tulsi tanti kumi naidoo t - The European Wind Energy Association

Transcription

THE EUROPEAN
WIND INDUSTRY
MAGAZINE
February 2010
Volume 29/No 1
TULSI TANTI
T
Managing Director
of Suzlon Energy
KUMI NAIDOO
International Executive
Director of Greenpeace
INSIDE: Wind Directions survey – win an iPod!
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| contents |
THE EUROPEAN
WIND INDUSTRY
MAGAZINE
February 2010
Volume 29/No 1
Wind Directions is published five times a year.
The contents do not necessarily reflect the views and policy of EWEA.
Publisher: Christian Kjaer
Editor: Sarah Azau
Writers: Sarah Azau, Chris Rose, Crispin Aubrey, Elke Zander,
Zoë Casey, Anne Liekenbrock
Design & production: www.inextremis.be
Cover photo: Reporters
viewpoint
Defuse the climate bomb
5
wind statistics
European offshore wind power market grew 54% in 2009
6
letters, wind bites & wind dates
9
wind news
10
brussels briefing
The latest EU news
12
guest columnist
Self-propelling dynamics in Copenhagen
14
wind energy basics
Trends in wind turbine technology
16
interview
Kim Carnahan, International Emissions Trading Association
18
feature
Plain sailing?
21
country focus
Romania
27
focus
The climate battle
A disappointing outcome in Copenhagen
Copenhagen: powerful presence for global wind industry
Post-COP15 wind industry will keep its momentum
28
interview
Tulsi Tanti, Suzlon Energy
37
ewea news
41
interview
Kumi Naidoo, Greenpeace
42
mini focus
Arthouros Zervos – Standing up for the future
44
interview
Stephan Singer, WWF International
50
the last word
Aaron Thom, student and co-president of Sustainability@MIT
55
Cert no. SGS-COC-006375
WIND DIRECTIONS | February 2010
3
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| viewpoint |
Defuse
the climate bomb
W
e have a legally binding international Treaty
on climate change! It has been signed by
all the developed countries, including the United
States. The Treaty’s ultimate objective is to
achieve “stabilisation of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would
prevent dangerous anthropogenic [manmade]
interference with the climate system”.
This international Treaty was signed at the
1992 “Earth Summit” in Rio. Five years later, in
December 1997, most industrialised countries
adopted the Kyoto Protocol, committing to reducing their collective emissions of greenhouse
gases by 5.2% by 2008-2012 compared to 1990
levels. The United States would have had to
reduce its emissions by 7% compared to 1990,
but never sent the Kyoto Protocol to Congress
for ratification.
Twelve years later, the Danish government
managed to attract an impressive gathering of
Heads of State to the COP15 in December 2009.
But it misjudged China’s position on international
monitoring and verification and put too much faith
in a US President whose domestic agenda was
dominated by unsolved healthcare reform.
The Copenhagen Accord that the summit “took
note of” boils down to a non-binding political
agreement brokered between the world’s two
largest emitters of greenhouse gases. China and
the United States made a decision on behalf of
the entire planet, deciding that it was not in their
interest to agree internationally on greenhouse
gas reductions.
If Europe wants to lead by example – and
the world needs that more than ever after
Copenhagen – it needs to start making commitments that match the scientists’ recommendations. They say industrialised nations must reduce
their emissions by 25-40% domestically before
2020 to keep global warming below 2°C – the
figure referred to in the Copenhagen Accord.
Current EU climate legislation has too many
loopholes in the form of external credits and
transfers from an earlier commitment period to
reach that lower boundary. A credible commitment
from the EU – and any other developed country
By Christian Kjaer
Chief Executive, EWEA
– should be at least 40% reduction by 2020 compared to 1990, with at least three-quarters of that
reduction coming from domestic action.
Disappointments and expectations
We are 18 years on from the Rio commitment
to fight dangerous climate change by adopting a
legally binding international Treaty. We need to get
the US back in the fold. Of course, the developing
countries must make commitments, but it is the
industrialised countries that created the problem,
and which must lead the efforts to solving it. The
citizens of Tuvalu, the Maldives and others will not
– and should not – lose their countries because
of what the founding fathers of another country
wrote in 1787.
An international Treaty requires a two-thirds
majority in the US Senate. Both President
Abraham Lincoln and President Jimmy Carter
took decisions to terminate Treaties without
Senate authorisation. I admit this is probably not
the best route to follow. But the US must come
up with a workable solution that is dramatically
better than the Copenhagen Accord and with
targets that signal that the US takes responsibility – with the other industrialised countries – for
having created the climate problem in the first
place. A reduction in US emissions of 3-4% by
2020 compared to 1990, as suggested by the
Waxman / Markey cap-and-trade bill passed by the
US House of Representatives in June, is an insult
to our planet.
The world’s disappointment with the lack of
US climate commitment is proportional to its expectations, heightened by President Obama, who
proclaimed at his inauguration a year ago:
“But our time of standing pat, of protecting
national interest and putting off unpleasant decisions – that time has surely passed. (...) there is
nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our
character, than giving our all to a difficult task.”
The racing climate clock is sounding more and
more like a ticking bomb. Heads of state need to
act urgently to defuse it.
