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The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) has launched an 800 MW offshore wind solicitation. The notice of intent to propose has to be sent before the end of December 2018 and bids are due in February 2019. NYSERDA will award 25-year long-term contracts for projects that range between 200 MW and 800 MW, with the ability to award larger capacities if a significant amount of attractive proposals are received. Successful bids are slated to be awarded in spring 2019.

This competition for large-scale offshore wind development contracts is the first step towards the State of New York’s target to reach 2,400 MW of new offshore wind generation by 2030, that will help meet its target to cover 50% of power generation with renewable energies by 2030.

French energy company Engie has announced plans to develop the biogas sector in France and supports the objective of at least 10% green gas injected into the networks by 2030, as stipulated in the French Energy Transition Law for Green Growth. As a first step, the firm is set to invest €800m over the next five years.

Danish power company Ørsted has completed the acquisition of the US-based leading offshore wind power developer Deepwater Wind at a purchase price of US$510m. The company will be integrated into Ørsted’s portfolio and will be renamed Ørsted US Offshore Wind. The transaction has been cleared by the US authorities and the required regulatory approvals have been obtained.

The German Finance Ministry has called off the idea of a new pricing scheme for CO2 emissions to support climate protection targets and announced that it would not consider it at all.

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has unveiled an investment of US$1.6bn to support 46 projects that will improve rural electric infrastructure, operations and reliability of electricity across 24 states as per the USDA’s electric programme (Electric Program).

The 700 MW COBRAcable subsea high voltage direct current (HVDC) power line set to link the power grids of Denmark and the Netherlands has reached the Dutch coastline. The 320 kV cable has been built by the cable manufacturing company Prysmian. It will connect Eemshaven (Netherlands) to Endrup (Denmark) and is expected to become fully operational in the third quarter of 2019.

Russian state-run nuclear corporation Rosatom and China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) have signed contracts for the construction of two VVER-1200 reactors at the Tianwan 7 and 8 units in the Jiangsu province (China).

The government of Cameroon, French energy group EDF and IFC (member of the World Bank Group) have signed the final and binding agreements for the construction of the 420 MW Nachtigal hydropower plant on the Sanaga river near the Nachtigal Falls (Cameroon) as well as the operation of the plant for a 35 years period.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has cleared a US$500m loan to the National Power Grid Strengthening Project, which will support the reinforcement of Turkmenistan’s transmission network. The funds will help improve the reliability of the domestic power supply and increase power exports to neighbouring countries such as Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Pakistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.