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February 2016

Acciona Energy Renews U.S. Investments with 93-MW Texas Wind Farm

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Acciona Energy Renews U.S. Investments with 93-MW Texas Wind Farm

Acciona Energy began construction work on the 93-MW San Roman Wind Farm, which is located near the southeast coast of Texas. It is the eighth wind farm owned by the company in the United States, bringing Acciona’s U.S. wind power capacity to 721 MW. Acciona acquired the project from the developer Pioneer Green Energy.

Located in Cameron County, San Roman will be equipped with 31 Acciona Windpower AW125/3000 turbines. Each turbine has a rotor diameter of 125 meters and will be mounted on an 87.5-meter steel tower. The new wind farm will be operational by the end of 2016.

The San Roman Wind Farm will produce enough clean energy to power more than 30,000 U.S. homes. The electricity generated by the project will help create a more reliable power supply for Texas’ Rio Grande Valley — an area that has suffered rolling blackouts in recent years due to a lack of local electric resources.

“The San Roman wind farm represents Acciona’s renewed investment activity in the important U.S. market,” said Acciona Energy North America CEO Ilya Hartmann. “We are working to grow our renewable energy portfolio in the U.S. and Canada and the San Roman project is an important step toward that goal.”

Greg Buis, president of Pioneer Green, added, “We are proud of the success this project achieved through the dedication of many different people, including local landowners and the teams working at Acciona and Pioneer Green. Due to the combined efforts of all those involved, the San Roman project will provide affordable, renewable, domestic energy for decades to come.”

The San Roman Wind Park will create roughly 80 full-time jobs during the construction phase and seven permanent jobs during the operations phase. Over its 25-year lifespan, the project is expected to pay more than $30 million in local taxes to benefit entities such as the Cameron County schools, water districts, and hospitals. It is also expected to generate more than $25 million in lease payments to local landowners. Acciona will also establish a scholarship fund and a community benefit fund to support the community.

The recent long-term extension of the federal production tax credit (PTC) is an important factor in Acciona’s decision to increase investment in U.S. wind energy projects. 

— Source: Acciona Energy

For more information,
go to www.acciona.us.

Pattern Energy Completes 150-MW Amazon Wind Farm in Indiana

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Pattern Energy Completes 150-MW Amazon Wind Farm in Indiana

Pattern Energy Group Inc. recently announced that construction has been completed for the 150-MW Amazon Wind Farm Fowler Ridge in Benton County, Indiana, and that the wind farm is now fully operational. The facility will sell 100 percent of the electricity produced to Amazon Web Services (AWS), which will supply the electricity to the electric grids that service its datacenters.

“It’s a privilege to team with AWS on the Amazon Wind Farm Fowler Ridge, demonstrating the strong and growing appetite for wind power from the country’s leading corporations,” said Mike Garland, president and CEO of Pattern Energy. “This facility was completed on schedule, and we are beginning 2016 with all 16 of our wind power facilities fully operational. Since our IPO, we have grown the portfolio by 119 percent, underscoring the value of our strategic relationship with Pattern Development and our ability to execute attractive third-party acquisitions. Our strong platform of fully contracted power facilities, combined with our identified ROFO acquisitions pipeline totaling 1,270 MW, puts Pattern Energy in an excellent position to continue growing its fleet and quarterly dividend.”

Jerry Hunter, vice president of infrastructure at AWS, added, “AWS has a long-term commitment to achieve 100-percent renewable energy usage for our global infrastructure footprint, and we continue to make progress towards this goal. We’re excited to announce with Pattern Energy that the Amazon Wind Farm Fowler Ridge is now live and producing electricity, bringing a new source of clean energy to the grids that power our datacenters.”

The Amazon Wind Farm Fowler Ridge consists of 65 Siemens 2.3-MW wind turbines with components including turbine blades, nacelles, towers, and transformers manufactured in the U.S. The 150-MW facility will create enough clean energy to power 46,000 homes each year, according to average annual residential energy use data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).

“Siemens is proud that workers at our factories in the Midwest produced the turbines for the Amazon Wind Farm Fowler Ridge, which continues an exciting trend of technology companies and major corporations turning to wind power for their energy needs,” said Jacob Andersen, CEO of Onshore Americas for Siemens’ wind power and renewables division. “As wind becomes an increasingly important part of our nation’s energy mix, we are pleased to partner once again with Pattern Energy to deliver sustainable and affordable wind energy.”

