Belgium: Offshore Wind Farms Break Record
Offshore wind farms in the Belgium North Sea had a record winter when it comes to electricity production.According to the Belgian Offshore Platform, during the Nov 2019 – March 2020 winter period, offshore wind farms in Belgium produced 60% more electricity compared to the 2019 winter. This winter the wind farms produced 3.2 TWh, compared to 2 TWh in 2019.Due to rapidly advancing technology and new wind farm installations…
DEME Installs Second SeaMade Offshore Wind Farm Substation
Offshore installation company DEME has installed the second offshore substation at the SeaMade offshore wind farm in Belgium.In a social media post on Wednesday, Deme said: "The two substations for the SeaMade offshore wind farm have been successfully installed in the Belgian North Sea with heavy lift vessel ‘Gulliver’. Despite the challenging conditions over the past weeks, the SeaMade…
VDL Wins TenneT Gig
European transmission system operator TenneT has awarded VDL Network Supplies a contract to support the construction of half of the wintrack pylons (high-voltage pylons) for a new 380 kV high-voltage connection from Borssele to Rilland.The new pylons, which are some 60 to 80 meters high, will be produced by VDL KTI in Mol (Belgium). The high-voltage pylons will be supplied between early…
Offshore Wind Hits 22GW for Europe
Europe has expanded its offshore leadership by adding 3.6 gigawatt (GW) of new commissioned capacity in 2019, bringing the total offshore wind installed capacity at the end of 2019 to above 22GW.According to the recent report of GlobalData, spreading across 12 European countries, the UK holds the largest share with 9.9GW of capacity, representing around 45% of the cumulative installed offshore wind capacity in Europe…
Excelerate to Manage FSRUs In-house
Houston-based Excelerate Energy’s unit, Excelerate Technical Management (ETM) has been authorized to operate as ship manager for its parent company’s entire fleet of floating storage and regasification units (FSRUs).The Republic of the Marshall Islands and the Government of Belgium have awarded Interim Documents of Compliance (DoC) under the International Safety Management (ISM) Code to ETM.The Interim DoC is the result of an audit of ETM’s safety management system…
Belgium Launches Offshore Wind to Hydrogen Project
Belgium's Port of Oostende, the engineering services provider DEME Concessions NV and Belgium-based investment management company PMV have launched a project to establish a plant in the Oostende port that produces green hydrogen from the electricity produced at Belgium’s offshore wind farms.The goal of the project, HYPORT Oostende, is to build the green hydrogen facility in the Plassendale…
Project INNTERESTING Aims to Accelerate Wind Technology
The European project INNTERESTING aims to accelerate wind energy technology development and to extend the lifetime of wind turbine components.Coordinated by the Technological Research Center IKERLAN, Project INNTERESTING, has a budget of $5.2M (€4.75M) and it is financed by the European Union´s H2020 Research and Innovation Program. The full name of the project is “Innovative Future-Proof Testing Methods for Reliable Critical Components in Wind Turbines”.
Britain's Zero-carbon Power Outstrips Fossil Fuels in 2019
Britain, the birthplace of coal power, produced more electricity from zero-carbon sources such as wind, solar and nuclear than from fossil fuel plants for the first time in 2019, National Grid said on Wednesday.Having built the world's first coal-fired power plant in the 1880s, coal became Britain's dominant electricity source and a major economic driver for the next century. But last year…
Yamal LNG Starts Using New Storage Tank
Novatek, the largest independent natural gas producer in Russia, started using a dedicated LNG transshipment tank at the Zeebrugge LNG terminal in Belgium.Novatek booked the tank’s capacity as part of a 20-year transshipment agreement between Yamal LNG’s unit Yamal Trade and Fluxys LNG.The dedicated LNG tank was built specifically for the transshipment needs of Yamal LNG with a capacity of 180…
DEME Unveils First SOV for Offshore Wind
Belgium-based offshore wind installation specialist Dredging, Environmental and Marine Engineering NV (DEME) has started building its first service operation vessel (SOV), which will be chartered by Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy (SGRE) for work at three Belgian offshore wind farms (OWF).Concepted by DEME and further designed in close cooperation with Vuyk Engineering Rotterdam and Marin…
North Sea Countries to Boost Offshore Wind
Energy Ministers from North Seas countries met yesterday (December 04) in Brussels and agreed their 2020 Work Program on offshore wind deployment as a means of reaching climate neutrality by 2050.The 10 North Seas Energy Cooperation countries – Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the UK – agreed at their Ministerial meeting in Esbjerg in June 2019 to broaden the scope of their cooperation.
