CONSTRUCTION BOP/EPC • Project Status • Siting • Equipment • Project Due Diligence • Services

Mortenson to build $140M wind projects in in 2018

Work also is underway in Lee County at the 15-year-old Mendota Hills for Leeward Renewable Energy, LLC. (Courtesy: Mortenson)

Already the largest alternative energy builder in Illinois, wind energy, though, Illinois has to really ramp up ener- Mortenson recently added three new Illinois wind farm gy from renewables very quickly to meet its goals.” projects that will contribute an additional 289 MW of “According to the American Wind Energy Associa- electricity to the state by the end of 2018 and an addition- tion, as of 2016, contributed less than 6 per- al 194 MW in 2019. cent of all electricity in Illinois,” he said. “Yet renewable “Illinois is an ideal state for wind energy, both because portfolio standards require Illinois electric companies to of its geography and its need for power due to major man- generate 25 percent of electricity from renewable sources ufacturing centers and large population,” said Tim Maag, by 2025.” vice president and general manager of Mortenson’s Wind The new wind projects will help toward that goal. Energy Group. “Despite ranking sixth in the nation for Mortenson is building the Walnut Ridge Wind Project 40 JUNE | 2018

in Bureau and Whiteside counties for BHE Renewables, “We are pleased to have an experienced construction a unit of Berkshire Hathaway Energy. The project in- firm like Mortenson as our partner on the Mendota Hills cludes engineering and construction of roads to the site repowering,” said Greg Wolf, CEO of Leeward Renew- and the foundations and installation of 106 V110 able Energy. “Together, we will focus on safely bringing turbines. Mortenson also is building transmission lines, today’s modern technology to this proven wind project.” met towers, interconnect facility, and collection substa- With 23 years of alternative energy construction, tion that links into the Commonwealth Edison electri- Mortenson has built more than 220 U.S. wind farms in cal grid. Started in August 2017, the wind farm will be North America contributing more than 24,000 MW of completed in late 2018 and begin generating 212 MW, energy. The two Illinois projects are Mortenson’s ninth enough to power the equivalent of 63,600 homes. and 10th wind projects in the state. Illinois wind pow- Work also is underway in Lee County at the 15-year- er produces 4,332 MW each year, according to the U.S. old Mendota Hills Wind Farm for Leeward Renewable Wind Energy 4th Quarter 2017 Market Report from the Energy, LLC. Mortenson is replacing 63 wind turbines American Wind Energy Association. with 29 more powerful SG 2.6-126 wind turbines. The repowering project, which will be completed in Decem- Source: Mortenson ber 2018, will increase total capacity to 76 MW from For more information, roughly 50 MW. go to www.mortenson.com

Flurry of U.S. offshore vessel deals prepares market for huge turbines Vessel suppliers and wind instal- lation experts are collaborating to build new vessels and convert ex- isting assets to bring rising turbine capacities to the booming U.S. off- shore wind market, offshore experts told New Energy Update. Surging growth in U.S. offshore wind activity has spurred a range of new vessel supply offerings and collaborations within the marine sector. Larger, higher-efficiency turbines and growing installation experience have dramatically re- duced offshore wind costs, pro- ducing record-low tender prices in Europe and raising U.S. growth outlooks. About 28 U.S. offshore wind projects totaling 23.7 GW were planned or under development by mid-2017, with most near-term projects planned in the North At- lantic region, figures from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) show. The U.S. federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has Two Falcon Global feeders leave port with offshore wind components. awarded 13 commercial wind-ener- (Courtesy: Falcon Global) gy leases off the Atlantic coast, and windsystemsmag.com 41 CONSTRUCTION

