France’s First And Only Operational Floating Wind Turbine Gets Lifetime Extension
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.
This is the sub-heading.
Floatgen, the demonstration floating wind turbine installed at the SEM-REV offshore test site in France, has completed its planned five-year run but will operate for another five years as the demo project was decided to get a lifetime extension.
These are the first three paragraphs.
The floater, which consists of a 2 MW Vestas V80 wind turbine mounted on BW Ideol’s Damping Pool foundation, reached electricity production milestones several times since going into full operation in September 2018.
According to BW Ideol, Floatgen’s cumulated production has now surpassed 30 GWh, which the company ascribes to “the hydrodynamic properties and excellent sea-keeping capabilities” of its floating foundation.
Floatgen’s availability averaged 92.18 per cent between January 2021 and January 2024, with December 2023 standing out with a monthly production record of 922.026 MWh and a 61.96 per cent capacity factor, BW Ideol says.
Note.
- A three-year availability average of 92.18 % is surely very good.
- A 61.96 % capacity factor is better than most other floating wind farms, which are generally in the fifties.
With those figures, I suspect BW Ideol will be expecting, some orders soon.
This video shows a Floatgen being constructed.
Europe Installs Record-Breaking 4.2 GW Of Offshore Wind In 2023
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.
This is the sub-heading.
Europe’s offshore wind industry brought online a record 4.2 GW of new capacity in 2023 and is expected to build around 5 GW of offshore wind annually over the next three years, according to WindEurope data. However, this is still not enough to meet the continent’s 2030 climate and energy security targets, WindEurope added.
These are the first two paragraphs.
The overall offshore wind capacity installed in 2023 was 40 per cent higher than in 2022. Of the 4.2 GW of new capacity, 3 GW was in the EU, an increase of 2.1 GW year on year, WindEurope said.
The Netherlands, France, and the UK installed the most new capacity, including the 1.5 GW Hollandse Kust Zuid offshore wind project in the Netherlands, according to the organisation.
But where are the Germans?
They’ve got plenty of steel and sea, Siemens make a lot of wind turbines and they certainly need the electricity.
In 2023, Germany generated their electricity as follows.
- Brown coal (17.7%)
- Hard coal (8.3%)
- Natural gas (10.5%)
- Wind (32.0%)
- Solar (12.2%)
- Biomass (9.7%)
- Nuclear (1.5%)
- Hydro (4.5%)
- Oil (0.7%)
- Other (2.9%)
By comparison the UK’s figures were.
- Coal (1%)
- Natural gas (32%)
- Wind (29.4%)
- Solar (4.9%)
- Biomass (5%)
- Nuclear (14.2%)
- Hydro (1.8%)
- Storage (1%)
- Imports (10.7%)
Note.
- The Germans use a lot of coal.
- The UK uses a lot more natural gas.
- Despite the much-criticised Drax, the Germans use twice as much biomass as we do.
- The UK uses tens times more nuclear.
The Wikipedia entries for German and UK wind power make interesting reading.
1 GW Wind Farm Proposed Offshore Jersey
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.
This is the sub-heading.
Jersey’s Council of Ministers has proposed to build a 1 GW offshore wind farm in the southwest of the island’s territorial waters that would produce enough electricity to meet its needs, with the remainder to be exported.
This first paragraph gives more details.
It is proposed that the offshore wind farm should be privately funded and designed, and delivered by a consortium with substantial experience of similar development elsewhere, according to the government.
I would have thought that Jersey would have been one of those places, that would have been too conservative for offshore wind.
But then, this is the last paragraph of the article.
In a 2019 Island Plan consultation, 85 per cent of respondents agreed or strongly agreed the plan should continue to encourage the development of offshore wind and tidal energy, according to the government.
But as the wind farm will export the surplus surplus, it could be a nice little earner.
This Google Map shows the Channel Islands.
This article on the BBC is entitled Islands Could Work Together On Wind Farm Plans.
These three bullet points sum up the article.
-
Guernsey and Jersey may work together to create a wind farm
-
Both States are hoping to create the wind farm off Jersey’s south-west coast
-
It could generate enough energy for both islands.
This looks like a sound way to reap the wind!
Teen’s Killing Raises A French Policing Issue That Dare Not Be Named
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on France24.
This is the sub-heading.
The killing of 17-year-old Nahel M. during a police traffic stop this week was a depressingly familiar addition to France’s list of police brutality cases. But when the UN called on the government to address racial discrimination in its police force, the official reaction was just as familiar and depressing for France’s minorities.
These are the first five paragraphs.
On Friday, just a few days after a French police officer shot dead a teenager during a traffic stop in a Paris suburb, the UN Human Rights Office urged France to tackle racial discrimination.
“We are concerned by the killing of a 17-year-old of North African descent by police in France,” UN human rights office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani told a press briefing in Geneva.
“This is a moment for the country to seriously address the deep issues of racism and discrimination in law enforcement,” she added.
Shamdasani’s comments echoed innumerable statements released over the past few years by international rights groups, such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, calling on the French state to address “systematic discrimination” particularly “the use of ethnic profiling” during identity checks.
If the UN human rights office believed the police killing of the teenager of Algerian descent, named Nahel M., could be the “moment” for an official French reckoning, it proved to be mistaken.
These are a few choice paragraphs.
Many Cases
Nahel’s killing in the western Paris suburb of Nanterre was the latest in a string of cases of police violence in France’s deprived, multi-ethnic banlieues, or suburbs. These include high-profile cases, such as the 2005 deaths of two young men in Clichy-sous-Bois, a Paris suburb, and the 2016 death of Adama Traoré in Val d’Oise, a banlieue further north. The victims were all non-white young males.
