Chinese and Irish firms in €18M renewable energy deal

The Irish renewable energy company Gaelelectic has signed a €18 million deal with XEMC Group, a Chinese wind turbine manufacturer to work together to develop three new wind farms in Ireland. The two companies have also signed a letter of intent to co-develop other Gaelectric wind energy projects, both in Ireland and the US.

This is the first commercial installation in Europe for XEMC Group, a manufacturer of direct drive permanent magnet generator (PMG) turbines. XEMC's XV90 turbines will be installed at three onshore wind farms, Roosky in Co Roscommon; Leabeg in Co Offaly; and Crowinstown in Westmeath.

The combined wind power output of the three wind farms will be 13.6MW. XEMC’s chairman Zhou Jianxiong said the shared focus on innovation in renewable energy technologies at both companies makes them ideal partners in co-developing Gaelectric's portfolio of renewable power projects.

According to Gaelectric CEO Brendan McGrath, the alliance with XEMC is a significant strategic step for the Irish company, allowing Gaelectric to reach the highest commercial and technical standards. “Our visit to China in March of this year confirmed to us XEMC’s commitment to research and development. We also share a vision for the significant opportunities for offshore wind energy generation on which we are already working closely together.

XEMC, which is based in Hunan Province, is a diversified engineering company that has been in operation for more than 70 years. To date, 820 of its XE-series turbines have been installed in China, and XEMC claims they are the largest turbines in mass production in China.

Direct drive PMG turbine technology eliminates the requirement for generator gearboxes, reducing the overall weight of each turbine. XEMC is currently developing a 5MW turbine for use offshore. A prototype of this offshore 5MW turbine was recently installed at a turbine test centre in the Netherlands.

Gaelectric is a privately-held renewable energy generation and technology group, based in Dublin. The company was set up in 2004 and has significant assets and projects under development in Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and the US. It is currently installing a 3,000MW wind farm in Montana, with its first tranche of 430MW expected to be commissioned in 2014 – 2015.

Smart grid and energy storage

Gaelectric also collaborated with Beacon Power in building North America’s largest flywheel storage plant, in Stephentown in New York State. Now completed and connected to the New York grid, the 20MW plant operates continuously and is capable of storing and returning energy to the grid, providing about 10 per cent of the state’s overall load balancing needs.

Beacon Power and Gaelectric have also jointly funded a study of the Irish grid, looking at various models for wind generation in the future. According to the study, using fast-response flywheel technology on a large scale would improve grid stability, allow better utilisation of electricity generated by wind farms and improve the efficiency of the entire Irish grid.