“The citizens of
Tuvalu, the Maldives
and others will not
– and should not –
lose their countries
because of what
the founding
fathers of another
country wrote
in 1787.”
For more on COP15, see the Focus on p. 28.
5
| wind statistics |
European offshore wind power
market grew 54% in 2009
E
WEA has released its latest statistics for offshore wind
energy in 2009, which show that 577 MW of new capacity
was added and connected to the grid in Europe last year. This
is a 54% increase on the 373 MW added in 2008 and takes
the total to 2,056 MW.
2009’s 577 MW were installed in eight new offshore wind
farms made up of 199 wind turbines.
“This is an incredibly good result considering the continued
difficulties of obtaining project finance for large projects”, said
Christian Kjaer, EWEA Chief Executive. “Independent project
developers, in particular, are still struggling. For the offshore
wind power industry to continue its development, it is vital that
governments and the European Commission provide policy
frameworks that stimulate investor interest and allow project
developers to move their plans forward.”
World view
Europe is the world leader in offshore wind with 828 wind
turbines and a cumulative capacity of 2,056 MW spread across
38 offshore wind farms in nine European countries. The UK
and Denmark are the current leaders, with a 44% and 30%
share respectively. In 2009, five countries built new offshore
By Sarah Azau
wind farms: UK (284 MW), Denmark (230 MW), Sweden
(30 MW), Germany (30 MW), Norway (2.3 MW).
In early January, another big step forward was taken in the
UK, when the government gave its green light for offshore wind
farm development areas with a capacity of 32 GW, fifteen times
greater than Europe’s existing European offshore wind energy
capacity.
More information can be found on www.ewea.org by clicking
on the ‘Statistics’ tab.
Getting the economy back on its feet
In 2009, investment in offshore wind farms was approximately
€1.5 billion, and EWEA expects this to double in 2010 to approximately €3 billion.
“The push given by the decision to inject €255 million
under the European Union’s European Economic Recovery Plan
into the offshore wind sector showed that decision makers
understand that offshore wind is key to Europe’s future energy
supplies. The European Investment Bank’s (EIB) increased
involvement will also be instrumental for the future success of
offshore wind’s contribution to European recovery, job creation
and technology leadership,” concluded EWEA’s CEO.
Installed offshore wind capacity: cumulative share by country end 2009 in MW
0
200 MW
400 MW
600 MW
800 MW
United Kingdom
882.8 MW
Denmark
639.15 MW
Netherlands
246.8 MW
Sweden
Germany
163.65 MW
42 MW
Belgium
30 MW
Ireland
25.2 MW
Finland
24 MW
Norway
2.3 MW
Photo: DONG Energy
6
| wind statistics |
Share of offshore wind capacity
under construction
Share of consented offshore wind
capacity per country
Norway 2% (350 MW)
Finland 2% (400 MW)
Italy 1% (162 MW)
Italy 2% (83 MW)
France 3% (105 MW)
Denmark 6% (229.2 MW)
United Kingdom
44% (1,591.6 MW)
Belgium
16% (600 MW)
Denmark 3% (418 MW)
Belgium 3% (504 MW)
Sweden 4% (730 MW)
Estonia
6% (1,000 MW)
United
Kingdom
13%
(2,108 MW)
Germany
29% (1,040.3 MW)
Netherlands
13% (2,123 MW)
Germany
52% (8,589 MW)
The future looks bright
For 2010, EWEA expects the completion of 10 additional
European offshore wind farms, adding 1,000 MW and equivalent to market growth of 75% compared to 2009.
Currently, 17 offshore wind farms are under construction in
Europe, totaling more than 3,500 MW, with just under half being constructed in UK waters. In addition, a further 52 offshore
wind farms have won full consent in European waters, totaling more than 16,000 MW, with just over half of this capacity
planned in Germany.
In fact, more than 100 GW of projects are at currently at
various stages of planning and could provide enough power to
meet 10% of European electricity demand.
Photo: DONG Energy
7
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8
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| letters, wind bites & wind dates |
Events
Photo: DWIA and GWEC
The Bloomberg
New Energy Finance
Summit
17-19 March 2010
London, United Kingdom
www.newenergyfinancesummit.com
Your letters
European Sustainable
Energy Week
Dear readers,
2010 has begun and our new year’s resolution at Wind Directions is to involve you, the
readers, more with the magazine. That resolution has been launched through the readers’ survey available with the paper version of the magazine or online at www.ewea.org. By submitting
your answers, you could win an iPod nano, to make 2010 a music-filled year as well!
Another new initiative is a new readers’ letters page. We would love to hear what you think
of the latest news from the industry or your reaction to something we publish. And if you have
suggestions for what could be included in the magazine this is your chance to let us know!
Every issue, we will publish a few letters and endeavour to include a reply to each one.
All you need to do is write to [email protected] with ‘Wind Directions letters’ in the
subject line.
We look forward to hearing from you soon!
Sarah, Chris and the Wind Directions team.
22-26 March 2010
Brussels, Belgium
www.eusew.eu
European Wind
Energy Conference
and Exhibition
(EWEC) 2010
20-23 April 2010
Warsaw, Poland
www.ewec2010.info
E-mail: [email protected]
Tel: + 32 2 400 10 07
Wind bites
“The cabling of the North Sea is the
European answer to the failed climate
summit in Copenhagen.”
