Despite the air traffic disruptions EWEC 2010 was successful
Players in the wind energy business from all over Europe met in Warsaw, Poland, from 20 till 23 April at the European Wind Energy Conference (EWEC) organised by the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA). Due to the ash cloud from Iceland many people had difficulties to arrive in Warsaw for this annual event. According to EWEA a quarter of the registered conference delegates were not able to attend this year. Still 3000 people showed up in Warsaw and from the people that were not able to come 1,400 watched the live online conference videos. From the exhibitors only 30 were not able to get to Warsaw mostly companies from the US and Asia. The conference program was also a little bit affected by the air traffic disruption but 80% of the sessions went ahead.{access view=!registered}Only logged in users can view the full text of the article.{/access}{access view=registered}At the exhibition floor it was noticeable that it was much slower than other years but on the other side people had more time to talk to each other instead rushing from one person to the next. I certainly had nice and good conversations and found many topics to cover in future issues of Windtech International. We will keep you updated. In 2011 EWEC will return to Brussels from 14 till 17 March. See you there!
From Concept to Commercialisation
Since the beginning of wind energy propeller-driven wind turbines are more or less the standard in the industry. But there are people thinking outside the box and explore other concepts. In our March 2008 issue Gene Kelley (WindWing, A New Technology) expressed his concern that propeller-driven wind turbines are incapable of satisfying the long-term requirements for wind harvesting without having severe economic and environmental consequences and that a new and more efficient wind harvesting methodology is needed. In the article he described the technology behind the WindWing which incorporates a horizontal wing configuration instead of a propeller. Already in 2008 a ‘proof of concept’ prototype has demonstrated a capability to harvest a greater percentage of wind force from a comparable swept area than a propeller-driven turbine. Additionally, the design is simpler and less expensive to manufacture and maintain.
Now two years later the WindWing is in the final stages of development and the company will be entering the market soon. In the article on page 7 Gene Kelley gives an update about the WindWing/WaterWing project and his view on the industry in general.
Enjoy reading,
Floris Siteur
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