Windletter #79 - Floating wind for less than €100/MWh?
Also: automation in blade manufacturing, repair and refurbishment of components, climbing to the top of a SWT-7.0-154, and more.
Hello everyone and welcome to a new issue of Windletter. I'm Sergio Fernández Munguía (@Sergio_FerMun) and here we discuss the latest news in the wind power sector from a different perspective. If you enjoy the newsletter and are not subscribed, you can do so here.
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And now let's move on to the news of the week.
🌊 Floating wind for less than €100/MWh?
A few days ago, I came across a post on LinkedIn where Bruno Le Maire, Minister of Economy of the French government, mentioned that there is already a winner for the 250 MW floating wind auction recently held in France.
The original video is in French, but I've taken the liberty of translating it to English with an AI tool. And the result is amazing. We live in crazy times.
So far, so good. It's great news. These 250 MW represent, if I'm not mistaken, the largest capacity ever awarded in Europe for floating wind. In fact, currently the installed capacity in operation doesn't even reach 200 megawatts (176 MW with data from May 2023) throughout the old continent.
But what's really surprising about the news is that, according to the minister, the awarded price is only two figures. That is, less than €100/MWh. At the moment, the name of the winner has not been revealed pending the deposit of the corresponding bank guarantees. The auction ceiling was set at €140/MWh.
The awarded tariff is a "2-sided Contract for Difference (CfD)" with a duration of 20 years. That is, the installation will receive compensation up to the awarded tariff when the electricity market is below, but will have to return the extra money received when the market is above.
A good practice introduced by the French government in this auction is that the tariff price is indexed to reflect changes in both CAPEX and OPEX.
In any case, a tariff below €100/MWh seems quite low for a wind farm with floating technology. Just to give an example, one of the closest precedents is the UK's CfD AR 5 auction, in which no floating wind energy projects submitted bids because the maximum price was too low (€133.4/MWh).
Other references, although in this case pilot projects, are Provence Grand Large (3 wind turbines, 25 MW) also in France, which has a tariff of €240/MWh, and the Portuguese pilot project WindFloat Atlantic (3 wind turbines, 25 MW), which has a tariff of €168/MWh.
Regarding Spain, pending the holding of auctions, the price is unknown, but industry sources in Spanish Media El Periódico de la Energía commented that the price in Spain would be around €170-175/MWh.
So these prices below €100/MWh have raised some concerns in the supply chain, which fears that the promoter may not be able to carry out the project or may opt for cheaper or "low-cost" suppliers. This article gathers some statements.
The projects must be operational by 2031, which would imply placing orders in 2028-2029.
By the way, in addition to these 250 MW, it is expected that France will award two more floating parks of 250 MW each in the Mediterranean.
And all this considering that floating wind may not be as easy as it seems.
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🏭 NREL tests automation in wind turbine blade manufacturing
Blade manufacturing remains a highly manual and labor-intensive process. And while some robots have been used by a few blade manufacturers/suppliers for sanding and painting, the reality is that automation is still not the norm in blade factories.
Surely, the reasons for this lack of automation are twofold:
Difficulty. Some processes do not seem easily automatable.
Continuous product development. If you have new and larger blades in the factory every so often, that complicates investing in automation.
That's why the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), in collaboration with LM Wind Power, has been testing a robot that allows for automating trimming, sanding, and polishing tasks of blades.
During the manufacturing of blades with "butterfly" type molds, that is, manufacturing two halves and then joining them, some excess material and burrs are produced that need to be cut, sanded, and polished. In the video below, you can see this process (the video is from Fraunhofer IWES and is unrelated to this research).
NREL has developed a robot capable of performing these tasks and has successfully tested it on various 5-meter blade sections, also publishing a paper that documents the conclusions and results.
According to the authors, the research has been successful, although there are still aspects to be improved.
Automation can reduce the manufacturing cost of blades, making them competitive worldwide even if they are manufactured in countries with expensive labor. Additionally, it also has the potential to significantly reduce human error.
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🛠️ Repair and refurbishment of wind turbine components is clearly a growing business
Both OEMs and other suppliers are experiencing significant growth in this sector, which continues to increase in volume as the average age of wind farms rises.
Spain is precisely the country with the highest average age in the entire European Union, and therefore, it has a significant activity in these types of services.
Without going any further, GE Vernova has a repair and refurbishment plant in Noblejas, Toledo. According to GE itself in an article, the plant is only 10 years old, but what started as an exclusive workshop for internal repairs has ended up becoming a relevant business that sends refurbished components worldwide.
The warehouse was expanded from 9,000 to 14,000 square meters in 2021 and is capable of repairing different types of components, not only from GE machines but also from other manufacturers.
It's worth taking a look at the article where they explain a bit more about how this perhaps not so well-known activity works.
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🇵🇭 Blue Circle will install Goldwind wind turbines in a project in the Philippines
Developer Blue Circle has signed a contract with manufacturer Goldwind for the supply of 17 GW 165-6.0MW wind turbines for the Kalayaan 2 wind farm in the Philippines.
Goldwind has celebrated this milestone as a "major breakthrough" as it marks their first order in the country. The Philippines currently has 443 MW of installed wind capacity.
But the interesting aspect of this news is not only Goldwind's entry into the Philippines but also that Blue Circle is a Singapore-based developer partially owned by Acciona Energía, with a stake close to 50%.
This means that, at least indirectly, Acciona Energía will be testing Goldwind's technology, and also indirectly, Goldwind has won a tender for the purchase of wind turbines in which Acciona Energía participates.
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🚂 New record in the United States for transporting wind turbine blades by train
Vestas recently celebrated two milestones in the United States. The first one, delivering the first blades of its V163-4.5 MW wind turbine model, designed for a high capacity factor and specifically targeted at the US market.
And the second, transporting those blades by rail, setting a new record. With a length of 80.5 meters, these blades have been the longest ever transported by train in the United States.
The blades were manufactured at the Vestas Windsor Blades factory in Colorado and transported to the Brownsville & Rio Grande International Railway (BRG) at the Port of Brownsville. This route covers a distance of about 2,000 kilometers (link to Google Maps with the route by car).
The duration of the journey, as I found on the internet, was 7 days, and 72 railcars were used.
It's worth noting that, as you can see in the image, these are not electrified train lines but rather locomotives powered by diesel. Nevertheless, and without specific data at hand, it seems to be a cheaper, much more efficient, and lower-emission method compared to trucks.
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🔝 Climbing to the top of a SWT-7.0-154 at Hornsea One
The curiosity of the week comes from the BBC. Journalist Keeley Donovan travels to the Hornsea One wind farm and climbs to the top of the Siemens Gamesa SWT-7.0-154 wind turbine.
The video is already 3 years old and the wind turbine can be considered small, but it is recorded with quality, with explanations, and, for the most curious, it allows you to see some details of the turbine's interior.
My pending task before retiring (if I ever retire) is to climb an offshore wind turbine. It must be a spectacular experience.
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Disclaimer: The opinions presented in Windletter are mine and do not necessarily reflect the views of my employer.