Josef Auer, Energy Analyst at Deutsche Bank Research
“Renewables are an indigenous energy
source providing sustainable power that
will never run dry.”
Anni Podimata, MEP
“Tapping offshore wind is crucial to
achieving the 2020 targets.”
Anil Srivastava, Areva
“I want to see energy security and climate
change centre stage in all our partnerships
around the world, and it is the right
moment to step up our cooperation with
the US.”
Outgoing EU External Relations Commissioner Benita
Ferrero-Waldner
“The EU-US Energy Council is a timely
initiative in the context of growing global
concerns on energy security and the
important role that the energy sector has
in climate change.”
Outgoing EU Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs
“Those that have opposed a deal on climate,
which would include elements of the fossil
fuel industry, have clearly made making
a 2°C target much, much harder, if not
impossible. They’ve clearly put the world at
risk of far more adverse effects of climate
change.”
Grids 2010
23-24 November
Berlin, Germany
www.ewea.org/grids2010
Tel: + 32 2 400 10 07
Professor Bob Watson, Chief Scientist at the UK department for environment and rural affairs
“Through innovation and investment
in greener and more energy efficient
technologies in the next two or three
decades, the transition to the low-carbon
economy can be the most dynamic period
of growth in economic history.”
Lord Nicholas Stern writing on COP15
9
| wind news |
CHINA
GERMANY
New HVDC system launched by
Siemens and CSPG
DONG Energy acquires Borkum
Riffgrund 1 & 2 offshore wind
turbine projects
Siemens and Chinese utility China
Southern Power Grid (CSPG) have got
together to bring the first stage of a
high-voltage direct current system
(HVDC) online. The system will bring
power to industrial cities in China’s
Guangdong province.
The key advantage of HVDC cables
is that they avoid too much energy loss
during transmission. The Siemens/CSPG
system will be able to transport 5 GW
of power over more than 1,400 km, at a
voltage of 800 kV.
Photo: Keenpress Publishing/Sisse
Brimberg & Cotton Coulson
DONG Energy is acquiring PNE Wind AG’s
50% ownership interest in each of the two
German offshore wind turbine projects
Borkum Riffgrund 1 & 2. It had already
bought Vattenfall’s 49% ownership interest in Borkum Riffgrund 1 Holding, which
owns 50% of Borkum Riffgrund 1.
The acquisitions will make DONG
Energy the sole owner of Borkum
Riffgrund 1 & 2 offshore wind parks,
which are situated in the German part of
the North Sea.
Meanwhile, DONG Energy has sold a
25.1% stake in the 367 MW Walney offshore wind project, situated in the Irish
Sea, to Scottish and Southern Energy.
POLAND
Vestas to deliver turbines to
Poland, Bulgaria and Romania
this year
Between 2010 and 2012, Vestas will deliver 48 of its V90 2 MW wind turbines to
German developers Prokon, for different
locations in Poland.
Vestas will also deliver 75 turbines
to Bulgaria and Romania in 2010 alone.
The wind turbine order was placed
by Global Wind Power, which has so far
implemented four wind power projects
in Bulgaria using Vestas machines,
making a total capacity of 52 MW in
2008 and 2009.
UK
FINLAND
Finnish government in drive to
boost local wind power
Finland’s coalition government is
planning to hold discussions with the
country’s 348 municipalities to identify
which local councils are financially and
geographically best equipped to invest in
wind power generation.
The government wants councils to
support its plans to achieve 2,000 MW
of generation from wind power by 2020,
up from just 143 MW at the end of
2008. It will focus on Finland’s major
cities, including Helsinki and Turku.
10
Siemens and Mainstream
Renewable Power win UK
contract for 4 GW of offshore
wind
The SMart Wind consortium, led by
Mainstream Renewable Power and
Siemens Project Ventures (SPV), has
been awarded a contract to develop
4 GW of wind farms by 2020 as part of
The Crown Estate’s Round 3 offshore
wind farm programme.
The projects will be situated in the
“Hornsea” zone, which is 4,735 km2
off the UK’s Yorkshire coast. Once
complete, the zone will provide enough
electricity to meet 4% of all electricity
demand in the UK and power approximately 3 million homes.
Major German steel pipe
manufacturer to establish
facility in UK
German steel pipe manufacturer EEW
Group today will establish a facility in
Scotland to meet the demands of the
UK’s offshore renewables industry. The
development will represent an investment worth €20 – 30 million investment
for the group and provide 150 new jobs.
The new UK factory will make the
steel tubes used in monopile and jacket
foundations for offshore turbines. EEW
Group already has a dedicated monopile
production facility at Rostock on the Baltic
Sea with other production facilities in
Erndtebruck, Malaysia, Korea and Brazil.
Britain generates 39% more
electricity from wind turbines
Output from wind turbines increased
38.9% in the third quarter (Q3) of 2009,
notes a new report from the British
Department of Energy & Climate Change
(DECC). Overall, the UK generated
5.5 TWh of electricity from renewable energy over the time period – an increase
of 25% compared with Q3 2008.
