POWER June 2015 - 12

3. Coming to America. Alstom's Haliade 150-6MW offshore wind turbine, one of the
largest ever installed in sea waters, is currently being tested off the coast of Ostend harbor at
the Belwind site in Belgium, but it could soon be the first commercial wind turbine of its size
in the U.S. if erected as part of Deepwater Wind's Block Island wind farm in Rhode Island. This
image shows a nacelle and blades that are ready for transport in Ostend, Belgium, in November
2013. Courtesy: Alstom
record $83.3 billion-and a stunning increase
of 39% compared to 2013), the top
10 investing countries also featured the
U.S., Brazil, India, South Africa, and, on
a smaller scale, Indonesia, Chile, Mexico,
Kenya, and Turkey.
The U.S. saw investments of $38.3
billion-up 7%. Comparatively, the rise
in investments in Europe was small, less
than 1% to $57.5 billion. That includes
$3.8 billion for the largest-ever single
renewable energy asset finance deal outside
large hydro for the 600-MW Gemini
offshore wind project that will be located
in Dutch waters.
The UNEP report notes that wind, solar,
biomass, waste-to-power, geothermal, small
hydro, and marine power accounted for an
estimated 9.1% of world electricity generation
in 2014, compared to 8.5% in 2013. Investments
jumped particularly for solar (29%
compared to 2013) and wind (11%).
In its annual market survey released in
New U.S. Offshore Wind
Farm Breaks Ground
On April 27, the U.S. saw yet another significant
milestone for its so-far nonexistent
offshore wind sector as Deepwater
Wind broke ground on the Block Island
Wind Farm in Rhode Island.
The company says that the five-turbine
30-MW wind farm will produce enough electricity
to power all of the island's homes and
businesses when it comes online in 2016.
The Alstom 6-MW Haliade 150 direct-drive
offshore wind turbines (Figure 3) could replace
diesel generators that the islanders
currently rely on. It will also send power to
the mainland through an undersea cable.
The project was originally conceived in
2009 when Deepwater Wind signed a contract
with National Grid to provide 100%
of its power to Block Island. Environmental
groups the Sierra Club, Audubon, and
the National Wildlife Foundation testified
in favor of the project in rounds of hearings
that followed the project's proposal.
According to the American Wind Energy
Association's (AWEA's) 2014 annual market
report, at least 11 offshore wind projects
spanning 10 states are in various stages of
development. The projects represent more
than 2,500 MW of capacity with turbine
sizes ranging from 3 MW to 6 MW.
One of those projects, however, the
486-MW Cape Wind project planned for offshore
Massachusetts, suffered a crippling
setback this January when two utilities
terminated contracts to buy the project's
power because the company failed to
meet a Dec. 31 deadline to obtain financ12
ing.
This March, Cape Wind president Jim
Gordon said the company is pushing on
with the $2.5 billion project, seeking to
restore the agreements with National Grid
and Eversource Energy.
Meanwhile, the three projects selected
in May 2014 by the Department of Energy
to each receive up to $46.7 million over
four years and accelerate their completion
by 2017 are seemingly thriving. Those
projects are Fishermen's Energy's 25-MW
project offshore of Atlantic City, N.J.; Dominion
Power's 12-MW project offshore of
Virginia Beach, Va.; and Principle Power's
30-MW project offshore of Coos Bay, Ore.
-Sonal Patel, associate editor
Reports: Renewables Were
Revived in 2014
Despite plunging oil prices, 2014 was a
formidable year for renewables, according
to two reports released in early 2015.
According to the " Global Trends in Renewable
Energy Investment 2015 " -the
annual report prepared by the United Nations
Environment Programme (UNEP),
the Frankfurt School-UNEP Collaborating
Centre for Climate & Sustainable Energy
Finance, and Bloomberg New Energy Finance-energy
investments in renewables
rebounded, surging 17% over the previous
year, to $270 billion worldwide.
A primary reason for this was that 2014
marked a rapid expansion of renewables
into new markets in developing countries.
While China, predictably, saw by far the
biggest renewable energy investments (a
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February, the Global Wind Energy Council
(GWEC) noted that 51,477 MW of new wind
capacity was added in 2014. The recordsetting
figure is a " solid sign of the recovery
of the industry after a rough patch in
the past few years, " it said.
Total cumulative wind installations
worldwide stood at 369,553 MW at the end
of 2014, GWEC noted (Figure 4). Growth
surged in China-which now represents
45% of the global market-with 23,351
MW of new wind power. India's 2,315 MW
was a distant second in Asia, " although the
stage is now set for a new round of market
growth in that country, " said GWEC.
The European market grew marginally in
2014, with 12,820 MW of new capacity,
just shy of 2012's record. Brazil's 2,472
MW in new installations led Latin American
installations of 3,749 MW, although
Chile (506 MW) and Uruguay (405 MW)
4. Countries with the top cumulative
wind capacity in December
2014. Courtesy: GWEC
Rest of the world
PR China
Brazil
Italy
France
Canada
United
Kingdom
India
Spain
Germany
USA
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POWER June 2015

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