2010’s Biggest Renewable Energy Projects

Renewable energy projects that were installed or completed this year were some of the largest projects of 2010. Development continued at a good pace, with record-breaking projects announced almost as often as once per week.

By Renewable Energy World Network Editors December 29, 2010

Renewable energy development continued at a good pace this year, with record-breaking projects announced almost as often as once per week. The editors of the renewable energy world network put together a list of the biggest renewable energy projects of 2010.

Hydro

The editors of Hydroworld.com offered the following project reports for 2010.  The largest project that began operation in 2010 also holds the record as Southeast Asia’s largest hydroelectric power station.  The first of six turbines at Vietnam’s Son La station was connected to the national power grid in late December.  Officials said that the two-billion-dollar plant with a capacity of 2,400 MW is expected to be fully operational in 2012, three years ahead of a target set by the National Assembly.

The second largest project that went online in 2010 took place in Laos and is that country’s largest plant in history.  Laos officially inaugurated the 1,070-MW Nam Theun 2 hydroelectric power project in December. The $1.45 billion project is co-owned by Electricite de France, the Lao government, the Electricity Generating Public Co. of Thailand and Italian-Thai Development. After five years of construction, the plant began supplying neighboring Thailand with power in March of this year.

Next in line was Brazil’s 855-MW Foz do Chapeco hydropower plant, which launched commercial operations at its second of four generating unit in November 2010. The plant is 51 percent owned by utility group CPFL Energia and sits on the border of southern states Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina. Alstom supplied the turbines for this project.

Another large project that went online in 2010 is the 460-MW Beles plant in Ethiopia. The project is owned by Ethiopia Electric Power Corporation.  It is worth noting that the 300 MW Tekeze Hydropower plant, which also went online in 2010 in Ethiopia, was Power Engineering’s Renewable Project of the Year.

The largest hydro project in North America that went online in 2010 was the Toba Montrose project in British Columbia. After three years of construction, Plutonic Power completed the $663 million Toba-Montrose run-of-river project, the largest source of privately generated renewable power in British Columbia. The 196-MW Toba-Montrose project began selling power to BC Hydro in August. The project includes a 73-MW run-of-river facility on Montrose Creek and a 123-MW facility on the East Toba River. The 123-MW plant on the East Toba River is the largest run-of-river facility in British Columbia.

Offshore Wind

The largest offshore wind projects that were completed in 2010 were located around the UK.  Seven miles off the coast of Kent at its closet point, the $1.2 billion Thanet Offshore Wind Farm officially began powering the UK grid with 300 MW of new renewable energy capacity in the last quarter of the year. For the time being, the wind farm is the largest offshore wind farm in the world.

Next in line is Rødsand II, a 207-MW extension of an existing wind farm in Denmark that was installed by E.ON in 2010.

Construction of the 180-MW Robin Rigg Wind Farm, Scotland’s first offshore wind farm, was completed by E.ON in April 2010.

Lastly, the Gunfleet Sands Offshore Wind Farm, a 172-MW wind farm 7 km off the Clacton-on-Sea and Holland Essex coast in the Northern Thames Estuary, was commissioned in June 2010.

Onshore Wind

Many of the largest operational onshore wind farms are located in the USA. As of November 2010, the Roscoe Wind Farm is the largest onshore wind farm in the world at 781.5 MW, followed by the Horse Hollow Wind Energy Center at 735.5 MW. The largest wind farm under construction is the 800 MW Alta Wind Energy Center in the USA. The largest proposed project is the 10,000 MW Gansu Wind Farm in China.

In 2010 the following very large projects came online in the U.S.:

The 600-MW Fowler Ridge Wind Farm currently consists of two completed phases with the possibility of a third phase sometime in the near future. The wind farm is in Benton County, Indiana, near the city of Fowler, IN. The planned total capacity of the project when all phases have been completed is 750MW. Developers are BP Alternative Energy North America Inc and Dominion Resources.

The 404-MW Penascal Wind Farm, located in Kenedy County, Texas was completed in April 2010. The developer is Iberdrola. Iberdrola also developed the third largest wind farm that went online in the US in 2010.  The 300-MW Streator Cayuga Ridge South Wind Farm, located near Streator, Illinois, officially started generating power in May 2010.