In Q3, the total inland consumption of all energy dropped 6.3% from Q3
2008, to 208 million tonnes of oil equivalent. Consumption of coal dropped
20%, oil fell 6% and gas consumption
fell by 6.2%, but the share of renewable
energy in total UK energy supply rose 2
percentage points, to account for 7% in
Q3 2009, the report notes.
Siemens to supply further
offshore wind turbines to DONG
Energy
Siemens and DONG Energy have expanded their offshore wind turbine supply agreement from March. Siemens will
provide 75 of its 3.6 MW offshore wind
turbine for DONG Energy’s 270 MW Lincs
offshore wind farm in the North Sea.
Siemens will also be the contractor for the grid connection including
offshore and onshore substations and
onshore cabling for the farm.
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11
| brussels briefing |
EU energy policy
to focus on
environment and
economy
C
ompetitiveness, sustainability and
security of supply will be key areas
of energy policy over the next four years,
the Spanish EU Presidency has stressed.
A crucial additional area to consider is
the economic crisis and the effect it
could have on investments.
The Spanish government, which holds
the EU Presidency from January to July
this year, spelt out the “main topics” for
the EU’s Energy Action Plan 2010-2014
in a document published for the Informal
Energy Council of 15 January.
The document discusses the importance of a well-connected power grid:
“Interconnections are critical if the single
energy market is to exist in practice and
to function properly.” Bottlenecks and
missing links should be given priority attention, it says.
“The Spanish are right to make the
grid a priority”, said Justin Wilkes, EWEA
Sierra de Oliva wind farm in Spain
Policy Director. “It is crucial that Europe
has a power network that links up every
part the continent, including offshore
wind farms, to smooth the variability
of their output and improve the ability
to trade electricity within Europe. This
would contribute dramatically to Europe’s
energy security.”
Furthermore, the internal trans-European energy network
(TEN-E) needs to be
updated and supported at EU level,
says the Spanish
Presidency, and
smart grids should
“be established as
the infrastructure of
the future, contributing as they will to
energy efficiency
and savings, as well
as to the successful incorporation of
intermittent sources
of electricity such
as wind.”
The four-year docPhoto: Iberdrola
ument also stresses
the need to maintain EU leadership in
the fight against climate change, and to
put it in the context of a vision for 2030
and 2050, with the aim of carbon-free
electricity by 2050.
Read April’s Wind Directions for an
interview with the Spanish Secretary of
State for Energy.
“NER300 – better than expected”, says
renewables industry
T
he EU’s Climate Change Committee
of the Council (CCC) reached an
agreement on 3 February on implementing the so called “NER300”. The
European Renewable Energy Council
(EREC) welcomed the final agreement.
“Given the climate and energy
challenges Europe is facing, we need
to bring innovative renewable energy
technologies closer to the market.
This will not only secure energy supply and significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but bring
about a competitive economy with
future-orientated jobs. In this regard,
NER300 could help Europe to meet
both its 2020 targets and its renewed
Lisbon Strategy”, said Prof. Arthouros
Zervos, President of EREC.
12
The Council’s Climate Change
Committee (CCC) adopted a draft decision on how to allocate the 300 million
EU emission allowances (EUAs) set
aside from the New Entrants’ Reserve
(NER300) of the ETS to help finance
innovative renewable energy projects
and CCS.
The Annex of the draft decision that
defines project categories eligible for the
NER300 funding has been updated to
include four more new renewable energy
categories. “EREC very much welcomes
this last minute step forward as it further
acknowledges the wide range of innovative renewable energy projects which need
to be commercialised”, said Zervos.
He added, however, that “not all
renewable energy areas identified by the
industry have been considered for
demonstration financing, especially
regarding installations, grids and
upstream projects to help the sector
standardise and reduce costs.”
Finally, EREC believes, continued
financing of innovation in a renewable energy sector that has already
proven its ability to reduce emissions
is more advisable than banking on
the possibility of CCS technically
working out. This is especially valid
given the typically short construction and planning times of renewable
energy projects, which mean that
renewable energy projects financed
by NER300 will almost certainly have
a larger impact on emission reductions by 2020 than CCS.
| brussels briefing |
Photo: LM Gasfiber
WTO discusses abolishing trade
tariffs on wind turbines
U
K Trade and Development Minister
Gareth Thomas is the latest to call
for tariffs for ‘green goods’ such as wind
turbine components to be scrapped.
Speaking to the World Trade Organisation
(WTO) in Geneva in December, he
stressed that removing such tariffs would
help promote zero-carbon technologies.
His comment follows a series of
propositions the EU and US have made on
eliminating barriers to items such as wind
turbines and “smart meters” for more efficient electricity grids in recent years.
Negotiations continue as part of the
WTO’s Doha Round of negotiations on
removing tariff and non-tariff barriers to
trade in environmental goods and services. Following the Work Programme set
out in July 2008, WTO member countries
are currently identifying environmental
goods of interest to them, that could
therefore be subject to liberalisation.
EWEA is liaising with the European
Commission’s trade policy officials on
identifying and quantifying both tariff and
non-tariff barriers impacting on European
companies. For further information
please contact EWEA’s Policy Director,
Justin Wilkes on [email protected].
For more information: www.wto.org
EWEA publishes proposal for
harmonisation of grid connection
rules for wind power
T
he EWEA Grid Code working group
has finalised the first ever grid code
format for wind farms and launched it on
www.ewea.org.
