REpower Systems AG has been awarded a large order in Portugal. For ENERGI E2 Renovables Ibéricas S.L. – a subsidiary of the Danish utility ENERGI E2 – and its Portuguese partner Eólica São Julião, REpower Portu-gal is to erect a total of 13 2-megawatt wind turbines. The order volume is just un-der € 26 million. The Joguinho II wind park is located in Torres Vedras, to the north of Lisbon and is to be transferred to its operator in the summer of next year. The large project is commencing with the construction of the foundations and the erection of the tower segments for the first two turbines, planned for December this year. The towers are to be produced by Martifer, the joint venture partner and large shareholder at RE-power Systems AG.

Nordex AG. has obtained its first order to supply variable-speed 1.5 MW turbines to China. At present Nordex is working on orders for four projects in China with a total of 27 turbines. Nordex has been active in China since the mid-90s. In 1998 the company was the first manufacturer to set up a joint venture for the production of wind turbines. In the past we only produced 600 kW machines in China, the larger ones being exported from Europe. China intends to install around 20,000MW by the year 2020. Any company that wants a slice of this market must be able to offer state-of-the-art machines in the upper power class with a local contribution to value added of 70 per cent.

Airtricity, an Irish company, says it will spend US$ 270 million to build wind farms in West Texas, New York and Idaho. Airtricity has announced that it has agreements with landowners to construct turbines on 23,000 acres (nearly 10,000ha) between Amarillo and Lubbock by the end of 2006. Airtricity plans to build a 125MW wind farm in West Texas. Local officials in eastern Idaho have approved plans for a 100MW wind farm to be built by Airtricity and Ridgeline Energy. In upstate New York, Airtricity is still seeking permission for a 40MW facility. The company raised more than US$ 100 million in private equity last year and plans to borrow 90% of the money needed to buy and install wind turbines, which will be built by a subsidiary of Germany’s Siemens AG and Spain’s Gamesa.

Bangladesh’s first wind-generated power project has been put into operation on a pilot basis with a high rate of success in producing electricity. Electricity generated on a trial basis from four wind turbines is connected, with the distribution cable of Palli Biddut Samity providing uninterrupted additional power generation with a capacity of 1MW per day for the last four months. A total of four three-bladed wind turbines were installed at Muhari in the Feni district of Chittagong division, southeast of Bangladesh, with the assistance of the Indian NEPC Company under the direct supervision of the Bangladesh Power Development Board (PDB). The 50-foot (15m) tall wind turbines with a maximum power production capacity of 225kW each have been installed at a cost of US$ 1.23 million. The PDB could produce 2,000MW of power in the coastal belt by installing 30 wind turbines per square kilometre. Bangladesh has good opportunities for wind power because it has a 724km long coastline and many small islands in the Bay of Bengal, where strong southwesterly winds and sea breezes blow in the summer months and there is a gentle northeasterly wind and breeze in winter months.

Emu Ltd has recently taken delivery of a Reson SeaBat 8101 Multibeam Echosounder. The integrated multibeam system also comprises Reson PDS2000 data acquisition and processing software, a Reson SVP-15 sound velocity probe and a TSS MAHRS attitude and heading sensor. The SeaBat 8101 will enable Emu Ltd to conduct bathymetric surveys in extremely testing environments of strong currents and high turbidity within lakes, rivers, estuaries, channels and coastal areas. The small object detection capability and characteristic clean data has already been proven as the system is currently being used in offshore wind farm site surveys.

Acciona Energía, through its renewable energy subsidiary EHN, has signed an agreement with Energías Renovables Mediterráneas (Renomar) to construct 21 turnkey wind farms totalling 793MW. This contract, including the infrastructure related to the wind farm’s energy output, represents € 850 million (including taxes). Renomar’s work in the field of wind energy has begun with the construction of three wind farms in the north of the province of Castellón, Spain, totalling 124.5MW, and the construction of several other wind farms will begin this year. The company expects to complete the implementation of its wind power plan in three years. Renomar, jointly owned at 50% by the Valencia-based company Med Wind and EHN, the renewable subsidiary of the Acciona Group, will carry out most of the project with wind turbines of INGETUR technology. Renomar will install 453 turbines of the IT-1500 model, representing a total installed capacity of 679.5MW (86.5% of the total). The remainder –113.9MW – will consist of 134 model G52-850 wind turbines. The electricity produced in these ten wind farms in the north of Castellón province will be sent to the grid through a 400kV substation constructed by REE in the municipality of Morella.