in April, it launched a lease sale plans to build a U.S.-flagged vessel jack-up vessels capable of installing proposal for two offshore wind sites fleet to serve the offshore wind sec- 10- to 12-MW turbines, as well as offshore Massachusetts. BOEMtor, expecting to generate 4,000 jobs cable ships to install medium- and also recently called for information in the next couple of years. high-voltage marine cables, service on nominations to develop wind “We are confident that offshore operations vessels to provide large- farms in New York State waters and wind at scale has finally arrived in scale accommodation at sea, a fleet launched an assessment of Atlan- the U.S.,” said Elia Golfin, CEO of of crew transfer assets of vessels and tic coast waters for potential future Aeolus Energy. helicopters, and port facilities in offshore wind lease areas. Aeolus will make “a considerable Massachusetts and Maryland. Also in April, Florida-based Ae- billion dollar” investment, Golfin The company will also invest in olus Energy Group announced it said. The company plans to build training facilities. “During the construction season for offshore wind, we have a 24-hour A FULL RANGE work cycle,” Golfin said. “Staffing OF SOLUTIONS all of those jobs around the clock for DEDICATED TO months on end with qualified Amer- YOUR WIND icans is a significant challenge.” TURBINES Aeolus plans to have its first ves- CUSTOMIZED sels ready for operation between the SOLUTIONS end of 2021 and early 2022. FOR HARMONIOUS INSTALLATION SPEED PERFORMANCE CARBON BRUSHES In March, Seacor subsidiary Fal- ...MAXIMIZING con Global and Norway’s Fred Ol- COMPONENT LIFE sen Wind Carrier agreed to jointly BRUSH-HOLDERS supply vessels and marine installa- tion crews to the U.S. offshore wind market. Fred Olsen Windcarrier is one of Europe’s most experienced SLIP RING offshore wind installation groups ASSEMBLIES and has installed more than 300 tur- bines to date. The two companies have already combined to install the Block Is- SIGNAL & POWER TRANSFER SYSTEMS land windfarm, the U.S.’s first utili- ty-scale offshore wind farm, in 2016. The new partnership will com- bine Fred Olsen Windcarrier’s fleet of wind-turbine installation vessels CL-PROFILER: SLIP RING with Falcon Global feeder vessels. DIAGNOSTICS The Falcon Global fleet consists of one of the largest existing U.S.-flag and Jones-Act compliant lift boats. ASK US ABOUT OUR WINDTRACKERTM SERVICES The Jones Act requires that vessels transporting cargo between offshore wind farms and U.S. ports must be [email protected] built in the U.S. By using a Fred Olsen installation vessel at the Block Island site and WWW.MERSEN.COM smaller U.S. flagged feeder vessels to move wind-farm components such as towers and blades, the proj-

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ect partners were able to complete vessel at about half the cost of a new port equipment from onshore to the the installation 25 percent faster vessel, Geissbuehler said. The con- offshore wind-farm site and perform than expected. verted vessel will be able to navigate installation, a process used in Eu- This accelerated installation pro- the New Bedford Hurricane Barrier rope. cess offset extra costs of using feed- in Massachusetts, an area that most “As wind farms get bigger, the er vessels and reduced the risk of of the larger existing vessels cannot feeder barge solution is becoming weather affecting project schedules access. less and less attractive, except if you and staff safety, according to Joseph The launch date for the vessel build very fast and very large feeder Orgeron, special projects manager was delayed after GE announced barges, which would be really ex- at Falcon Global. in March it planned to launch a 12- pensive,” Geissbuehler said. “It is more expensive to do the MW offshore turbine, the world’s According to Orgeron, Falcon feedering, but this (extra cost) is largest, by 2021. Global and Norway’s Fred Olsen very negligible in the overall ex- GE’s Haliade X turbine will be Wind Carrier’s fleet can handle the penses of the installation process,” 250 meters tall and represents a vast majority of turbines available Orgeron said. significant advancement in offshore for installation, and no extra invest- turbine capacity. Last year, Den- ment is planned in the short term. LARGER TURBINES mark’s Orsted installed the world’s “For the GE 12-MW turbine By the end of 2019, offshore engi- first 8-MW turbines in the U.K., that was recently announced ... we neering group Zentech and Renew- and the average capacity of newly are currently still working through able Resources International plan to installed turbines was 5.9 GW. the optimizations for those types launch the first Jonas Act-compliant “We are in the process to up- of next-generation turbines, and offshore wind jack-up installation grade several aspects of the vessel whether they can be done with our vessel, said Andy Geissbuehler, including an even bigger crane,” existing assets,” Orgeron said. managing director at Renewables Geissbuehler said. “We are making Resources International. some critical design changes, and Source: New Energy Update The partners will convert an exist- this vessel is going to be much more For more information, ing Jonas Act-compliant vessel into powerful than initially planned.” go to www.newenergyupdate.com a jack-up offshore wind installation The vessel will be able to trans- to refurbish turbine gearboxes for Eneco

