Results of the Reader Survey
As you maybe know, we recently conducted a reader survey and the results show that Windtech International is succeeding in its goals. Of our respondents, 67% regard the quality of the magazine as excellent or good and 27% as satisfying. Only 5% see room for improvement. On average, the magazine is read by 3.1 persons within each organisation. This means that Windtech International reaches around 12,000 people in the industry. I would like to thank all participants for helping us to continue to improve our magazine and I welcome your suggestions.
{access view=!registered}Only logged in users can view the full text of the article.{/access}{access view=registered}This year HUSUMwind, with its accompanying trade symposiums, will take place from 20 to 24 September. Around 500 exhibitors from well over 20 nations will be highlighting the importance of wind energy in today’s energy mix. The number of visitors is expected to top 20,000. We invited the exhibiting companies to tell us what they will have on display during the show, especially their new products. This preview is published on page 28.
The very large growth of wind turbines during the last 20 years has led to a significant increase in some component prices like the rotor blades. The need to meet the strong pressures to deliver electricity from wind as cheaply as possible has resulted in a close cooperation between turbine and blade developers. On page 7 we publish an article that describes some of the resulting effects in terms of more efficient material use and the design criteria at the interface between blade and turbine design. According to the author, the design integration is essential for smaller or start-up turbine manufacturers in order to enable them to survive in a market that is more and more dominated by ‘all-in-one-house’ global players.
The internet is already incorporated in our daily life and many industries. Econnect, together with Imass, has developed an interesting internet solution that could be helpful for our industry. The article on page 18 describes a software development project that provides information on the UK electrical distribution system and offers an initial assessment service for connection of generation plant. The information is presented on a map background and in automatically generated reports, and it is made available on a website.
While the market for large wind turbines is almost entirely concentrated in the in-feed of electricity into national grids, small wind turbines (up to 100kW) present a vast range of market opportunities. Windtech International also wants to cover the applications of these small wind turbines. On page 23 we publish an article about small wind turbines for rural areas. We agree with the authors that the deployment of a significantly increased number of installations of small wind turbines could have an important impact on the penetration of wind energy and the renewable energy mix.
Enjoy reading the magazine.
Floris Siteur
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