Follow-up on Topics…
The last couple of months have been busy with conferences and exhibitions. Recently we have been at WindEnergy in Hamburg and Windpower 2006 in Pittsburgh, USA. You will find reviews of these events in this issue on pages 24 and 36 respectively. As we experienced at the last couple of shows, more and more companies from Asia and central Europe are starting to exhibit their products at European and North American shows, and this proves that the industry is becoming more global.
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{access view=!registered}Only logged in users can view the full text of the article.{/access}{access view=registered}Another trend we have noted is the increase in attention on small-scale wind power. At Windpower 2006 there was a special AWEA small-scale wind pavilion where the manufacturers of small-scale wind turbines were gathered. At EWEC in Athens and WindEnergy in Hamburg Zephyr Corporation was exhibiting its small-scale turbine Airdolphin. At both shows the company’s booth was packed with people interested in this turbine with a fancy design. Because of the overwhelming interest in this turbine at these shows we decided to publish an article about the Airdolphin for our international readership. You can find the article on page 28.
In our July/August 2005 issue we published an article about offshore landing systems. One of the systems was ‘The Ampelmann Project’ from the Delft University of Technology. This university is not the only organisation that has been working on a motion compensated platform. The company ICD Projects from Norway developed a similar system. Following a request in 2002 for an active heave compensated (AHC) crane from the vessel owner of FOB Jr, Mr Fredrik Odfjell, the company developed an application that maximises availability to offshore wind turbines in a safe, swift and practical way. According to the company personnel, generators and even rotor blades can be transferred in sea states up to 2.5 metres wave height. ICD Projects developed the world’s first commercially available motion (active heave) compensated service platform. The platform control system registers all heave, roll and pitch movements of the boat and controls the platform to maintain a fixed position relative to a fixed installation or a platform on another vessel. More information about the system can be found in the article on page 33.
As with the article about motion compensated platforms we also want to follow up other topics we have covered in Windtech International. In the April/May 2005 issue of Windtech International we published an article about Measuring Offshore Wind Vectors from Space. In this issue we publish a follow-up article with the focus on measuring wind from space for the purpose of planning offshore wind farms.
Enjoy reading
Floris Siteur
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