Eneco, owner of the Princess Ama- lia Wind Farm, has selected Siemens Gamesa as the supplier for gearbox refurbishment. For the next five years, the company will maintain and refur- bish the gearboxes of 60 Vestas V80- 2.0MW wind turbines. The Princess Amalia Wind Farm was commis- sioned in 2008 and offers a total ca- pacity of 120 MW. This contract is part of a number of new management and maintenance contracts for the Dutch plant. The scope of the work includes the initial supply of up to four gear- boxes of the type ZF- EH804, fully equipped with all auxiliaries. After the first exchange campaign, which is expected during Q2 2018, the re- moved gearboxes will be handed over The gearbox facility of Siemens Gamesa includes five manufacturing sites in Spain. (Courtesy: Siemens Gamesa) to Siemens Gamesa facilities to be

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We are very pleased to expand our multi-brand wind service solutions also to offshore wind projects.

fully refurbished. The overhauled set largest of its kind globally. For Sie- bishment of wind gearboxes to this of gearboxes will be supplied for ex- mens Gamesa’s service business unit, project.” change in the next step of the cam- it offers an efficient competence -cen The 120-MW Princess Amalia paign. A dedicated repair team for the ter for the repair of main shafts and Wind Farm, operational since 2008, project contributes a repair capacity of transmissions of various types. is 23 kilometers off the coast of up to four gearboxes within 10 weeks. “We are very pleased to expand Ijmuiden, the Netherlands. This wind All of the work will be done in Spain. our multi-brand wind service solu- farm supplies electricity to 125,000 The gearbox facility of Siemens tions also to offshore wind projects,” households, and it is the first Dutch Gamesa includes five manufactur- said Mark Albenze, CEO, Service at wind farm built at this water depth ing sites in Spain. The company has Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy. and at such a large distance from the a long-term track record in design, “For the repair work at Princess Ama- coast, outside the 12-mile zone. manufacturing, and service of gear- lia Wind Farm, we rely on the exper- boxes for heavy-duty industries such tise of our colleagues in our Spanish Source: Siemens Gamesa as wind turbines. With more than 400 facilities, who add their extensive For more information, repair units per year, the facility is the experience in the professional refur- go to ww.siemensgamesa.com

Higher hub heights eyed for North American wind Many wind turbines in the United faster ROI for the entire project. States consist of a steel tower with an average hub height of less than 100 KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER meters. Yet higher wind turbines are Max Bögl Wind AG has been de- proven to produce higher yields. Max ploying its modular hybrid tower sys- Bögl Wind AG is the market lead- tem in Germany with great success er for hub heights above 130 meters over the years and is now the market and recently built the world’s tall- leader for hub heights above 130 me- est with a hub height ters. The world’s tallest wind turbine of 178 meters. At AWEA WIND- — with a hub height of 178 meters POWER, the company presented its — began operating near Stuttgart at Hybrid Tower system and showcased the end of last year. The family com- its activities in the North American pany from Bavaria said it believes hy- market. brid towers can be a huge success in The Hybrid Towers of Max Bögl the North American market as well. Wind AG offer an advantage — an Ever rising steel prices make it diffi- efficient combination of concrete and cult to accurately calculate the costs steel that allows for the cost-effective for steel-tower turbines. implementation of hub heights of up Concrete prices, on the other to 180 meters. Less wind turbulence hand, are stable and make cost cal- and thus significantly better wind culations for hybrid towers much yield means that each additional me- more reliable. The hybrid towers ter of hub height increases the annu- of Max Bögl Wind AG are con- al energy yield of the turbine by 0.5 structed in mobile factories using percent to 1 percent. This ensures a local workers and local resources.

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Hybrid towers achieve great heights and more yield. (Courtesy: Max Bögl Wind AG, Reinhard Mederer)

This ensures added value on the response behavior and higher fatigue wind, solar, or biomass is combined local level. strength and longevity than pure with a modern pumped-storage concrete or steel towers. The modular power plant. The water battery can COMBINING STEEL design and simple “stacking” of rings store surplus power from the grid AND CONCRETE allow fast construction of the con- and then release it when needed. The The secret to achieving such great crete tower within a week, and this tower foundations of wind turbines heights lies in the unique combina- under any weather conditions. also can serve as storage reservoirs tion of precast concrete parts and steel With the water battery, Max that are higher than the pumped elements. The concrete component is Bögl Wind AG has also developed storage power plant and the lower completely maintenance-free and es- a completely new large-scale storage reservoir. pecially durable. Consisting of a rig- facility, which sets new standards id concrete tower section and a more in a technologically innovative way. Source: Max Bögl Wind AG flexible steel tip, hybrid tower systems For the first time, power generation For more information, also offer better static and dynamic from renewable energies such as go to www.mbrenewables.com/en

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