The format is significant because it
will help harmonise grid codes for wind
farms, and harmonised codes will lower
wind energy production costs, contribute
to an efficient management of the system, and lower the cost of the electricity
for consumers.
“Wind power currently provides over
4% of the EU’s electricity. We expect
wind power’s share of electricity demand
to increase from 4% in 2008 to 16%
in 2020. In order to ensure that such
future penetration levels are manageable from a technical perspective it is
important to develop clear rules across
Europe” said Paul Wilczek, EWEA’s
Regulatory Affairs Adviser.
EWEA proposes two different steps
for wind grid code harmonisation. Firstly,
to establish a template for the code, and
once that is done, adapting the existing
parameters to the new template.
“In the long term, we would like to see
all grid codes for wind farms in Europe
following the same template”, explains
Wilczek. “EWEA’s generic grid code format is a first, important step”.
EWEA believes that the main challenge is
not necessarily to fulfil certain technical
requirements at the present moment in
time – but to ensure all stakeholders
share the same understanding of the
requirements.
European grid operators (TSOs), organised now as ENTSO-E, have also identified grid code harmonisation for wind as
urgent, and they are currently developing
a “Pilot Code” for wind generation connection conditions.
EWEA’s grids conference will be held in
November this year in Berlin.
Wind industry
supports regional
initiatives as step
towards European
single market
by 2015
E
WEA welcomed the publication of
the European Energy Regulators’
(ERGEG) draft strategy on the role of
Regional Initiatives towards a single
energy market in Europe in January.
“Regional Initiatives are a very good
step forward, but the final aim remains
the creation of a single European
market for energy which should be in
place by 2015. Regional Initiatives
are an effective tool towards the
establishment of a single market”,
said Paul Wilczek, EWEA’s Regulatory
Affairs Advisor.
EWEA would like to see a strategy for
moving forward from Regional Initiatives
to deeper market integration across
Europe, and a timeline for the creation
of a single European market.
Wind’s cost-effective integration into
the electricity market hinges on the development of integrated electricity markets across the EU. Rules that ensure
an efficient allocation of electricity from
renewable sources such as wind power
are also critical to the development of
wind power.
A properly functioning single market
will be a building block for a future
power system characterised by flexibility and an increased number of market
entrants, facilitating the integration of
wind and other renewables.
In addition to existing intergovernmental initiatives, such as the
‘North Seas Countries’ Offshore Grid
Initiative’, there are seven Regional
Initiatives, created by European
Regulators. Following the adoption
of the 3rd Liberalisation Package, the
Regional Initiatives have now gained a
legally binding character.
For more information:
www.ewea.org; www.eu-regulators.eu
For more information: www.ewea.org/grids2010.
13
| guest columnist |
Self-propelling dynamics
in Copenhagen
T
By Rolf de Vos
Journalist at Ecofys International
By invitation
he Climate Summit in Copenhagen was not
exactly a success. Many people’s expectations
were much higher than the contents of the threepage Copenhagen Accord. No worldwide reduction
agreement for 2020, not even for 2050, only an
agreed intention to keep the global average temperature rise under 2°C.
What is even worse: no further securities are
provided for low carbon business. No further upgrade of the Clean Development Mechanism, no
new perspectives on further CO2 constraints and
higher CO2 prices, no new financial architecture.
Copenhagen has not become the low carbon business landmark that we hoped for.
How bad is that going to be?
“In a political
sense, China
and the US may
have shown large
reserves, but their
industries have
proved they can
act very fast.”
14
In the short term, nothing much will change, at
least not in Europe. Business will continue as
usual in many countries. Manufacturers and
project developers will continue to expand their
business. At this very moment their biggest concern is the economic and financial crisis, not the
climate crisis.
In the longer term especially, Copenhagen
should have provided clear perspectives, but
didn’t. That will have an impact on the entire world.
But walking around in Copenhagen, I once again
became aware that the world develops in different
speeds, at different settings. That is one of the
reasons Copenhagen did not end successfully.
In the EU, we have learned to live with targets
and to try and comply with them as best we
can. We have a sophisticated system of policy
measures, we have an Emissions Trading System
that promises to start working, we have national
targets, systems for feed-in tariffs or sometimes
certificates, and within half a year all EU member
states will have to submit their binding 2020
targets for different forms of renewable energy in
a national action plan.
The EU approach is praised a lot, not only by
the EU itself but also by others. Looking back
on the last decade, this approach has also been
to the benefit of the EU wind energy industry.
The well-developed home markets (especially in
Denmark, Germany, Spain and Portugal) have given
the respective national manufacturers and developers a head start in the international market.
But we have to live with the fact that other
countries act very differently from this EU doctrine. They don’t like the international community
to impose international agreements about international emissions reduction targets. Although they
very much agree on the good intentions, they
want to do things in their own national styles.
The most stubborn countries are China and
the US, not by coincidence regarded by many
as closely linked to the Copenhagen failure.
The US has been obstructing the international
negotiations ever since the moment they refused
to ratify Kyoto. And at the very moment the US
President travelled to Copenhagen to show some
willingness to leave the track beaten by his predecessor, the other major world power China stood
up for its rights.