Solar PV

Europe dominated much of the solar PV project announcements this year.  However, Ontario, Canada’s expanded Sarnia PV plant with a 97-MW capacity was the largest PV power plant commissioned this year.  The second through 8th biggest plants were built in Italy, Germany and Spain with a U.S. plant coming in at number 9.  The chart below lists the top three plants but the full list of project announcements can be found at this link.  

Plant Name Size Location Developer
Sarnia 97 MW Ontario, Canada First Solar and Enbridge
Montalto di Castro 84.2 MW Italy SunRay Renewable, acquired by SunPower in Feb. ’10
Solarpark Finsterwalde I,II,III 80.7 MW Germany Q-cells International

Geothermal

A number of large geothermal projects came online this year and even though the U.S. continues to lead in overall development, the top three biggest projects of 2010 were all outside the country.

The biggest plant in 2010 was developed at the Rotokawa field in New Zealand. The 132-MW Nga Awa Purua plant is the largest single-turbine project ever developed. The turbine was manufactured by Fuji Electric and the power plant is owned and operated by Mighty River Power.

The second-largest plant was in Italy at the Larderello field, a resource-rich area that has been delivering energy since 1930. The Nuova Radicondoli 2 and Chiusdino 1, both 20-MW, came online this year. The turbines were manufactured by GE and the project is owned and operated by Enel Green Power.

Finally, the third biggest project fully completed in 2010 was in Kenya, with the 35-MW expansion of the Olkaria II power plant. The addition brings the project to 105 MW and makes it the largest in Africa. The turbine was manufactured by Mitsubishi Electric Corporation and operated by the Kenya Electricity Generation Company.

Transportation Fuels — Ethanol

The U.S. and Brazil were the most favorable locations for new ethanol plants this year, with most of the industry’s top 8 projects coming online in either of those two countries. Below is a table that shows the biggest biofuel facilities that began operation in 2010. Hart’s Global Biofuels Center compiled the data. 

Plant, Developer Location Capacity (Milllion Gal./Yr) Feedstock
ADM Iowa, USA 300 Corn
ADM Nebraska, USA 300 Corn
Abengoa Rotterdam, Netherlands 126 Grains
Ethanol Acquisition LLC/Panda Energy Texas, USA 115 Corn
Ensus Teeside, UK 106 Wheat
Cosan Goiás, Brazil 98 Sugarcane
ETH Bioenergia SA Goiás, Brazil 95 Sugarcane
ETH Bioenergia SA Mato Grasso, Brazil 95

Sugarcane

Transportation Fuels — Renewable Diesel and Biofuel from Waste

In the renewable diesel space, there were two interesting announcements this year. Dynmic Fuels came online in 2010 with a 75 MGPY sythentic diesel plant that produces renewable fuels from non-food grade animal fats produced or procured by Tyson Foods, such as beef tallow, pork lard, chicken fat and greases. In addition, Neste Oil started operation in 2010 of the largest renewable diesel plant in the world in Singapore with a capacity of 240 MGPY. Its NExBTL renewable diesel is produced from a mix of palm oil, rapeseed oil, and waste fat from the food industry.

In 2011, look for announcements from two waste-to-fuel companies.  Enerkem, expects to have a 10 MGPY plant that produces ethanol from non-recyclable and non-compostable municipal solid waste (MSW) in Edmonton, Alberta CAN.  Construction began on the facility in June 2010. Fiberight has a 6 MGPY plant that is set to begin operation in 2011 in Blairstown OH. The plant will use MSW as a feedstock.

Biomass-to-Electricity

A list of the biggest biomass to electricity plants that went online in the U.S. is below.  Unfortunately tracking down the largest biomass to electricity plants that came online globally proved to be beyond the scope of this article. Amanda Hamsley Lang, Operations Manager at Forisk Consulting and Managing Editor of Wood Bioenergy US, provided the information on the U.S. plants, below. Download past and future summaries here.  

Plant Name Developer Location Capacity Power Purchaser
Marlboro Paper Mill Domtar Bennettsville, SC, USA 50 MW Santee Cooper
EJ Stoneman Plant DTE Energy Cassville, WI, USA 40 MW Dairyland Power Cooperative
Multitrade Rabun Gap Multitrade Biomass Holdings Rabun Gap, GA, USA 17 MW Green Power EMC (a group of state electric cooperatives)

Note that these plants may not be operating at full capacity just yet, although full capacity is listed in the above table.  Lang said to keep your eye out for the 50-MW Aspen Power plant in Lufkin, TX, which is expected to go online in the spring of 2011. The plant began testing its facility this month.