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Conference overview

Keynotes and plenary sessionsConferencesidebanner

The conference will open with plenary sessions in which decision makers from national governments and European as well as international institutions will describe how they see the present situation of the energy sector and the solutions they are putting in place to ensure that targets are met.

Business and Policy in Europe and Beyond Track

Under the main conference programme theme, ‘getting back to business’, topics will cover:

  • How to penetrate emerging wind energy markets?
  • What can the wind industry do to pull out of the crisis that has affected Europe?
  • What lessons can we learn from other sectors?
  • How can we use our wind energy brand to promote the industry more broadly?

A specific session will look at the international context and there will be practical workshops on doing business in selected markets outside Europe. There will also be a focus on the skills gap as the wind energy sector develops over the next decade.

Hardware Technology Track

From kilowatts to multi-megawatts, the industry has come a long way in a few short years. What are our technology challenges today? What still needs tweaking? Who is bringing cutting-edge solutions to the table?

The hardware technology track is aimed at discussing where the wind industry and its associated suppliers see the largest technical challenges going forward. It will clarify existing applied technology and create an inspiring path on which to focus future efforts.

Six sessions will focus on the following topics:

  • Advanced rotor technologies
  • Advanced drive train technologies
  • Advanced materials and material substitution
  • Advanced electrical systems
  • Storage and grid integration
  • Installation technologies

Resource Assessment Track

In high winds or low winds how much energy will we produce? Our equipment, models and processes have reached new heights of sophistication – but how accurate are we really?

The resource assessment track will critically examine the current status of our knowledge and provide a glimpse as to where we might be heading in the next 10 years. It emphasizes issues of practical importance, such as approaches, strategies and solutions for dealing with challenges the wind industry is currently facing.

Six sessions will focus on the following topics:

  • Power curves in the real world: Are we achieving what’s on the tin?
  • The model chain: Can we improve?
  • Optimising measurement strategies to maximise project value: Is the industry making false economies at the expense of project value?
  • Wind turbine noise: A limiting factor of the deployment of onshore wind turbines in Europe?
  • Reanalysis data: A viable alternative to conventional ground based measurements?
  • Wakes: Do we need different models for onshore and offshore wind farms?
  • Wind speed predictions: Are we at the limit of our knowledge or can we improve?
  • Forecasting: Are they being integrated into the business processes?
  • Remote sensing devices: Toys or tools?

Science & Research Track

What goes on in a lab may seem a mystery to many but it is here that tomorrow’s wind turbines and all that surrounds them start taking shape.

The science and research track will consist of eight sessions which will focus on the following topics:

  • Foundations
  • Aerodynamics and rotor design
  • Advanced control concepts
  • Access, logistics, operation & maintenance
  • Floating wind turbines
  • The wind resource
  • Drive trains and generators
  • Electrical aspects and the grid
View conference programme