Offshore Wind Turbines

Blackstone Private Equity Firm Invests in German Offshore Wind…In a Big Way

13 years ago proteus 0 Comments

Private equity firm Blackstone is investing in offshore wind in Germany in a big way. The company announced it had secured a total of 1.2 billion euros of financing for the 288MW Meerwind North Sea wind farm project, as well as obtaining a permit for Nordlicher Grund, a 64-turbine, 1.3 billion euro North Sea wind farm. A group of seven banks will provide 822 million euros in debt financing with Blackstone supplying Meerwind’s equity. Supporting the financing is Germany’s feed-in tariff, which locks in rates for Meerwind’s electricity output.

GOP Committee Chair & Renewable Energy Leaders Call on Obama Administration to Fast-Track Wind &…

13 years ago Zachary Shahan 10 Comments

Republican chairman of the House Committee on Natural Resources, Doc Hastings (R-WA), and a host of big-name renewable energy leaders spoke up this week on the need for the Obama administration to fast-track renewable energy projects (i.e. not make them go through years of bureaucratic red tape). As I’ve written a number of times before, the Obama administration has sped up the offshore wind power process and the process for utility-scale solar on public lands, but much more could still be done.

Renewable Energy in Germany Going to Get a Boost from Wind Energy Superhighway

13 years ago Zachary Shahan 2 Comments

I was in Germany a little more than a week ago and can tell you from what I saw that Germany (or, at least, Northeast Germany) is a wind turbine paradise. Wind turbines are everywhere it seems (between cities that is).

Germany is the clear wind power leader in Europe with 27,214 MW of installed wind power capacity. (Spain is second with 20,676 MW installed.)

But, even in Germany, wind power could benefit from a better transmission network. Of course, German leaders recognize that and are doing something about it — they are planning to build a wind energy superhighway.

Offshore Wind Future Looks Bright but Challenges & Uncertainty Remain, New Report Finds

13 years ago Zachary Shahan 1 Comment

A report this month from PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC), Offshore Proof, delves into the challenges of offshore wind power, its shortcomings to date, and its potentially bright future. While the report finds that the “offshore wind power industry has some way to go to prove it can take its place as a sustainable part of the energy mix,” 75% of experts in the field project that it will be an important part of the mix in the next 20 years and about 60% believe that it will be economically competitive within 15 years.