18
STAGING THE FUTURE
Prysmian Group has used the showpiece
FTTH
Council
Europe
conference
and
exhibition in Warsaw to demonstrate
an optical fibre-based portfolio geared
towards meeting the ambitious targets
set by the European Union, as European
telecommunications operators look to
meet the challenges of the Digital Agenda
The
UK’s
renewables
industry,
which
ranges from onshore and o±shore wind to
wave and tidal energy, is set to be put under
pressure as the country’s next general
election, to be held early in May, approaches.
The industry association released a report
by independent economics consultancy
Cambridge Econometrics, which shows
that the UK could save up to £7.4 billion,
or $11.2 billion, in gas imports by 2030 by
utilising wind energy instead.
According to the report, in 2013 wind
energy reduced the UK’s need to import
Prysmian readies
for the challenges
of the Digital
Agenda for Europe
UK elections to put pressure on renewables
China to increase grid spending dramatically
The Chinese State Grid
has announced
plans
to
increase
grid
spending
dramatically: over RMB 420 billion, or $67.6
billion, in 2015, with a 9% increase on the
previous year, when investment grew 5.7%
on 2013. China's two major grid companies
are State Grid and Southern Power Grid.
Installed transmission lines in China are
mainly aluminum while the distribution
lines are mainly copper.
Power distribution lines in both their
installation and maintenance consume
much more metal in volume terms than
transmission networks, which are expected
to have a material effect on copper demand
in the country.
Denmark's Dong Energy has decided to
construct the offshore wind farm Burbo
Bank Extension located 8km off the UK
coast in Liverpool Bay. The extension will
consist of 32 MHI Vestas
Offshore
Wind
V164-
8MW wind turbines with
a total capacity of 258MW
and is expected to be
commissioned in 2017,
enough to power about
180,000 UK households.
The diameter of the
turbine blades is almost
one third bigger than
the 'London Eye'. The large diameter
of the blades allow for cost savings by
installing larger and fewer turbines. The
offshore wind farm will be connected by
Offshore wind farm
to be extended in Denmark
an underground cable to the National Grid
substation at Bodelwyddan, in St Asaph,
Denbighshire, while the onshore cable
route will go from Rhyl to Bodelwyddan.
The array cables will be
57km and the offshore
and onshore cables
will reach a length of
around 25km and 11km
respectively.
Dong said
that it may publish a list
of suppliers once the
procurement processes
have been completed.
The extension is the first
of three projects for which Dong Energy
was awarded Final Investment Decision
Enabling contracts by the UK government
in April 2014.
coal by an estimated 4.9 million tons and
gas by 1.4 billion cubic metres. Wind energy
generated enough power to meet the
needs of 6.8 million homes in 2013 and it
would cost more than £579 million, or $881
million, to import the vast quantities of coal
and gas displaced by wind. Members of
the Conservative Party are trying to pass
through legislation that would severely
limit tax-payer funding of new o±shore
projects.
