Between 20 and 22 September 2006, the fifth Power Expo was held in Zaragoza, Spain. During the three days of the fair, more than 430 companies from 25 nations presented their products and services; more than 50% of the exhibitors were from outside Spain. Compared to the show two years ago the total number of exhibitors has increased a little and the event was more international.

We strive to cover new and innovative technologies in our magazine as much as possible. At the last couple of shows and conferences we have visited we discovered new concepts we would like to share with our readership. As we focus on technological issues we also pay attention to research that is done related to wind energy. The articles in this issue fit very well in this philosophy.

The last couple of months have been busy with conferences and exhibitions. Recently we have been at WindEnergy in Hamburg and Windpower 2006 in Pittsburgh, USA. You will find reviews of these events in this issue on pages 24 and 36 respectively. As we experienced at the last couple of shows, more and more companies from Asia and central Europe are starting to exhibit their products at European and North American shows, and this proves that the industry is becoming more global.

Wind farm developers try to maximise the output of wind farms as much as possible to make them more cost-efficient. Turbine manufacturers continue to develop larger turbines. A result of this is that turbines become bigger, with larger rotor diameter and higher hub height. But bigger turbines mean that new issues such as wind measurement, manufacturing and transportation need to be addressed.

With EWEC 2006 in Athens, the season of events has started. Overall the EWEC was successful although it did highlight the fact that the industry faces some serious problems. One of the main issues is the shortage of turbines. Most manufacturers and suppliers do not have enough capacity to produce the demanded number of turbines. If the expected (and hoped for) growth continues, the industry may fail to deliver. Most manufacturers are setting up production facilities in growth markets such as Asia and the USA. But turbines that are in production at the moment are already sold and for new orders the delivery time is longer than we would all want. For the manufacturers it is good to have a full order book, but if wind energy is to become a real mainstream energy source the capacity issue needs to be solved or otherwise the future of the industry might be discredited. On page 10 you can read more about EWEC 2006.