POWER July 2021 - 11

GLOBAL MONITOR
Companies Partner on Wind Turbine
Recycling. GE Renewable Energy in
mid-June made two announcements
about wind turbine recycling, entering
into separate agreements with neowa,
a German-based waste recycling company,
and LafargeHolcim, a Switzerland-based
building materials group.
The deal with neowa involves dismantling
of decommissioned Germanybased
onshore wind turbines, and the
recycling of components, including
blades, during either partial or full repowering.
GE and neowa also said they
will jointly look at expanding neowa's
blade recycling technology across Europe.
The agreement includes neowa's
move to provide deinstallation services
to GE Renewable Energy and its customers,
including dismantling and removing
decommissioned turbines from
the turbine pad, as well as recycling
various components. neowa said it will
recycle up to 90% of the mass of the
wind turbine, and use its proprietary
process and tools to shred wind turbine
blades-including the glass fibers-into
pellets of varying sizes, to be used as a
feedstock in the production of cement.
The agreement with LafargeHolcim involves
exploring new ways of recycling
wind blades, including their use as a
construction material to build new wind
farms. The companies said the partnership
is another step in the companies'
focus on circular solutions for the energy
industry, after the European Commission
adopted a Circular Economy
Action Plan as part of the European
Green Deal. GE Renewable Energy said
about 10 GW of older turbines in Europe
are expected to be repowered or
decommissioned by 2025.
Siemens Will Build Special Gas
Plant in Bavaria. Siemens Energy in
mid-June announced it will build a new
turnkey gas-fired power plant as special
grid-related equipment in Leipheim, in
southwestern Bavaria, as part of a contract
with LEAG, a German-based energy
provider. The plant will be built on a
former military base. The grid-supporting
plant will be operated by grid manager
Amprion to support grid stability-specifically
in emergency situations-and
ensure a reliable power supply in southern
Germany. The companies stressed
that the gas-fired power plant will be
used exclusively to protect and ensure
the reliability of the transmission grid. It
will not be available for use in the free
energy market, according to the German
Energy Industry Act. The Leipheim plant
July 2021 | POWER
will be able to supply power generation
capacity of as much as 300 MW, for up
to 30 minutes. Siemens Energy, along
with LEAG, will manage the plant's operations
and maintenance for an initial
period of five years. The plant will be
operated from Siemens' remote support
center in Erlangen, Bavaria. Siemens,
along with providing turnkey construction,
and operations and maintenance,
will supply an SGT5-4000F gas turbine,
an SGen-2000P generator, and the SPPA-T3000
control system. Siemens also
will provide an intake air cooling system,
along with equipment to inject desalinated
water into the gas turbine.
Wind Project Looks at Adding Storage.
Independent power producer Lekela
Power has chosen Denmark's
DNV to carry out a feasibility study for
Lekela's energy storage project at the
Taiba N'Diaye wind farm in Senegal. The
facility, located in Tivaouane, has a capacity
of 158.7 MW, and provides 15% of
the electricity produced in Senegal. Lekela
Power, a joint venture between UK
investment fund Actis and Mainstream
Renewable Power, chose DNV to provide
risk management and insurance
expertise. DNV's study will be supported
by a grant from the U.S. Trade and Development
Agency. Lekela Power in a
statement said DNV will help " develop
the technical specifications of the battery
storage system to ensure a successful
technical solution that will provide services
to the grid during [the farm's] operational
life of up to 20 years. " DNV also
is helping negotiate the power purchase
agreement (PPA) for the project between
Lekela Power and Senelec, the national
electricity company of Senegal. Lekela
plans a battery energy storage system
(BESS) capable of storing as much as 40
MW of power, providing as much as 175
MWh of electricity. Construction of the
BESS is expected to begin next year.
Storage Part of Malawi Solar Farm.
A Chinese company has contracted to
supply an energy storage system for
a solar power installation in Malawi.
Sungrow Power Supply in late May
announced it will add a 5-MW/10-MWh
BESS configuration, and supply the inverters,
for the 20-MW Golomoti solar
plant in the Dezda district. The project is
being developed and built by JCM Power
and InfraCo Africa, with financial support
from Energy Catalyst, Rina Tech
UK, and Innovate UK. Sungrow said it
would install its MV, or medium voltage,
solution, which includes an inverter, substation,
and power conversion system,
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along with the BESS and an energy management
system. Electricity generated
by the Golomoti solar plant will be sold
to the state-owned Electricity Supply
Corp. of Malawi (Escom) under a PPA.
Sungrow also in May announced it won
the contract to supply inverters for the
200-MW Kom Ombo solar power plant in
Egypt, that country's largest private solar
project to date. The European Bank for
Reconstruction and Development, the
OPEC Fund for International Development,
the African Development Bank,
the Green Climate Fund, and Arab
Bank are supporting the Kom Ombo
project with a $114 million financing
package with ACWA Power.
Wärtsilä Commissions Two Energy
Storage Projects. Finnish technology
group Wärtsilä announced it has signed
multiple energy storage contracts with
SMC Global Power
Holdings Inc.
through its subsidiary, Universal Power
Solutions Inc., in the Philippines. The
first two projects, Integrated Renewable
Power Hub-Toledo and BCCPP, Limay,
Bataan, achieved final commissioning
in May. The projects have capacities of
20 MW/20 MWh and 40 MW/40 MWh,
respectively. These are the first energy
storage systems supplied by Wärtsilä to
the Philippines. The projects were delivered
on an engineering, procurement,
and construction basis, and include
Wärtsilä's propriety software and hardware
solutions. The systems comprise
the company's GridSolv Max system,
a standardized energy storage solution
that provides flexible and modular storage
for the core hardware assets of
the systems, including the batteries, a
safety and fire system, and inverters,
alongside the advanced GEMS Digital
Energy Platform.
Pharma Group Installing Rooftop Solar.
Cleantech Solar in June announced
it has commissioned a rooftop photovoltaic
solar system for Kotra Pharma, a
Malaysian pharmaceutical company, for
that group's research and manufacturing
hub in Melaka. The solar project will
operate under a long-term PPA in which
Cleantech Solar would be responsible for
funding, building, operating, and maintaining
the system across the term of
the agreement. The Melaka facility is the
hub for Kotra Pharma's research, development,
and manufacturing activities.
The 600-kW solar system is expected to
generate about 790 MWh of electricity in
the first year. ■
-Darrell Proctor is a senior associate
editor for POWER.
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POWER July 2021

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