Siemens Power Generation has announced an agreement with FPL Energy, the wholesale generation subsidiary of FPL Group Inc., for wind turbines totalling up to 600MW. Siemens will manufacture, install and commission its 2.3MW Mk II wind turbines for FPL Energy. Delivery of the wind turbines will begin in 2006 and support the planned expansion of wind-driven electricity generation projects at FPL Energy.

REpower Systems AG is one of three German manufacturers participating in the newly established “Foundation for Offshore Wind Energy”. REpower is due to construct four REpower 5M turbines in a test field outside Borkum in 2007 and in the process become involved in an offshore wind park located in German waters for the first time. The park will include a total of 12 turbines. The foundation was established to bundle the interests of as many participants in the offshore wind energy industry as possible. The foundation’s board of trustees is composed of manufacturers such as REpower, organisations and major energy providers, as well as institutions including the German Ministry of the Environment and representatives of the German coastal states. Planning is expected to be concluded as quickly as possible, so as to allow construction of the wind park to begin next year. The first turbines are due to be connected to the grid in 2007.

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.