But the lack of commitment to international
political agreements does not necessarily imply
that local industries are under-developed. Until
now, China has followed the EU example closely.
Supported by the CDM mechanism, national policies and measures have boosted the wind energy
capacity. The latest statistics show that the
Chinese market was the world’s largest in 2009.
The US is still struggling to get a national
Climate Bill approved, including policies to boost
the wind energy capacity. Nevertheless, the US
has the largest installed wind power capacity in
the world – although it is mostly built from foreign
turbines.
Although we Europeans are disappointed, we
must realise that the political reality is not identical
to the business reality. ‘Copenhagen’ detached
the political discussions even further from the
business debate. In a political sense, China and
the US may have shown large reserves, but their
industries have proved they can act very fast.
The importance of climate policies to business
is definitely large. But the self-propelling dynamics
of the wind energy industry have already grown so
big that lousy politics will not stop them.
15
| wind energy basics |
Trends in wind
turbine technology
In 2010, Wind Directions is going
back to basics. Each issue this year
will take a closer look at one of the
fundamentals of wind energy.
By Elke Zander
Photo: Henning Reiter
M
any developments and
improvements have taken place
since the commercialisation of wind
technology in the early 1980s, but the
basic architecture of wind turbines has
changed little. They nearly all have three
blades, upwind rotors and are actively
yawed – which means they turn as the
wind changes direction.
Modern wind technology is available
for a range of sites, wind speeds and
climates. European wind farms are very
reliable – they stand ready to operate
97% of the time (this is known as their
“availability”) and are generally well
integrated into the environment and accepted by the public.
Turbines grew constantly in size up
to beginning of the century, but in the
past three or four years there has been
a levelling out of turbine size for onshore
turbines and a focus on increased supply
in the 1.5 - 3 MW range. That said, larger
turbines are still being developed for the
offshore market.
The past exponential growth of turbine
size (see Wind Directions, December
16
2009) was mainly driven by cost factors.
Larger turbines are more cost-effective as
they allow an optimised use of the land
available, and the maintenance cost per
kW installed is lower. All these factors,
together with the psychology of “bigger is
better” contributed to the growth of unit
size through the 1990s.
The key factor in maintaining design
development into the multi-megawatt
range has been the development of an
offshore market. For offshore applications, economics requires larger turbines
in order to limit the proportionally
higher costs of infrastructure (foundations, electricity collection and sub-sea
transmission) and lower the number of
turbines to access and maintain per kW
of installed capacity.
Technology trends evolve around various different factors:
• Rotor diameters: the industry always
works towards larger diameters. The
world’s largest wind turbine is currently the Enercon E-126 with a capacity of 6 MW and a diameter of 126 m.
• Tip speed: for turbines on land,
restrictions on acoustic noise emission often limit how fast the tip can
go. These restrictions don’t exist
offshore, which gives a clear potential
benefit in higher tip speeds.
• Pitch versus stall: there are now about
four times as many pitch-regulated turbine designs (in which a monitor immediately turns the rotor blades slightly
out of the wind if power is too high) on
the market as stall-regulated (in which
the rotor blades are bolted onto the
hub but the blade design counters the
lifting force from high winds).
• Speed variation: this offers the possibility of increased ‘grid friendliness’,
load reduction and some minor energy
benefits.
• Drive train trends: here the aim is to
reduce the mass or keep the right balance between weight and size.
• Hub height: when wind turbines were
designed exclusively for land use,
hub heights increased more or less
directly in proportion to diameter.
However, hub heights are now growing
less than the diameter. This trend has
come about because the largest machines are for offshore, where there is
reduced wind shear.
• Rotor and nacelle mass: manufacturers are continually introducing new
concepts and materials in drive train
layout, structure and components to
reduce mass and cost.
• Transport and installation: crane
manufacturers now produce designs
specially suited to wind farm installation. Often complete hubs are lifted
onto nacelles and sometimes hub and
blades are lifted individually.
Source: Wind Energy – The Facts (2009)
For more information: www.windfacts.eu
Next issue: new research on wind turbine designs
17
| interview |
Kim Carnahan,
Policy Leader, Flexible Mechanisms, International Emissions
Trading Association
Kim Carnahan works for the International Emissions
Trading Association (IETA) in Washington DC. IETA is a
not-for-profit business organisation that works to establish
a functional international framework for trading in greenhouse gas emission reductions. She attended COP15 and
told Sarah Azau all about it.
What do you do for the IETA?
My official title is policy leader for flexible
mechanisms, but in fact I cover UN policy and all
offset policy so it’s a rather wide umbrella.
I went to Copenhagen as our leader on UN policy
accompanied by Henry Derwent, who’s our CEO
and president and who used to be a climate
change negotiator for the UK as well as a head
of climate change for DEFRA in the UK. As well
as attending the whole of COP15, I went to the
negotiations all year too.
What was the atmosphere like at COP15?
At the beginning it almost seemed as if nothing had changed from the previous conferences,
which was definitely not a welcome feeling. You
wanted to feel a sense of urgency and that didn’t
arrive until at least the second week – at which
point everyone was looking around at each other
and saying “how are we going to finish this? We
are nowhere near where we need to be to be able
to forward a text to the COP-MOP at the end of
this session.” Not to mention anywhere close to
being where heads of state would actually adopt
an agreement.
