Offshore wind power

Siemens Gamesa’s first recyclable blades are spinning on a wind turbine at the Kaskasi offshore wind farm in Germany. It’s the first commercial installation of recyclable wind turbine technology.

Governor Gavin Newsom (D-CA) has called for California to bump up its offshore wind target to at least 20 gigawatts (GW) by 2045, accelerating its 20 GW target by five years.

US President Joe Biden today announced that his administration will pursue the development of offshore wind energy in the Gulf of Mexico, which is already a hub for oil and gas production.

Eleven US East Coast states have already committed to procuring nearly 40 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind power. But increasingly powerful Atlantic hurricanes will be a threat to those future offshore wind farms. A team of scientists investigated how to make offshore wind turbines more resilient – they found that when they turned an offshore wind turbine around, it was better able to withstand violent storms.

Danish wind turbine maker Vestas has installed the first wind turbine at Japan’s Akita Noshiro offshore wind farm. Akita Noshiro will feature 33 V117-4.2 megawatt (MW) wind turbines.

Rhode Island has passed a law requiring all of the state’s electricity to be offset by renewable energy by 2033 – the fastest timeline of any state in the US.

Stockholm-based wind farm and solar developer OX2 has applied for a permit to build a massive 5.5 gigawatt (GW) offshore wind farm in the Baltic Sea. If approved, it will be the largest single offshore wind farm in the world.

Spanish-German wind giant Siemens Gamesa has been awarded a firm order for 60 of its SG 14-222 DD offshore wind turbines, which will be installed at the 882-MW Moray West offshore wind farm in Scotland. It will be the first installation of the world’s most powerful wind turbine, which has 14.7 megawatts (MW) of capacity.

Here’s where the world’s seven largest economies stand in their clean energy transitions ahead of the 48th G7 Leaders’ Summit next week in Germany.

The first of 11 8.6 megawatt (MW) turbines has been installed at the world’s largest floating wind farm, off the Norwegian coast. Hywind Tampen is also Norway’s first offshore wind farm – and it will power offshore oil and gas platforms.

Four EU countries – Belgium, Denmark, Germany, and the Netherlands – jointly announced yesterday that they have set an offshore wind target of at least 65 gigawatts (GW) by 2030 and then intend to more than double that combined total to 150 GW by 2050.

For perspective, according to the Global Wind Energy Council, as of September 2021, there were 35.3 GW of global offshore wind capacity.

The US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) today held the lease sale for two offshore wind areas in Carolina Long Bay. Up to 16 prequalified bidders competed for lease rights for 110,091 acres off North Carolina’s and South Carolina’s shores. Together, they will result in at least 1.3 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind energy, enough to power nearly 500,000 homes.  

Offshore construction work has officially started for the UK’s Dogger Bank, which will be the world’s largest offshore wind farm, with the installation of the first length of HVDC export cable off the Yorkshire coast. Dogger Bank will also be the first HVDC-connected wind farm in the UK.

All 10 offshore wind turbines have now been installed by Dutch maritime company Van Oord off Italy’s Puglia coast – the heel of Italy’s boot. It’s Italy’s first offshore wind farm, and the first in the Mediterranean Sea.

Block Island Wind Farm in Rhode Island is the United States’ first offshore wind farm. The 30-megawatt, five-turbine offshore wind farm began commercial operations in December 2016 and generates enough energy to power 17,000 homes. And it turns out, it’s perfectly safe, and sometimes even beneficial, for fish.

GE Renewable Energy announced yesterday on Twitter that the first GE Haliade 150-6 megawatt (MW) wind turbine has now been installed at St. Nazaire, France’s first offshore wind farm.

Danish wind giant Ørsted and Danish offshore wind service and support company ESVAGT announced on Friday that they will invest in the world’s first service operation vessel (SOV) that can operate on green fuels.

Germany’s economy and climate ministry today announced a more ambitious target of clean energy making up 80% of its power mix by 2030 – a bump up from its previous target of 65%. Currently, 40.9% of Germany’s power mix consists of clean energy.

Spanish-German wind giant Siemens Gamesa has started production of its first B115 blades at its facility in Aalborg, Denmark. The blades will be used on its SG 14-236 DD offshore wind turbine, which will have an output of 14 megawatts (MW) and a rotor diameter of 236 meters (774 feet).

The US Department of the Interior today announced that it has now completed its environmental review and will hold its first offshore wind energy lease sale off the Carolinas on May 11.

The UK’s total pipeline of offshore wind projects has now reached 86 gigawatts (GW), according to new research published today by not-for-profit renewable energy trade association RenewableUK.