Renewable Revolution

October 17, 2018 by Mike Schuler



Orlando-based Aeolus Energy has signed an agreement with Norwegian shipbuilding group Ulstein to design the first Jones Act compliant service vessel for the budding U.S. offshore wind market.

Aeolus says the purpose-built vessel, known in the industry as a Service Operations Vessel (SOV), will be the first among a fleet of vessels to support the full scope of offshore wind farm operations from installation through decommissioning. Additional plans for the fleet include cable ships, crew transfer vessels and hotel ships.

As a Jones Act compliant vessels, they will all be built at a U.S. shipyard and crewed by Americans.

“The design and ultimate construction of these vessels will result in significant job creation and is a demonstration of confidence in the American shipbuilding industry,” said Elia Golfin, CEO of Aeolus Energy Inc. “We are excited to be working with Ulstein, an established market leader in vessel design for offshore wind. We look forward to pushing the envelope in the offshore wind industry where Jones Act-compliant vessels are concerned.”

For the design, Aeolus has contracted with Ulstein Design & Solutions, B.V. for its SX195 design SOV, which will be fully customized to Aeolus’s specifications and U.S. Coast Guard requirements. “The project starts with customizing the SX195 design, to optimize the new walk-to-work vessel for operations in US offshore wind farms, including featuring the X-BOW and X-STERN hull shape,” Ulstein said in a press release.


The contract marks Ulstein’s entry into the U.S. offshore wind market as well, after having introduced the first dedicated offshore wind support vessel in the European market back in 2013. This year, however, Ulstein says it has already received five contracts in the offshore wind market, including two SOVs, a cable lay vessel and a large foundation installation vessel.

“Ulstein is proud to have been selected as design partner by Aeolus for developing the United States’ first purpose-built SOV vessel,” said Tore Ulstein, deputy CEO of Ulstein. “With our track record in SOV designs and supporting yards worldwide in building our innovative designs, we are committed to support Aeolus and its chosen US shipyards in realizing Aeolus’ new fleet development and jointly set the standard for excellent, Jones Act-compliant offshore wind vessels.”

Aeolus’ plans for the fleet come as more and more U.S. states, such as Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York, move closer having wind farms off their coasts. The Trump Administration has also signaled an eagerness to boost development in the U.S. offshore wind industry through streamlining the permitting process and by offering more offshore acreage available for leasing, part of the Administration’s policy to boost domestic energy production.

The first U.S. offshore farm, the 30MW Block Island Wind Farm, opened in 2016 off the coast of Rhode Island. Earlier this month, the project’s developer, Deepwater Wind, was acquired by Danish power company Ørsted, thereby creating the leading U.S. offshore wind company with a total capacity of nearly 9GW already in the pipeline.

https://gcaptain.com/aeolus-energy-planning-jones-act-compliant-fleet-of-offshore-wind-vessels/

It is partnering with Neoline to build two experimental roll-on/roll-off car carriers powered by sails. Each will be 446 feet long and carry more than 45,000 square feet of sails.

December 24th, 2018 by Steve Hanley


article with the above video:

https://cleantechnica.com/2018/12/24/renault-will-use-sails-to-cut-emissions-on-trans-atlantic-routes/

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January 9th, 2019 by Joshua S Hill

Danish wind turbine manufacturing giant Vestas Wind Systems A/S announced today that, with the installation of a V110-2.0 megawatt (MW) turbine at MidAmerican Energy’s Wind XI project in late 2018, the company has become the first to install 100 gigawatts (GW) of wind turbines.

Vestas Wind Systems has kept itself in the news over the past two months with consistent announcements — including news in early December that it had surpassed 10 GW worth of orders taken during 2018. This, then, and unsurprisingly, continued through the rest of the month and, earlier this week I reported that Vestas finished 2018 with orders taken worth close to 13 GW — well in excess of its previous records.

In fact, in December of 2018 alone, Vestas took in confirmed wind turbine orders of 2,859 GW.

Not willing to fade from the news, Vestas Wind Systems announced today that, with the installation in late 2018 of a V110-2.0 MW wind turbine at the multi-site 2 GW Wind XI project being built across Iowa by MidAmerican Energy, the company became the first to install 100 GW of wind turbines.

The first wind turbine Vestas installed was a V10-30 kilowatt (kW) turbine in 1979. Since then, the company has installed over 66,000 wind turbines in approximately 80 countries around the world on six continents. A long way from a 30 kW wind turbine, Vestas’ largest onshore wind turbine is the V150-4.2 MW turbine.

“We have pioneered wind energy across the globe for 40 years, and to install 100 GW together with our customers and partners is something we are extremely proud of as it underlines how far Vestas and wind energy have come,” Anders Runevad, Vestas President and CEO. “It’s also a pleasure to celebrate this milestone with a key customer like MidAmerican Energy. Reaching this milestone has required continuous innovation, strong commitment and great execution from all Vestas’ employees, and the 100 GW, therefore, represents a key part of the foundation that enables us to develop the sustainable energy solutions of the future.”

Vestas’ 100 GW of wind turbines have helped to remove 129 million tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere equaling CO2 emissions from:

► 141 billion pounds of burned coal

► 298 million barrels of oil

► 22.54 million US homes yearly electricity use

► 33 coal-fired power plants

► Carbon sequestered from 152 million acres of forest

“With 100 GW of installed wind turbines, Vestas has installed around 10% of all wind and solar capacity in the world,” explained Anders Riis, Director of Communications for Vestas, who spoke via email, “but as the next 1000 GW are expected to be installed by 2023, Vestas remains focused on executing our commitments and priorities in the short term. By doing so, we sustain and strengthen the foundation that enables us to develop the sustainable energy solutions our customers and stakeholders need in the future.”

https://cleantechnica.com/2019/01/09/vestas-becomes-first-company-to-install-over-100-gigawatts-of-wind-turbines/