So the panic set in for the facilitators and the
chairs, who started saying “we have no more
time, you HAVE to begin to compromise”, but
really there was very little sign of compromise
among the negotiators in the room. It was quite
odd how little nitty-gritty details still took up
hours and hours of discussion and those of us
observing were thinking: come on, get on to the
meat of this thing!
But they never did get to the meat – that’s why
it got pushed up to the heads of state in a ridiculous form, which was heads of state negotiating a
draft text, and that is something that you do not
see very often!
Photo: IETA
18
So you believe it was because of this obsession
with details and the lack of urgency that the
agreement was hammered out by a few heads of
state, and it was less ambitious than had been
hoped for?
I think if the negotiators had been willing to
compromise on some of the smaller issues we
could have got much further much more quickly
but you definitely did not see much willingness to
work together – there was not a feeling of goodwill
between the parties.
| interview |
It was things like: no we don’t want to use that
word there, we prefer this word, what do you
mean by that phrase? – and you’re sitting there
going, who cares about that phrase! That phrase
is insignificant!
So there was tension between the
different groups?
Oh certainly – an extreme lack of trust for one,
and an unwillingness to put themselves on the
line, so nobody wanted to be the person to give in
to any other party – and it was definitely seen as
giving in. So it was not a very happy situation.
What did you think of the outcome of COP15?
It was pretty disappointing. We would have
liked to see a much stronger and clearer agreement, but there were some important pros to
balance the cons.
For one, it got heads of state engaged on this
issue – over 100 heads of state were present at
that meeting. That is an extraordinary accomplishment and a good sign to business that times are
changing. It wouldn’t have happened in the past
– say under President Bush. Copenhagen was a
memorable event for that very reason, that you
had Obama in the room with the premier of China,
the president of Brazil and so on.
Of course, we wanted actual commitment, but
we did see movement. From my perspective as an
American living in Washington DC, I’m very conscious of the domestic environment we work in.
Having got China to agree to emissions intensity
targets that are very ambitious – 40-45% by 2020
– and getting India to agree to the same and having very ambitious commitments from Africa and
Brazil means we can say: look at these developing countries, you’ve been telling them for so long
to commit to something and they are.
These commitments are a boost to our ability
to pass domestic legislation, which is important
to the whole world – everyone needs to see a cap
and trade system in place in the US, and we’ve
been having difficulties with that so far.
And the last point, which I’m sure offends
many people in the UN, but which at least gets
things done, is that you had a change in the last
few days in who was engaged in the discussions.
So instead of having Venezuela and Tuvalu –
who obviously have their rights just as anyone
else does – you have a focus on the countries that
really matter in terms of climate change and emissions reductions. When you have 190 countries
trying to negotiate it is necessary to focus in on
the ones that can solve the problem. The UN is
usually a consensus-based decision-making body,
but this is a critical issue and maybe we can’t wait
until 190 countries agree. And so the willingness
to focus in on those countries that really matter is
a necessity, if not a welcome necessity. You need
a decision to be taken somewhere.
How about the negative aspects of the
outcome of COP?
The agreement itself! It’s written in very high level
language that does not send very specific signals
to business. What we need is domestic [US] legislation to enforce the agreement on an international level and then business will have the signals
that it needs to go forward with the investment
to create our low carbon future. Until we have
those domestic signals we’re not going to see the
extreme commitment on the part of business to
tackle its problems – no-one’s going to put money
into something they’re not sure has an economic
value, and right now we’re not completely positive
that carbon will have a long-term economic value.
“Until an agreement is reached on things like
monitoring and reporting verification – and until
the US passes domestic legislation [...] I don’t
see a chance for significant change.”
What will happen in Mexico in 2010?
Well, I think a precedent was set in Copenhagen to
work at a higher level first and iron out the details
later. So I think the discussions which began
months before Copenhagen between the US and
China and some of the other developing countries
will continue. Until an agreement is reached at a
high level on things like monitoring and reporting
verification – and until the US passes domestic
legislation and can say we will sign up to this cut –
I don’t see a chance for significant change at these
ground levels of negotiations that we saw all year.
The negotiators in the room on a daily basis no
longer have the power to make significant decisions – everything’s been taken to a higher level.
Can a legally binding agreement be reached
in 2010?
I definitely do think it’s possible and I certainly am
very hopeful, but it remains to be seen.
19
The backbone
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Mark your calendar
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Grids 2010, Berlin, Germany, 23-24 November 2010
Upgrading, extending and connecting Europe’s electricity grids is essential to meet
Europe’s emissions reduction and renewable energy targets. Without new and better
grids Europe cannot exploit its enormous wind energy resources and rapidly move
towards a renewable energy economy.
This two-day conference and exhibition will explore the financial, technical, policy
and regulatory issues that will shape the development of a grid that meets Europe’s
energy, consumer and climate needs.
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| feature |
Plain sailing?
By Zoë Casey
Sailing through or near an offshore wind farm
will fast become a route-planning reality for many sailors
ffshore wind energy is on the precipice of a take-off that could see it
become a major source of electricity for
a large number of countries in Europe.
But, as wind turbines spring up in
European waters and Europe’s seafarers
hoist their sails for a day at sea, sailors
are asking themselves what offshore
wind farms will have in store for them.
