected to help Vestas in becoming one of the leading players in the offshore wind industry by 2025.

Now, Vestas has begun integrating the two entities into one organisation based on one shared operating model and unified culture.

With the integration, the company intends to build a competitive organisation across its onshore and offshore businesses.

According to the company, the integration would result in synergies across several functions, but also lead to redundancies across Denmark and Great Britain, with a majority of them taking place in Denmark.

However, the company said that no layoffs are expected of hourly paid employees.

The company will go into consultation process with employee representatives with the aim to have clarity for most employees by the end of this month.

Outside of Denmark, the process is expected to be slightly longer, due to certain legal processes and requirements, the company said.

With the latest announcement, Vestas has a workforce of over 29,000 globally and around 6,000 in Denmark across onshore and offshore activities.

Vestas further stated that the organisational integration will continue throughout this year, bringing about a simplified organisational setup.

Vestas group president and CEO Henrik Andersen said: “Since we announced the agreement to acquire MHI Vestas Offshore Wind, we have meticulously planned how we can build a united and strong Vestas organisation that can lead and scale up in both onshore and offshore wind.

“I want to thank everyone for their hard work and dedication during a difficult period where my colleagues have contributed to both the integration planning and execution of commercial commitments.

“We have now started implementing our integration plans, which unfortunately includes letting around 220 hardworking colleagues go.

“It is never easy to make such a decision or say goodbye to good colleagues but integrating and simplifying two companies inherently creates overlaps between functions and it’s therefore necessary if we want to create a competitive and scalable organisation.”

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The companies are contributing with their developments to an innovative solution that fully integrates an electrolyzer into an offshore wind turbine as a single synchronized system to directly produce green hydrogen. The companies intend to provide a full-scale offshore demonstration of the solution by 2025/2026. The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research announced today that the developments can be implemented as part of the ideas competition “Hydrogen Republic of Germany”.

“Our more than 30 years of experience and leadership in the offshore wind industry, coupled with Siemens Energy’s expertise in electrolyzers, brings together brilliant minds and cutting-edge technologies to address the climate crisis. Our wind turbines play a huge role in the decarbonization of the global energy system, and the potential of wind to hydrogen means that we can do this for hard-to-abate industries too. It makes me very proud that our people are a part of shaping a greener future,” said Andreas Nauen, Siemens Gamesa CEO.

Christian Bruch, CEO of Siemens Energy, explains: “Together with Siemens Gamesa, we are in a unique position to develop this game changing solution. We are the company that can leverage its highly flexible electrolyzer technology and create and redefine the future of sustainable offshore energy production. With these developments, the potential of regions with abundant offshore wind will become accessible for the hydrogen economy. It is a prime example of enabling us to store and transport wind energy, thus reducing the carbon footprint of economy.”

Over a time frame of five years, Siemens Gamesa plans to invest EUR 80 million and Siemens Energy is targeting to invest EUR 40 million in the developments. Siemens Gamesa will adapt its development of the world’s most powerful turbine, the SG 14-222 DD offshore wind turbine, to integrate an electrolysis system seamlessly into the turbine’s operations. By leveraging Siemens Gamesa’s intricate knowledge and decades of experience with offshore wind, electric losses are reduced to a minimum, while a modular approach ensures a reliable and efficient operational set-up for a scalable offshore wind-to-hydrogen solution. Siemens Energy will develop a new electrolysis product to not only meet the needs of the harsh maritime offshore environment and be in perfect sync with the wind turbine, but also to create a new competitive benchmark for green hydrogen.

The ultimate fully integrated offshore wind-to-hydrogen solution will produce green hydrogen using an electrolyzer array located at the base of the offshore wind turbine tower, blazing a trail towards offshore hydrogen production. The solution will lower the cost of hydrogen by being able to run off grid, opening up more and better wind sites. The companies’ developments will serve as a test bed for making large-scale, cost-efficient hydrogen production a reality and will prove the feasibility of reliable, effective implementation of wind turbines in systems for producing hydrogen from renewable energy.

The developments are part of the H2Mare initiative which is a lighthouse project likely to be supported by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research ideas competition “Hydrogen Republic of Germany”. The H2mare initiative under the consortium lead of Siemens Energy is a modular project consisting of multiple sub-projects to which more than 30 partners from industry, institutes and academia are contributing. Siemens Energy and Siemens Gamesa will contribute to the H2Mare initiative with their own developments in separate modular building blocks.

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The new plant, to be located at Anjeong Industrial Park in Tongyeong City, will deliver the equivalent electricity needed to power more than 1 million Korean homes. The construction is set to begin in 2021 by Hanwha Engineering & Construction Co., Ltd. (Hanwha E&C) with the start of commercial operations expected in 2024.

