Nominations for the inaugural RTCC Climate Change Awards, due to be presented at UNFCCC COP19 in Warsaw
RTCC 2013 Climate Change Awards: full nominations
(Pic: Dong Energy)
BASF developed and rolled out new technologies for wind power this year.
Since August 2013, BASF’s RELEST coatings have made a crucial contribution to the longevity of the turbine on Hamburg’s inland wind turbine. They protect the rotor blades from enormous stresses brought about by weathering, erosion and UV radiation.
BASF works across Europe, was named a WWF Green Game-changer in 2012 and is signed up as circular economy task force member with the Green Alliance.
Turkana Wind Farm will be the largest wind power project in Africa. The project will allow the landlocked Great Rift Valley region to be connected to the rest of the country through the improved infrastructure linked to the wind farm, including a road, fibre-optic cable and electrification.
The project will add 300MW to power generation capacity and will benefit Kenya by providing clean and affordable energy that will reduce the overall energy cost to end consumers.
This zero-emission project will contribute in filling the energy gap in the country, enhancing energy diversification and saving 16 million tons of CO2 emission compared to a fossil fuel fired power plant.
In 2013, Dong Energy built Denmark’s biggest offshore wind farm at Anhold in record quick time.
Also this year, Dong Energy entered into cooperation with an academic consortium of three leading universities to work on a unique research and development project aimed at reducing the cost of energy from offshore wind turbines. The academic consortium, led by the University of Oxford, UK, will investigate how offshore wind turbine foundations can be designed more effectively in the future.
Dong Energy established 130 climate partnerships in Denmark from 2007-2012 as part of its first climate partnership with Novo Nordisk. It was also a partner in the London Array, the world’s biggest offshore wind project.
DeepCwind got the US’s first offshore wind turbine into the water and generating power, deploying a prototype 65-foot floating turbine off the coast of Maine in June 2013.
The concrete-composite design was a world-first. This was an early milestone for offshore wind in USA which has been slow to get off the ground due to cost. This new approach of a floating turbine is much cheaper.
Following this prototype, DeepCwind plans to install a machine with a 423-foot diameter rotor in 2016. By 2020, the hope is to create a wind farm with 80 turbines, about 20 miles offshore.
In June, WindMade launched the first global consumer label identifying organisations and products that use wind power in their operations or production. The scheme aims to promote products and brands that use a high level of wind-generated power across the world.
The WindMade Product Label can be applied to all products using a minimum share of 75% of renewable energy in their total electricity consumption, with wind power representing the largest share. The company worked with NGOs on the ‘Show You Care’ campaign.
Google has improved its environmental record after pressure from Greenpeace in Clean Our Cloud campaign. Google said it has spent more than $1 billion over the last four years on renewable energy projects in the US, Germany and South Africa. Google’s goal is to power 100% of their operations with renewables.