E-News

25.11.2011

Sandbank Power sells "Sandbank 24”

Oldenburg company Projekt GmbH has been developing the offshore wind farm project "Sandbank 24” since 2001. This included planning and development, gaining official permission for the construction of 96 wind turbines and, since 2005 as a shareholder in Sandbank Power GmbH & Co. KG, preparing everything for the start of construction. Furthermore, an application for planning permission for another 40 wind turbines for the "Sandbank Extension” was drawn up and submitted. Now the company has signed a contract with Vattenfall for the sale of both projects. Vattenfall is the owner of the "Dan Tysk” wind farm in the direct vicinity of "Sandbank 24” to the west of the island of Sylt in the "SylWin” cluster. Now, Sandbank Power GmbH & Co. KG and Vattenfall as the purchaser wrapped up the deal.

With its 96 wind turbines, "Sandbank 24” is currently the offshore wind farm with the largest approved pilot phase in Germany, and a further 40 turbines could be added to that when "Sandbank Extension” is approved. Purchaser Vattenfall expects the first stage to achieve a capacity of up to 576 megawatts (MW) on a site 90 km west of the island of Sylt – added to its "Dan Tysk” wind farm, scheduled for construction start in 2012.

The purchase by Vattenfall is also a recognition of the excellent development work of the Oldenburg Projekt GmbH, which in 2004 obtained the construction approval for "Sandbank 24” from the German Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency (BSH), in 2007 was able to increase the number of wind turbines to a total of 96, and in 2009 achieved the first approval according to the BSH standard "design structure of wind energy turbines”.

That makes "Sandbank” a solid investment for Vattenfall, especially as the contracting parties already have a history together. They jointly worked on the offshore wind energy cluster "SylWin”, on aspects including operation & maintenance (O&M) and technical project development. At the beginning of 2011, the network operator TenneT placed an order for a converter station for 864 MW in the "SylWin” cluster – the largest joint grid connection commissioned so far.

Even after the sale, Projekt GmbH will be involved in a consultancy role in the "Sandbank 24" project. Managing Director Ubbo de Witt commented: "We're delighted that we will be able to support Vattenfall, one of the largest offshore wind farm operators, with our know-how during the further development of the project." As part of its own offshore activities, the company is now preparing the offshore wind farm "Witte Bank" for official approval.

25.11.2011

BWE values company"s expertise

Roland Hagendorff of Projekt GmbH has once again been elected as a speaker for the working group "Marking wind energy turbines" of the German Wind Energy Association (BWE). He brings to the office his expertise in the area of offshore wind energy turbines.

The goal of the working group is to cooperate with the responsible government departments, flight security organisations and experts to find solutions for new, more efficient marking systems. These are necessary because of ever-taller towers, but must also respond to environmental concerns. Right now, discussions focus on ways of activating lighting on demand, using either radar or transponders in aircraft.

The speakers" group of the Marking WG regrets that the systems envisioned with the aim of increasing acceptance will first be tried out abroad. The first primary radar system developed, "OCAS", was shut down by the German Network Agency due to frequency overlaps with military radars, so now an initial wind farm is due to be equipped with "Cassidian" modules at the end of 2012. In order to promote the transponder solution, the WG also demands a general "night-time transponder obligation".

Roland Hagendorff has in the past cooperated on various BWE projects, including the HIWUS study "Development of an Obstacle Lighting Concept to Minimise Light Emissions from Onshore and Offshore Wind Energy Farms and Turbines, with Special Reference to the Compatibility of Environmental Requirements and Air and Marine Traffic Safety". He also sits on the BSH"s "Protection and Safety Strategy" working group.

11.11.2011

Projekt GmbH supports KOSTBAR 2012

"Regional”, "organic” and "fair” are the three key words that can be used to describe a sustainable lifestyle. Promoting these values is the express aim of the "buying and activity guide” KOSTBAR, available for 2012 for the second time with special offers in Oldenburg and the region.

The idea was an immediate success, so now there"s even more demand for the new issue. It contains more than 170 vouchers for discounts on food products from the region, organic and fair-trade goods, and leisure activities available locally. What"s more, over 90 companies, sports clubs and others provide a review of what they have to offer.

The 264-page book gives readers systematic information and ideas on how to explore options of greener consumption to save both money and CO2 while simultaneously boosting the regional economy.

Projekt GmbH supports the climate protection book created by the association "transfer” because it reflects the objectives of our group. We also contribute with our promotion of renewable energies to a sustainable use of the world"s resources.