“We are pleased to work for Tongyeong combined cycle power plant project to support Korea’s growing energy demand in the most efficient and cost-effective way as possible,” Chris Khang, President & CEO of GE Korea. “Gas power will play a critical role in facilitating South Korea’s transition to a lower carbon future. Natural gas-fired combined cycle power plants are the lowest emitting fossil fuel power plants, whether measured based on CO2, SOx, NOx, particulate matter, or mercury. Our H-class gas turbines are highly fuel flexible and able to operate on a variety of fuels, including blends of hydrogen and natural gas to offer Tongyeong Eco Power multiple pathways to achieve lower or near-zero carbon operations, if needed in future”.

GE has been engineering combined-cycle power plants since 1949. Drawing on its rich technology heritage, GE continues to innovate, developing advanced materials, cooling, aerodynamics, combustion, and controls technologies to enhance gas turbine-based power generation.

GE’s HA gas turbine portfolio is GE’s fastest-growing fleet with more than 100 units ordered by more than 45 customers across 20 countries. As of December 2020, GE’s HA fleet has accumulated more than 745,000 operating hours of commercial experience. GE has leveraged material science, aerodynamic and heat transfer innovations from its aviation legacy to secure increased performance at high firing temperatures.

GE is a major player in power generation in South Korea. GE’s gas turbines provide more than 14,000 MW of generation capacity with an installed base of over 74 units. GE has been present in South Korea since 1976, working closely with local partners to support the country’s growth in energy, advanced infrastructure and healthcare. In 2016, GE undertook a large-scale investment in Changwon, South Korea, by acquiring Doosan’s HRSG manufacturing business. The HRSG Pressure Part Modules for this project will be built in GE’s factory in Changwon.

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To be located at Total’s La Mède biorefinery, the hydrogen production site will be powered by 100MW solar farms.

The 40MW electrolyser at the hydrogen plant is expected to generate about 5 tonnes of green hydrogen per day to meet the needs of biofuel production process at Total’s refinery, while avoiding 15,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions per year.

Total and Engie have announced they will implement an innovative management solution for the production and storage of hydrogen, to manage intermittent production of solar electricity and to meet  continuous hydrogen supply requirement of the biorefinery.

Total gas, renewables & power president Philippe Sauquet said: “Innovation and sustainability are at the heart of this joint project. As demonstrated by our commitment to the European Clean Hydrogen Alliance, we believe in the future of renewable hydrogen, and we are working with our partner Engie to make it happen. This renewable hydrogen production facility, combined with our expertise in solar energy, is a further step in our commitment to get to net zero by 2050.

“The association of two leading French energy companies will make it possible to develop the hydrogen sector and become its leaders thanks to this joint, industrial and internationally reproducible project.”

After completing an advanced engineering study, Total and Engie plan to begin construction of the facilities next year.

Subject to the necessary financial closing and public authorisations, the green hydrogen facility is expected to enter into production in 2024.

The project is also seeking subsidies from French (AMI) and European authorities (IPCEI, Innovation Fund).

After the first phase is completed, new renewable farms could be developed by the two companies for the electrolyser with a capacity to produce up to 15 tonnes of green hydrogen per day.

A few days ago, Total acquired Fonroche Biogaz, a renewable gas producer, for an undisclosed amount.

Fonroche has an installed capacity is nearly 500GWh, which doubled between 2019 and 2020.

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The EIB has agreed to provide €65m and BPI will provide €47m to EDPR to build the wind farms that include the 33MW Tocha II and 92MW Sincelo, to be located in the districts of Coimbra and Guarda, Portugal.

The financing is expected to enable EDPR to design, build and operate the two medium-scale wind farms.

While the Tocha II wind farm will be located in the municipality of Cantanhede, district of Coimbra, Sincelo wind farm will be located in the municipalities of Pinhel and Guarda, district of Guarda.

During the construction phase, the wind projects are expected to create nearly 560 jobs.

EDP Renováveis interim CEO Rui Teixeira said: “At EDP Renováveis we are pleased to count with the support of the European Investment Bank (EIB) and Banco BPI to the development of new projects that will contribute to Portugal’s achievement of its Energy and Climate Plan targets, the European Commission’s targets and also to the creation of more than half a thousand jobs.

“This project reinforces our commitment with the Portuguese renewables sector and with the improvement of the quality of life of current and future generations. It also enhances our key role as a world leader in the renewable energy sector.”

The wind farms to contribute to Portugal’s Energy and Climate Plan targets

Once the two wind farms begin operations, they are expected to contribute to Portugal’s Energy and Climate Plan targets of meeting 47% of gross final energy consumption from renewable sources by 2030.