An average of 175 workers were on the site during construction, which was managed by Mortenson Construction, with up to 300 workers on-site during peak construction activity. There are 10 full-time permanent workers on-site to operate and maintain the facility. The Amazon Wind Farm Fowler Ridge is expected to add an estimated $45 million over 25 years to the regional economy through property taxes, landowner royalties, and support for local causes.

Pattern Energy has an owned interest of 116 MW, and institutional tax equity investors have acquired the balance. The facility is financed with all equity rather than project debt.

Pattern Energy acquired the Amazon Wind Farm Fowler Ridge from Pattern Energy Group LP (Pattern Development) in April 2015. Pattern Energy has rights of first offer to Pattern Development’s entire project development pipeline, which totals more than 5,900 MW. 

— Source: Pattern Energy

For more information,
go to patternenergy.com.

Invenergy Announces Start of Commercial Operation for Prairie Breeze II Wind Energy Center

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Invenergy Announces Start of Commercial Operation for Prairie Breeze II Wind Energy Center

Invenergy Wind LLC recently announced the completion of construction and the start of commercial operation of its Prairie Breeze II Wind Energy Center in Antelope and Boone counties in Nebraska. The facility officially began operating in mid-December 2015.

Prairie Breeze II is located near the town of Elgin, approximately 100 miles northwest of Lincoln. The facility has the capacity to generate approximately 73 MW of power from 20 GE 1.79-MW wind turbines. Project output will be sold to the City of Grand Island, Nebraska, under a long-term power purchase agreement (PPA).

“We’re pleased to begin operating the second phase of our Prairie Breeze Wind Energy Center,” said Mick Baird, Invenergy’s vice president of business development for the west region. “When complete, Prairie Breeze will provide more than 300 MW of clean energy to our customers in Nebraska — a state with tremendous wind resources.”

Prairie Breeze II is the second phase of Invenergy’s Prairie Breeze Wind Energy Center. Prairie Breeze I, a 201-MW facility in Antelope and Boone counties, began operation in 2014. Prairie Breeze III — a 36-MW facility in Antelope County — completed financial close in the fourth quarter of 2015 and is currently under construction. TerraForm Power, Inc. will acquire approximately 90 percent of Prairie Breeze II and III as part of the second closing of the acquisition of wind power plants from Invenergy announced in December 2015. The second closing is expected to occur in the second quarter of 2016 after Prairie Breeze III commences operations.

A full-time staff of 18 Invenergy employees will operate and maintain the entire Prairie Breeze Wind Energy Center facility. All phases will bring significant economic benefit to the local community through job creation and tax revenue that will continue throughout the life of the projects. 

— Source: Invenergy

For more information,
go to www.invenergyllc.com.

How Brazilian Wind Farms Benefit from GE’s Largest Acquisition

Wind Systems staff
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How Brazilian Wind Farms Benefit from GE’s Largest Acquisition

South America’s vast Pampas stretch over three countries and cover an area larger than France. Farmers in the region have long discovered the appeal of the flat and fertile lowlands, and now wind farm operators in Brazil, the continent’s largest economy, are taking a second look.

Although the first wind farm opened in Brazil in 1992, wind has not reached its full potential and supplies less than 5 percent of the country’s electricity because the windswept plains often stretch far away from urban centers and lack the wires and infrastructure to bring the electricity they generate to customers. The Brazilian government is seeking to diversify the country’s power base and has set a goal for wind to reach nearly 12 percent of national generation capacity by 2023. The country is aiming to meet this goal by demanding that new projects build their own transmission lines.

It’s a tall order, but the challenge got easier last fall when GE acquired Alstom’s grid and energy business. Both companies already rank among the world’s largest makers of wind turbines, and with Alstom under one roof, GE now has the technology that can connect to the grid quickly.

The timing could hardly be better. Brazil makes more than two-thirds of its energy from large-scale hydro projects such as the massive Itaipu Dam on the Paraná River that holds a world record in hydropower generation. However, the country is going through its worst drought in four decades, causing electricity to be more expensive and driving up the frequency of blackouts.

Virna Araripe is an executive at Casa dos Ventos, which owns Brazil’s largest portfolio of wind projects. In the past, her company has bought a variety of GE turbines as well as Alstom turbines, substations, and power lines. She said the new GE wind turbine and grid technology mix made “a compelling package.”

Wind also happens to be complementary to hydro, according to Araripe. That’s because wind power in Brazil is typically fully dispatched to the grid, allowing hydro plants to hold water at dams to save for later in the year. Another hydro application called pumped-storage hydro uses electric pumps to move water into holding dams for storage when power is plentiful, at night, for example. The dam releases it to generate power when it’s needed during peak hours or when wind and solar are not available. In both senses, wind and hydro can be thought of as balancing each other.