04.11.2011

Keeping consumers in the dark!

Since the decision to decommission nuclear power stations, there have been more and more forecasts of electricity price increases, something that already tends to be reported frequently towards the end of each year. It"s important to examine closely who is claimed to be responsible for this.

Above all the large grid operators like to represent renewable energies as the main cause of price rises, although it has repeatedly been proven that they do not pass on lower energy prices to consumers (see e.g. http://www.sueddeutsche.de/geld/strompreis-energiekonzerne-zocken-kunden-ab-1.983198), instead using electricity price rises to increase their profit margins.

Exemption from the obligation to pay network charges is often used as a way of avoiding costs. For instance, in January the German Association of Energy and Water Industries (Bundesverband der Energie- und Wasserwirtschaft BDEW) repeated its "recommendation" for an exemption of electricity storage technologies from the obligation to pay network charges with a terse reference to the "low effect on households" e.g. in the case of pumped storage plants, as the sums involved only totalled the "very small share" of € 95 million per year.

The German Network Agency even states that there is a "trend towards introducing subsidies in the form of a complete or partial exemption from network charges" and warns that "all other network users must always pay for this through higher network charges".

Recently, the German government made a gift to electricity-intensive industries. Companies with a consumption of more than 10 million kilowatt-hours per year are exempted from network charges. According to "Monitor" news programme broadcast on 27 October, this amounts to a saving of € 1.4 billion!

Internet product comparison portal Verivox - rated "very good" by Stiftung Warentest consumer advice organisation - expects an average electricity price hike of four percent at the end of the year. After analysing the factors, Verivox criticises the "continued unclear situation regarding network charges and the individual price policies of the various utilities" - this is where the danger of deceit lies, not in the development of the levies according to the EEG (Renewable Energies Law).

05.10.2011

EAG Oldenburger Energie AG founded

The group of companies associated with Oldenburg-based Projekt GmbH has founded a public limited company to push for the expansion and application of renewable energies at its own location.

The background is the new broad consensus in society that energy supply needs to be restructured. People are no longer asking whether a 100% coverage of regional demand with renewables is possible - the only question now is how and how quickly this can be done. Climate protection urgently demands that this process is accelerated, and that will also create added value and jobs in the region.

EAG Oldenburger Energie AG has been established to create and improve the scope for investing and offering financial participation in the field of renewable energies.

19.09.2011

Restructuring of the Projekt group

The company group consisting of Projekt, Projekt Ökovest and b-Experts is launching its "Project Future" simultaneously with a relocation to a new home at the end of October. The foundation of a new company and an expansion of activities creates the ideal opportunity to hire new employees and bring everything together at one location. The most visible expression of the revamped company structure and scope is a new group corporate design that covers the entire public presentation and corporate communication of the group.

Already, the latest new employee is busy helping set up the infrastructure for the new office building. She is a trainee in IT for systems integration, and on 15 August started a dual apprenticeship at Projekt GmbH and iS information Systems oHG (as the main company). That makes Projekt GmbH a training company for the first time.

The total of some 20 employees now have plenty of space in two houses, each with around 600 m2 of useful space. They can make the most of ideal conditions with optimally equipped work places and spacious meeting rooms. It all means they can work in teams even more effectively to successfully implement projects like the offshore wind farm "Sandbank 24", and now also "Witte Bank". These are projects with an unusually large volume for a company of this size.

Not long after the foundation of Projekt-GmbH in 1993, the company seat in Alexanderstraße became too small. An extension was built, then, in 2003, the technical management moved into the Technologie- und Gründerzentrum (TGO - Technology and Start-up Centre). That was when the company group owned by Heike Kröger and Ubbo de Witt built their future-oriented headquarters in Alexanderstraße 404 a & b. It consisted of two three-storey passive-energy houses built on wooden frames. An underground car park with 25 places left room for a landscaped garden instead of paved grounds.

The company signs on the new buildings will display the new corporate design for the first time. It was developed by Oldenburg design and communications company "Ideendirektoren" to enable the group to clearly present its extended corporate structure and scope of activities to the market.

25.03.2011

Seven turbines permitted in Darlowo

Seven Vestas V90 turbines with 105 m hub height and 2 MW rated power each may now be built in Darlowo, Poland!

On March 23, Jerzy Jedrzejak and Andrzej Kielizek, staff members of Projekt Ökovest GmbH"s subsidiary Ekovest Polska Sp. z.o.o., received the construction permit from the permitting authority of the district of Slawno within the voivodship Zachodniopomorskie. A permit for the grid connection is already available.