France And America
“Of course France and America are very different countries, but they have a common enemy: racism,” a demonstrator told FRANCE 24 at a June 2020 “Justice for Adama Traoré” protest. “Nothing will ever change until people are educated about racism. Starting with the police.”
One Bad Apple, Not The Orchard
Several French officials and security experts conceded that the video footage appeared to show the policeman acting in breach of procedures. But they insist it’s a case of one bad apple, not a rot in the orchard.
French Police And Military Voting
A July 2019 study by the left-leaning Fondation Jean-Jaurès found that more than 50% of French military and law enforcement personnel said they voted for far-right politician Marine Le Pen’s party in recent elections.
In the first round of the 2022 presidential election, 39% of police and military personnel voted for Le Pen while 25% voted for another far-right candidate, Éric Zemmour, according to polling institute Cluster17.
France Police Union Tweet
“Congratulations to the colleagues who opened fire on a young 17-year-old criminal. By neutralising his vehicle, they protected their lives and those of other drivers. The only ones responsible for this thug’s death are his parents, who were incapable of educating their son,” it read.
France’s “Licence To Shoot” Law
The law, which was passed following a spate of terror attacks in France, has been slammed as a “licence to shoot” legislation. In 2022 alone, 13 people were shot and killed by police in cases of non-compliance. While French authorities have not released the racial or ethnic identities of the victims, sociologist Sebastien Roche told a local French daily that there was an “overrepresentation of ethnic minorities among those killed during refusals to obey” police traffic stops.
The article is worth a full read.
Run Larger, Multi-Site Offshore Wind Tenders, French Energy Commission Recommends To Gov’t
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.
This is the sub-heading.
The French Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE) has recommended that the government conducts larger offshore wind tenders, inviting bids for several sites. This is according to the latest update from CRE, which has now published specifications for the country’s AO5 tender for a floating wind farm in southern Brittany.
Looking at the building of large numbers of wind turbines and their fixed or floating foundations, I am drawn to the conclusion, that it might be better if all were as identical as possible.
I should also note, that we were very successful selling Artemis project management systems in France. Our manager in the country, said it was because all the country’s top managers had been to the same schools and universities and passed the best solutions around themselves.
So perhaps a standard solution appeals to the French psyche?
In the UK, BP are currently designing and planning these fixed foundation wind farms.
- Mona – 1500 MW – 35 m. depth – 30 km. offshore
- Morgan – 1500 MW – 35 m. depth – 30 km. offshore
- Morven – 2907 MW – 65-75 m. depth – 60 km. offshore
Given that Mona and Morgan are in the Irish Sea and Morven is North-East of Aberdeen, I wouldn’t be surprised to find that BP treat these three projects as two separate 3 GW projects, which could share the same turbine design and fixed foundation designs, that were very similar.
I’m sure BP would save money, if they used a similar design philosophy on all three projects.
Boralex Commissions BESS At Wind Farm In France In EU-Supported Demonstration Project
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Energy Storage News.
These two paragraphs outline the project.
Canada-based renewable energy firm Boralex has turned on a 3.3MWh battery storage unit attached to a wind farm in France.
The battery storage project has been installed at the site of the Plouguin wind farm, an 8MW generating facility in the Finistere department of Brittany, northwest France.
Note.
- The project was co-financed by the European Union through its European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).
- The project was launched to demonstrate the technical feasibility of a hybrid wind-plus-storage project.
- Boralex added in its announcement that the project will contribute to the stability of the French electricity grid.
There will be a lot of projects like this in the future.
This paragraph makes an interesting point about using batteries with solar and wind power.
Wind farms are less frequently hybridised with energy storage than solar PV because of the larger minimum project size and less predictable variability, with sharper peaks meaning heavier battery cycling and potentially faster degradation.
My control engineering knowledge and experience says that larger power sources and those that are highly variable will need batteries with more capacity for the same stability and quality of power output.
This sounds to me like a very good reason for developing larger and more affordable batteries, like those of Cheesecake Energy, Energy Dome, Gravitricity and Highview Power.
It also probably means that to stabilise several gigawatts of wind power, you need a very large amount of storage, that can only be provided by pumped storage hydroelectricity.
Conclusion
A very large amount energy storage is going to be needed.
Projects like these are essential to make sure we use them to their full possibilities.
BW Ideol In Talks To Raise EUR 40 Million For Floating Wind Development
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.
This is the sub-heading.
Norway-headquartered BW Ideol and French state-owned investment company ADEME Investissement have agreed to enter into exclusive negotiations for EUR 40 million in funding by ADEME Investissement for BW Ideol’s project development activities.
The rest of the post is all about the clever, but I suspect legal ways, that the € 40 million is raised.
When I needed any advice in that area, I used to consult my late friend the banker; David, who is mentioned in Diversifying A US$200 billion Market: The Alternatives To Li-ion Batteries For Grid-Scale Energy Storage.
When he needed computing advice, that is another story.
This Hydrogen Bus Will Take You And Your Car To Your Holiday Destination – Topgear
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Hydrogen Central.
The article details an interesting concept called Symone, from the French.
Looking at it, I suspect British Rail’s Motorail service was more efficient, as it had a larger capacity.
France’s First Offshore Wind Farm Fully Up And Running
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.
This is the sub-title.
France’s first commercial-scale offshore wind farm, the 480 MW Saint-Nazaire, has been fully commissioned.
Does this mean, that this is France’s only operational offshore wind farm?
It does appear so, whereas the UK has 13,628 MW of offshore wind.
With onshore wind, the French have 15,000 MW and England has 14,000 MW.So we’re ahead in offshore and total, but behind in onshore.
The Anonymous Widower 