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EcoSea, the Chile based manufacturer of copper mesh cages for use in aquaculture systems, announced that it intends to enter the Northern European market beginning with Norway and Scotland. The company expects to install its first 40 cages in Norway by 2013, generating revenues of US$15M. EcoSea is also dealing with Marine Harvest, a global leader in fish farming, who have agreed to install a fish farming complex using copper mesh cages in Scotland. To date, EcoSea has used 1000t of copper, however, its accumulated total use of copeer is expected to rise to 5,000t in the coming years.

The TenneT TSO says it has started work on the large-scale expansion of the 110 kV transmission grid in the Noordoostpolder region in the Netherlands. The company added that it has started preparing land for construction at the site of a planned new substation at Ens, and on Westermeerweg near the site of the new Noordoostpolder Wind Farm. In early August, work will start at Westermeerweg on the construction of a 16-km-long underground cable to Emeloord, which will be followed by the construction of the cable section from Emeloord to Ens. Cables will be delivered later this summer. TenneT expects the first turbine of the Noordoostpolder Wind Farm to be connected to the HV grid in Q1 2014. By then, a total of 27 km of cable will have been installed.

Figure 8.2.2.1 illustrates the lengths of subsea cable that may be required year by year. It is based on expected device spacings, farm layouts and likely distances from offshore substaons to shore. The final lengths required will depend on exact site layouts and separaon distances between devices as well as the method of connecon between devices, which could have dedicated connecons to the transformer or be chained together. The chart has the same profile as that of the number of devices installed, but offset as cables are purchased in advance of installaon. Export cables installed as part of a project's inial phase may be specified with sufficient capacity to accommodate later phases as well.

"Through the development of the round one and two wind farms it has become apparent that a disproportionate amount of risk lies within the installation and burial of the power cables. This project will look at the methods and equipment used during the design and specification of installation requirements for export and array cable systems in the offshore wind industry. It aims to reduce risks to the cables during installation and operation, and reduce costs for installation and operation and maintenance activities."

rance-based energy company GDF Suez, South Korean Daewoo International, and UAE-based AES are among 16 firms currently being considered to construct the Fujeij power plant, a 90MW wind farm in Fujeij, near Shobak, around 200 kilometres south of Jordan's capital Amman. Offers for the Fujeij plant are to be submitted by December 19, 2010, with the winning bid to be announced in February 2011.

The world's first commercial-scale tidal power turbine has delivered electricity into the British grid for the first time in preparation for full-scale operation, Marine Current Turbines announced yesterday. "SeaGen is the world's first commercial-scale tidal stream generating system by a large margin. It is more than four times as powerful as the world's second most powerful tidal current system, which is our own 300kW SeaFlow, installed off Lynmouth on the north Devon coast more than five years ago." Secretary of State for Energy, John Hutton said: "This kind of world first technology and innovation is key to helping the UK reduce its dependency on fossil fuels and secure its future energy supplies" Marine Current Turbines' next project, announced in February 2008, is a joint initiative with npower renewables to take forward a 10.5MW project using several SeaGen devices off the coast of Anglesey, north Wales. It is hoped the tidal farm will be commissioned in 2011 or 2012. The company is also investigating the potential for tidal energy schemes in other parts of the UK, and in North America.

EDF Energies Nouvelles has signed an agreement with Clipper Windpower for the supply of 67.5 MW of wind turbines. Clipper Turbine Works, a subsidiary of Clipper Windpower, will supply 27 wind turbines, each with a 2.5 MW capacity, to build the first phase of the La Ventosa wind farm in Mexico.

Emcore Corporation announced that it has entered into two new supply agreements for solar cells and receivers with a combined total value of more than US $40 million. The larger of the two purchase contracts is a multi-year supply agreement for solar cells, to be delivered over four years. The product to be delivered will be incorporated into concentrating photovoltaics (CPV) systems developed for commercial rooftop installations as well as utility-scale solar farms. The customers placing these orders with Emcore are targeting CPV deployments in the United States with a particular focus on the California market, Emcore said. Production for these orders has already started and approximately US $1 million of product is expected to be shipped in the present quarter.

Wisconsin regulatory officials, utility companies and environmentalists agree that more line capacity is needed to transport electricity generated by the growing number of wind farms. But they're not sure ITC's plan for giant-sized lines is the answer. Michael Vickerman, executive director of the Madison environmental group, Renew Wisconsin, said he has "reservations" about the need for 765-kilovolt lines. Smaller transmission upgrades can accommodate new wind generation, he said. Wisconsin Public Service Commission Chairman Eric Callisto also has questions. "I don't want to close any doors to what they have proposed but I have lots of grave concerns about the cost," he said. ITC is proposing "very large lines" that would require "very large right-of-ways," Callisto said. A right-of-way is the legal permission to use a property owner's land or the area above it.

Greentech Media has a series of excellent articles today profiling a few companies trying to tap wind energy in a different way than what we see from conventional wind farms. Companies mentioned in the pieces included Magenn Power (read here), Mariah Power (read here) and Southwest Windpower (read here). Another I've written about the in past is WhalePower.

First wind farm in Southeast of Brazil will generate 28 MW with 17 wind generators.

Prysmian announced that it has been awarded a project worth more than €250ml by the Dutch-German grid operator TenneT in order to link the offshore wind park DanTysk in the North Sea to the German Grid. Prysmian said that the interconnection comprises of HVDC subsea and land cable types at a voltage of 320 kV DC along a 159 km sea route and then a 45 km land route. The cables and accessories will be manufactured from 2012 onwards at Prysmian's HV factories in Europe.

"Brazil hands Chinese state-owned company 2GW deal Wu Qi, Windpower Monthly Magazine, 14 December 2010, 11:13am BRAZIL: Chinese state-owned turbine manufacturer Xuji Wind Power is to develop 2GW of wind farms in the southern Brazilian state of Santa Catarina. "