Solutions for success – maybe we need a radical rethink?
This year from 6 till 8 May Windpower 2013 was organised in Chicago, a hub for the US wind energy. Nearly 10,000 attendees and 600 exhibitors participated in the show. Resonating throughout the 2013 conference were calls for industry stability. Now that American wind power is becoming more mainstream, it is time, speakers said, to bring stability to the industry. During the opening session, Gabriel Alonso (EDPR Renewables North America CEO and new AWEA Board Chair) expounded on how the industry will achieve that stability. Among his five ‘pillars’ for a strong industry, he urged that the industry strengthen its voice through increased participation in advocacy efforts.
The Global Wind Energy Council recently released its 2012 market statistics, showing continued expansion of the market, with annual market growth of almost 10%, and cumulative capacity growth of about 19%.
Now that the global market is not flourishing as it was a couple of years ago, there is a new trend noticeable. Companies are focusing more on existing turbines than on new turbines. The desire to bring down the cost of energy also fits very well in this trend. By extending the lifetime and increasing the capacity of a turbine, its overall lifetime cost of energy will go down.
The last couple of years have been turbulent years for the industry. The global economy faced several crises like the credit crunch, the Euro crisis and the fiscal cliff in the USA. None of these are completely solved but it looks as if we may have found the way up again.
Although Windtech International mainly focuses on the technology of the wind industry, we are aware that it is important sometimes to step back from the development of new equipment to look at the picture more generally. For example, where should we concentrate research and innovation efforts and how does this tie in with considerations about use of different types of energy and whether or not they are subsidised? In his article on page 36, Gene Kelley, of W2 Energy Development Corp, argues that maybe we need to re-examine how we look at the availability and costs of different energy resources.
Lowering the cost of energy produced by the wind is one of the main industry concerns at the moment and more and more companies are focusing on this. Some of the best hopes for lowering the cost lie in new innovations and product designs.
From 18 to 22 September the HUSUM WindEnergy event is once again happening in the German capital of wind energy. During the five days Windtech International will publish the HUSUM Daily. The HUSUM Daily will be prepared and edited by a team from Windtech International in cooperation with staff from HUSUM WindEnergy. Each day we will work on the issue to be published the following morning. If you have editorial material you want considered for publication please make sure that we have it before 1 pm each day.
#11 Enercon E70 installed in Bessakerfjellet, Norway (courtesy Liam Tench)
Every week on our website and in our email newsletter we want to show you that wind energy is more than just technology. We therefore invite you to send stunning pictures of wind turbines inspired by “light” (in the broadest sense of the word).
After 52 submissions we will announce the winner of the year’s best picture!
Email your photo to Include turbine model, location and name of photographer. (size of the published photo will be 336 px width x 280 px high).
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