"Poland is one of Europe"s biggest future markets. With the first seven constructions permitted, for which also the grid capacity has been reserved, the team of our Polish subsidiary has made a good job", says managing director Ubbo de Witt joyfully and is looking to the future: An application for further two sites within the same wind farm is in preparation.

17.03.2011

How "green" are fuel cells?

Fuel cells are an environmentally friendly technology that only emits water vapour to the atmosphere - quite rightly so and a good reason to further develop their reliability in everyday operation and move them towards market entry.

Nevertheless, even environmentally benign technology must be questioned with respect to the life cycle impact on the environment. After all, many materials used today are "exotic" and little information is publicly available on potential pitfalls in mining and manufacturing processes. Fuel cell developers need tools to be able to evaluate and optimise the impact of their products. This allows the design of products to the eco-design requirements of minimal harm done to the environment. Replacing one material by another may result in considerable savings in impact and emissions. Similarly, the source and production process of the hydrogen fuel needs careful analysis to calculate the direct and indirect emissions during fuel cell operation.

The European funded project FC-HyGuide has taken up the task of compiling data and work sheets for the environmental analysis of fuel cells and hydrogen production. Project developers and evaluators are to receive clear guidelines how to assess their projects using simplified and well structured tools. Recently the first drafts were presented to experts in Brussels and intensely discussed.

In the project, PLANET closely cooperates with the universities of Naples, Split, Graz and Athens, in order to compile data and work sheets for different fuel cell types. PLANET contributes knowledge on materials and manufacturing processes of fuel cell systems and its extensive know how in environmental analysis. The fuel cell related part of the project is coordinated by the Italian research organisation ENEA.

The work sheets developed encompass all materials and process steps leading up to a fuel cell system, emissions from operation (direct and indirect), and even the processes of recycling the units after end-of-life is reached. The sheets can be applied to many fuel cell types, including those employed in Oldenburg and surroundings in residential buildings.

Further information on the project:
http://www.planet-energie.de/gb/planet/Projekte/fchyguide.html http://www.fc-hyguide.eu/

28.01.2011

Grid Connection for Sandbank 24!

German-Dutch transmission system operator TenneT has commissioned an order to a consortium of Siemens and Prysmian Powerlink for the construction of the grid connection of the offshore wind power cluster "Sylwin". The planned converter station "Sylwin alpha" has a capacity of 864 MW and thus is the biggest joint grid connection ordered so far. It offers sufficient transmission capacity for connecting the projects "DanTysk" (80 turbines), "Butendiek" (80 turbines) and "Sandbank24" (96 turbines).

Ubbo de Witt, managing director of Sandbank Power GmbH & Co. KG is thrilled: "This is an important milestone for our project. The investors in our project now have more planning safety that a grid connection will be available upon realization of our project."

According to TenneT, the new joint grid connection shall inaugurate operation in 2014.

28.01.2011

Dr. Hinrichs Called to Professorship

Our long-term colleague Dr. Heiko Hinrichs has gone into research. Having been called to professor ship on one of the two endowed chairs at the University of Bremerhaven in the Department of Wind Energy Technology, he is going to cover the area of measurement and automatic control engineering in teaching and research.

There are still significant technical challenges to tackle; multi-megawatt turbines shall go into series production for ever more demanding projects. Ambitious offshore projects such as our project "Sandbank24" require reliability; challenges which have been the focus of Heiko Hinrichs for many years while monitoring prototypes as well as commercial wind farms.

The multi-stage planetary gearboxes favored by many manufacturers are sophisticated tasks for monitoring procedures, which have to become more automated, upon which significant economic factors of operations and maintenance concept for complex big on- and offshore turbines are dependent.

In this context, close cooperation and information interchange between drive train manufacturers as well as manufacturers of monitoring equipment and technical operations management is of utmost importance.

Ubbo de Witt, managing director of Projekt GmbH: "We welcome the further expansion of our already excellent relationship to the university and because of our own big on- and offshore projects express our natural interest in closely cooperating with the university as interface for applying expert know-how."

The expert system for cost-efficient automated condition monitoring analysis created by Heiko Hinrichs will be further developed by b-Experts. Ubbo de Witt, managing director of Sandbank Power GmbH & Co. KG is thrilled: "This is an important milestone for our project. The investors in our project now have more planning safety that a grid connection will be available upon realization of our project."

According to TenneT, the new joint grid connection shall inaugurate operation in 2014.