Wind Power Works
In 2009 the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA), which initiated the Wind Day campaign, joined forces with the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) in order to coordinate the first Global Wind Day. This year, on 15 June 2009, thousands of public events were organised simultaneously across 25 countries worldwide. The Global Wind Day is an awareness campaign for the promotion of wind energy worldwide. The message is global: wind power works, it tackles climate change, it reduces energy dependence on fossil fuels, and it is an intelligent investment. I would add to this that it also helps stimulating the economy in these times.{access view=!registered}Only logged in users can view the full text of the article.{/access}{access view=registered}Such a day is a good initiative to reach the general public who are not involved in wind energy in their day-to-day business. Although many people are in favour of wind energy there are also those who are against it. In most countries today, wind energy is financially supported by the government, by subsidies like tax incentives and feed-in tariffs, and that is exactly what the opposition has against wind energy. They think it is a waste of (tax) money. But I believe now that we are running out of fossil fuels and in the light of the climate crisis we should look at alternatives, and so far wind energy is one of the most promising and matured technologies for a secure energy supply for the future. That investments are necessary is no more than logic, but I also think that over time wind energy should become self-supporting and not dependent on subsidies.
In order to accomplish this, the cost of wind energy should come down. Recently at a conference in Spain Esteban Morras, chief executive of Acciona Energia, said that he expects that the cost for wind turbines will fall by 20% within 3 years. Most of this reduction will be reached by manufacturing the turbines in low cost countries like China and Korea. But also more severe competition, for instance as big conglomerates like Samsung, Hyundai, Hyosung and Doosan enter the market, will probably lead to lower prices.
Another way to make wind energy more beneficial is to increase the efficiency of wind turbines. A new company called Leviathan Energy has demonstrated that it can improve the power output of large wind turbines by over 40%, and at times of slow wind by over 100%. The company claims to achieve this surprising result without even touching the turbine! Want to know how? You will find the article about it on page 7 of this issue.
Enjoy reading,
Floris Siteur
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