Last month, EDP Renewables secured a 15-year Contract for Difference (CfD) at the Polish renewable energy auction to sell electricity to be produced by a portfolio of 5 projects of wind and solar with a total capacity of 220MW.

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Entergy’s subsidiary Entergy Texas is the owner, developer and operator of the power plant, which saw its construction start in 2018.

The power plant began its operations earlier this month and will generate clean energy to the company’s Texas customers.

The company said to have completed the project well ahead of its scheduled completion date.

During the construction phase nearly 1,000 jobs were created, while millions of dollars were claimed to have been spent with local vendors, adding to the local economy.

Montgomery County facility to employ 31 people for operations

For its ongoing operations, Montgomery County Power Station will employ 31 people.

As per Entergy, the power plant uses latest technology to provide a clean and efficient source of power. It is expected that the power plant can help Entergy Texas’ customers save nearly $1.7bn during the 30 years of its operation.

Entergy Texas president and CEO Sallie Rainer said: “We are excited to announce that the Montgomery County Power Station achieved commercial operation and is serving customers well ahead of schedule.

“The plant will not only meet our customers’ needs today by improving reliability and resulting in substantial customer savings, but it also prepares our region for future growth.

“Thank you to the Public Utility Commission, state and local stakeholders, for their partnership and support to bring this modern and efficient plant to our region.”

Completion of the Montgomery County Power Station is part of Entergy Texas’ plan to modernise its infrastructure.

The company plans to invest $2.1bn over the next three years in new generation, transmission and distribution upgrades to meet growing demand, replace aging infrastructure and improve service to customers.

In March last year, Entergy Louisiana announced that its 994MW Lake Charles power station in Louisiana has commenced commercial operations.

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“We’re excited to partner and share best practices with Axium, a premier renewables owner-manager,” said Rob Roberti, Cordelio’s Chief Financial Officer. “Axium’s technical and other capabilities will complement our own as these important assets continue to support Ontario’s energy transition.”

“We are very pleased to establish a partnership with Cordelio,” said Elio Gatto, Vice President and Investment Director of Axium Infrastructure. “This transaction is consistent with Axium’s ongoing strategy to acquire meaningful equity positions in high-quality renewable energy projects alongside strong partners.”

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Akkuyu is Turkey’s first nuclear power plant and when completed, it will deliver 4.8 gigawatts (GW) of CO2 free electricity. At the time when there is a great drive for low carbon energy technologies, Turkey has decided to invest in carbon-free energy to meet its emission reduction targets.

Commenting on the event, Andrey Nikipelov, CEO of Atomenergomash, said: “For the first time ever, the enterprises of Rosatom’s Mechanical Engineering Division involved in the Akkuyu project, have started to produce turbine island equipment in accordance with European standards. This is the outcome of successful strategic partnership between two heavy manufacturing giants – Atomenergomash of Rosatom and GE. As the project was progressing, we set up an effective coordination between our companies, and we will certainly capitalize on this invaluable experience when developing our expertise as the supplier of both, nuclear and conventional islands.”

The manufacturing of the equipment began in June 2019. Thanks to the commitment and dedication of the factory team as well as the highest level of safety, GE was able to deliver the initial equipment four months ahead of schedule to Atomenergomash, part of Rosatom, despite the two government mandated lockdowns as a result of the global pandemic in 2020. To ensure the safety of its employees working on the factory floor, strong safety protocols were put in place including: social distancing whenever possible, the necessary PPE for safe work, including gloves, hydroalcoholic solutions and FFP2 masks for those in close proximity as well as additional cleaning of the equipment between shifts.

“It’s a significant milestone for our partner, AAEM, our customer, Atomenergomash, and our project and manufacturing team, said Frederic Wiscart, Senior Executive of Projects at GE Steam Power. “This past year has been nothing if not challenging – and this first equipment delivery showcases the dedication of GE Steam Power team to continuously deliver on time and on quality for our nuclear customers around the world.”

Each Arabelle steam turbine will include three modules: the high pressure/intermediate pressure (HIP) module, and two low pressures modules – in total, each Arabelle will be 60 meters long including generator and deliver 1.2GW each. The HIP is unique to GE’s Arabelle technology and allows for more output from any reactor type. In addition, the Arabelle is recognized for its high reliability rate of 99,96% over 400,000 operating hours.

In total, it’s more than 20 GW of CO2-free energy that will be installed in the coming years thanks to GE Steam Power teams and its Arabelle steam turbine technology, consolidating the fleet to 53 GW across the world.

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