Andrew Garrad, one of the wind industry’s most experienced and knowledgeable profiles will hold one of the keynotes at Winterwind 2014. The conference is now quickly filling up with participants and almost all exhibition space is sold out.
Dr. Garrad has been involved in wind energy for more than 30 years. He built his first wind turbine when he was eighteen in 1971, founded world-leading renewable energy consultancy Garrad Hassan and has been a major force in the development of the modern wind industry.
Today he is the President of the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) and member of the supervisory board of newly formed DNV GL, a merger between the classification societies Det Norske Veritas (DNV) and Germanischer Lloyd (GL).
”There are plenty of cold places with very good wind speeds. If we cannot deliver energy from those places simply because of the cold conditions then we are wasting a huge resource,” says Garrad.
Apart from Andrew Garrad, Winterwind 2014 is having several other experienced speakers on the stage this year. One example is Dr. Sue Ellen Haupt from National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), USA.
”We always put a lot of work in to get a good line-up of experts in the program. This year I think we’ve succeeded very well,” says Ulla Hedman- Andrén, project leader of Winterwind.
Health & safety and ice throw are two frequent subjects at this year’s conference. Different methods for detection of ice and de-icing on turbines and rotor blades and new standards in the industry are other subjects in the program.
So far more than 230 people have registered for the conference, a number that is equivalent to last year when the conference had more than 500 participants. The number of speakers are 44 in 14 sessions. Winterwind will also exhibit 25 highly appreciated posters.