The Soderglen Wind Project, which will be Canada’s largest merchant wind plant and one of the largest wind facilities in the Canadian province of Alberta when it enters operation, will feature 47 of GE Energy's 1.5MW wind turbines. The 70.5MW project, being developed through a joint venture between GW Power Corporation and Nexen Inc, will begin construction in the autumn of 2005 with completion scheduled for the summer of 2006. The Soderglen project has been approved to receive the Canadian Wind Power Production Incentive (WPPI), which provides qualifying projects with payments of 1.0 Canadian cents per kilowatt-hour of electricity produced from wind energy. In support of expanding renewable energy's contribution to Canada’s electricity mix, the Canadian government recently increased its original 1,000MW WPPI to 4,000MW.

Flight trials have commenced to demonstrate a technical solution that, if successful, will be used to iron out objections to wind farms from the British Ministry of Defence (MOD), National Air Traffic Services (NATS) and individual airport operators. Government and industry have been working together to better understand the cause of the radar impact for several years but this is the first time they have come together with a potential mitigation solution. The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and British Wind Energy Association (BWEA) members are financially supporting BAE Systems to lead the science behind the technology, known as the Advanced Digital Tracker (ADT). The ADT will be fitted to a portable radar provided by the MOD. The mobile air traffic control radar is being temporarily sited in mid Wales. The site in Wales has been chosen for the trials as it is situated in the region of four working wind farms of various sizes, scales and models of wind turbines, which will collectively provide the most rigorous test for the technology. Various types of aircraft will fly over the wind farms and the ADT will be investigated to establish whether the radar can register the aircraft while not cluttering the screen with similar images caused by the wind turbines’ rotating blades. The results obtained will then be analysed at BAE Systems. The results of the trials will be available by October 2005. If successful, the ADT could be on the market to tackle site-specific wind farm issues by the end of 2006.

The Vestas Group’s positive expectations for the Italian market have been confirmed by receipt of orders for a total of 36 units of the V80-2.0MW wind turbine. The turnkey orders have been placed by a joint venture between the Italian developer Fri-El GreenPower and companies of the French EDF Group. The contracts comprise turbines, monitoring system, transport, installation and commissioning, as well as electrical and civil infrastructure. The turbines will be installed in 2005 and 2006 in four adjacent wind parks. The wind parks, which will have a combined capacity of 72MW, are located in the Puglia region, in the south of Italy. The four sites stretch over the commune of Sant’Agata di Puglia.

Gamesa Eólica has agreed five new contracts with the Italian companies Windpower Sud Srl, Enpower Srl and the Moncada Construzioni Srl Group for the supply of 136 wind turbines with 850kW of unitary power destined for various wind farms located on the island of Sicily. These 136 wind turbines, 126 of which correspond to the G58-850kW model and the remaining 10 to the G52-850kW model, together account for the installation of an overall output of 116MW. Of the 136 wind turbines, 44 are to be delivered to the Monte Petrasi wind farm, 28 to the Narbone wind farm, 21 to the Malvizzo wind farm, 33 to the Durrá wind farm and the remaining 10 wind turbines, which are to be supplied without towers, to the Monte Mele wind farm, all located in Agrigento, on the Italian island of Sicily. These new contracts, which record a value in excess of € 76 million, include the supply of the wind turbines, their installation and commissioning, and also their operation and maintenance. Assembly work is scheduled to begin in the second half of 2005.

REpower Systems AG has received an order to deliver 19 wind energy turbines to Japan. The REpower MD77-type turbines each provide a rated power of 1.5MW. Two of the turbines are expected to be erected this autumn (2005) in the northwest of Japan’s main island Honshu, in the coastal city of Akita. Delivery of a further 17 turbines is scheduled for the first quarter of 2006. They will be installed close to the coastal city of Hachiryu, also in the northwest of Honshu.

REpower Systems AG and Denker & Wulf AG have announced that they are to sell one of Germany’s largest wind farm portfolios. GE Commercial Finance Energy Financial Services has agreed to buy four wind farms from them for € 135.5 million, including the assumption of debt. The sale, the second of a wind portfolio by REpower and Denker & Wulf, is subject to satisfaction of various conditions, including governmental anti-competition review. The following wind electricity generation projects are included in the deal: Grossvargula, Zabelsdorf, Premslin-Kribbe, Falkenwalde and Heckelberg-Breydin.