Wind projects are also relatively speedy compared to other means of generating power. A new Brazilian wind farm can typically start supplying renewable power within two years.

GE and Alstom have been conducting business in Brazil for decades. There were 1,000 GE wind turbines installed in Brazil as of September 2015. Alstom’s high-voltage equipment works on the world’s largest transmission line, the Linhão do Madeira, that runs for 1,420 miles from the Amazonian state of Rondônia to the state of São Paulo in the southeast. With Alstom’s grid technology handling the wind power transmission requirement for new farms, their footprint could grow quickly.

Araripe said that she believes wind energy can eventually contribute up to 20 percent of Brazil’s power needs. Casa dos Ventos is ramping up at a rapid pace, planning to have 1,140 MW of installed capacity online by the end of 2017. In five years, it plans to have installed power of 3,000 MW.

— Source: GE Reports

For more information, go to www.gereports.com.

Condition Monitoring: Working with O&Ms on Their Terms

Jeff Walkup
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Condition Monitoring: Working with O&Ms on Their Terms

A recent report by the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) indicates that 2015 truly was a banner year for the industry as wind accounted for 47 percent of new generation. During this past year, the United States added a total of 14,468 MW to its installed capacity. Wind added more capacity in 2015 than any other energy source, followed by natural gas at 35 percent and solar at 14 percent.

As the wind O&M industry matures, owners are becoming more educated and wiser to their post-warranty options, helping to create a clear shift in the O&M market where OEMs and ISPs will need to re-define their role and demonstrate new strategies to meet their increasing demands. As things move forward, a large number of owners are transitioning to a self-perform model for scheduled maintenances and small correctives. However, many are not planning to take on major components straight away, so the emphasis will be on making an old asset run better while lowering the cost of maintenance and increasing power output through new technology and data analysis. Yet the question remains of how can we—who live and work in this strategically important field—bring better tools, enhanced pricing, and quicker output to the table.

Recently, I have had business development conversations with large-scale utility producers and O&Ms who all share some of the same sentiments I expressed above. In addition to the productivity of a wind turbine, wind farm operators are increasingly interested in reducing their life-cycle costs through new services and equipment.

Below are 10 of the most common interests I heard during those collaborations:

1. More discussion surrounding remote monitoring, new preventative maintenance models, better use of condition monitoring, improved data analysis, and better systems that allow integration of all data into one system to eliminate redundancy in paperwork as well as incomplete and missing records (i.e., vibration or grease and oil analysis with SCADA and maintenance records)

2. Better benchmarking for industry standards and data mining for performance measuring

3. Standards and best practice applications to include inspection guidelines, troubleshooting guidance, and consolidated reporting

4. Reduction in reliance of cranes

5. Implementation of drones

6. More focus on component end-of-life, reliability, and reduced downtime

7. Better pricing among the competition

8. Awareness to CapEx and OpEx budgets as turbines approach end of warranty

9. Ease of use for systems and integration into ERP/CMMS as well as the elimination of cumbersome paperwork and missing and inaccurate information

10. Effective business case creation that justifies adding costly new systems

The last point strikes me as the most prudent of the concerns from my wind industry counterparts. As many of us would agree, in order to justify the purchase and incorporation of the new and better systems that help an O&M to operate and achieve organizational goals, there must be an accurate financial business case in place that represents return on investments (ROI). Economic buyers who have buying authority will inevitably require an accurate and detailed documented process that showcases actual and internal information justifying why, when, and what is in it for them and the company they oversee. External facts and numbers are important from a 30,000-foot overview, but the power of their organizational financials cannot be overstated. It then falls into the hands of the O&M provider to spend time with the companies to better understand their needs and pain points, as well as to provide information that eases and assists them in building the justification to move forward with these solutions.

Just as 2015 has been an exciting time for the wind industry and renewables, 2016 and beyond should prove to contain tremendous opportunity for those who embrace the mindset of working smarter — not harder — to tap into the momentum. The recent passing of the five-year production tax credit (PTC) will continue to bring stability to the industry and allow investors to get behind the commitment to and completion of projects. This can bring balance to the logistics of the supply chain and accommodate the increase of good quality paying jobs that are so vital to the U.S. economy. Having clean, reliable sources of energy are key to national security and go hand-in-glove with energy independence.  

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