Mitsubishi Beats Shell to Buy Eneco
A group led by Japan's Mitsubishi Corp will buy Eneco in a deal valuing the Dutch energy firm at 4.1 billion euros ($4.52 billion), Eneco said on Monday, beating off rival bids from Shell and private equity firm KKR.Eneco, a company owned by 44 Dutch municipalities and with a strong focus on renewable energy, said it had been swayed by Mitsubishi's plans to allow the company to continue its strategy and retain its corporate identity.The deal…
Belgium Players Join Forces Hydrogen Transportation
The climate target to reduce CO2 emissions in Belgium by 80% by 2050 compared to 2005 levels is a major challenge. Hydrogen has an important role to play in the mix of solutions to achieve results.That is why Deme, Engie, Exmar, Fluxys, Port of Antwerp, Port of Zeebrugge and WaterstofNet are joining forces. A joint study serves as a basis to coordinate delivery of concrete projects that shape the production…
Fluxys Sign LNG Contract with Qatar
Qatar Petroleum subsidiary Qatar Terminal Limited (QTL) and Fluxys Belgium subsidiary Fluxys LNG signed a long-term LNG Services Agreement for the Zeebrugge LNG terminal.Under the agreement, QTL subscribes unloading slots at the facility from the expiry of the current long-term unloading contracts and up to 2044.The agreement was signed during a ceremony held in Brussels today by Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi…
Euronav to Store Low-Sulfur Oil
The crude oil tanker company Euronav has purchased a total of 420,000 metric tons of compliant fuel oil and marine gasoil so far, the company revealed as it detailed its IMO 2020 sulfur cap plans. In aggregate the purchase value of very low sulfur fuel oil (VLSFO) has been at $447 per metric ton compared to a bunker price (HFO-3.5% Sulfur content) of $400 per metric ton over the same procurement period.According to the Belgium shipping company…
Europe Installs 1.9 GW Offshore Wind Capacity in H1
Europe added 1.9 GW of new offshore wind was installed in the first half of 2019, up from the 1.1 GW added in the same period in 2018, according to figures released by WindEurope.The UK (931 MW), Denmark (374 MW), Belgium (370 MW) and Germany (252 MW) accounted for these installations. This includes Hornsea 1 in the UK which, when completed, will be the world’s largest wind farm with 1.2 GW.In the first half of 2019 Europe invested €8.8bn in the construction of future wind farms…
World First: High-Wave Floating Solar Park
A Belgian consortium has launched a project in high-wave offshore solar technology with the aim of building floating solar parks in the North Sea.Large maritime market players Tractebel, Jan De Nul Group, DEME, Soltech and Ghent University formed a consortium and announced the launch of an innovative project in the field of marine floating solar technology.The consortium strongly believe…
Japanese Firms Begin Offshore Wind Surveys
Japanese companies Sumitomo Corporation and Electric Power Development Co., Ltd. (J-POWER) have begun an offshore ground investigation off the coast of Japan to explore the possibility of developing an offshore wind power plant.The Japanese government is currently in the process of determining areas to be designated as offshore wind power development promotion areas under a new law enacted this fiscal year…
DOE Approves Port Arthur LNG Project
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced the signing of a long-term order authorizing the export of domestically produced liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Sempra Energy’s Port Arthur LNG export project to be built in Port Arthur, Texas. The U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry signed the authorization allowing Port Arthur LNG to export approximately 13.5 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa) of LNG to countries that do not have a free-trade agreement (FTA) with the U.S.
Europe Offshore Fleet has 105 Wind Farms
There are now 189 GW of wind energy in Europe, making up 14% of the EU’s power demand. 18.5 GW of this is in Europe’s offshore fleet, whose 105 wind farms and 4,500 turbines now provide 40,000 jobs.According to WindEurope CEO Giles Dickson, this is set to grow.Offshore wind has a proven record of rejuvenating former industrial towns in Europe. Dickson gave the UK example of the Green Port in Hull…