From negotiating a leisurely sail
around a wind farm, to new safety at sea
implications, or even to setting a wind
farm as a marker for a sailboat race
course, offshore wind farms are likely to
bring both new horizons and an element
of complication for sea-goers.
Those setting sail in waters surrounding the United Kingdom and Ireland,
and off the coasts of Denmark, the
Netherlands, Sweden, Germany, and
Belgium, are either by now encountering wind farms or, as the expansion of
offshore wind power takes hold, they will
do in the very near future.
Shallow waters
Sailing clubs in the Øresund waters near
Copenhagen, Denmark are already organising sailing and racing in the vicinity of
the wind farms “without any problems,”
Morten Lorenzen CEO of the Danish
Royal Yacht Club in Copenhagen, said.
Wind turbines are in areas which are in
any case prohibited for sailors, as they
are located in shallow waters where various objects have been dumped making
sailing difficult. On a sailor’s chart such
areas are marked as unsafe.
Turbines in inshore waters can even
be a useful wind indicator: “During the
summer, with predominately light winds,
we ask: are the wind mills turning? If so,
the wind will soon come to our sailing
area,” Lorenzen said.
Lorenzen said he would be in favour of
wind farms located further out to sea
“where the wind is much more stable
and where the waters are easier to
navigate.” Onshore breezes reaching
near-shore turbines such as the ones
at Middelgrunden farm in Øresund can
be blocked or funnelled by buildings and
headlands.
While Denmark is the pioneer of
wind energy in Europe, the UK is set to
massively surpass it when it comes to
offshore wind power in the coming years.
The British government has recently
announced plans for new offshore wind
zones in many sea areas surrounding
the British Isles, and the response from
sailors is largely positive.
One of those new sites is set to be
off the south-west coast of the Isle of
Wight. Chris Thomas from the Island
Sailing Club in Cowes, Isle of Wight, said
he personally thinks the offshore farms
are a “jolly good idea.” Sailors should
not find the turbines an obstacle since
they will be located on Bembridge
Ledge; an area of shallow
seabed which is “not at all
suitable for sailing,” Thomas
said.
Climate-conscious
sailors
Given that sailors spend
much time out in the elements, it
is hardly surprising that many of
them are also environmentalists. Eoin Quinn, Commodore
of Arklow sailing club on the
east coast of Ireland where a
seven-turbine offshore wind
farm is located, said he believes that, “most members of
Arklow sailing club find the wind
Photo: DONG Energy
O
21
| feature |
farm a better alternative to traditional
fossil fuel power generation.”
“I have rarely heard any negative
comment in relation to the wind farm,
turbines or the possibility of additional
turbines,” Quinn said.
Moreover, he says that since the wind
farm was erected, “there has been great
interest from the local sailing and boating community, with boats and yachts
making regular visits out to the vicinity of
the wind farm.”
Another keen sailor, Anne-Flore Laloë
from Les Glénans saling club, Brittany,
France, says that, “sailors should be the
first to realise the awesome potential of
wind power for transportation, generating electricity and general green living.”
While Laloë’s region is yet to have an offshore wind farm, she says there are very
few disadvantages for sailors in placing
wind farms out at sea.
“I don’t find a turbine to be an eyesore. Actually I find them quite cool and
futuristic looking, especially compared to
pylons or the cemented seafronts of La
Baule or the Côte d’Azur,” she said.
Setting sail near a wind farm
From under-water rocks, pipes and other
debris, to shipping lanes and oil and gas
rigs further out to sea, sailors already
have to navigate around a large range of
objects. An offshore wind farm would be
an additional one, but, like all the others, they are charted on widely available
maps of the sea and seabed.
An offshore wind farm could also have
the added value of serving as a navigation mark, once it has been charted,
when features on the shore are hard
to pick out in falling light levels or fog.
For sailors who enjoy fishing, a wind
farm could also help preserve local fish
stocks since commercial fishing boats
cannot navigate near the shallow waters. But boats are also a potential risk to
the turbines. Anchors dropped into the
seabed could damage cables linking
turbines and an offshore farm to the land
and, although none have happened so
far, there is a risk of collision.
From a sailor’s perspective, Laloë
said that she would be fine to sail near
a wind farm, adding she would approach
an offshore turbine with the “same caution” as she would do for any buoy or
obstacle at sea.
Her keenness to sail near to an
offshore wind farm was also echoed by
a survey carried out by the UK’s Royal
Yachting Association (RYA), a national
organisation representing all forms of
boating. Their poll found that some
75% of respondents who regularly sail
in European waters said they would be
“happy” to sail through a wind farm.
With safety in mind, Lorenzen said
that turbines must be obvious from the
water: “As long as turbines are safely
marked, and they are, we see no problems.” “Since many sailors have engineering roots, I think a lot of people find
them interesting,” Lorenzen added.
Sailing and water sports can go on
near wind turbines with no problem
Conflicting interests
There are “many conflicting interests
of users of the sea,” pointed out Kees
van der Tak, senior project manager at
Marin, a centre for marine research in
Wageningen, the Netherlands. Sailors are
among the more traditional users of the
sea, but in times of climate and energy
crises, more space is needed for marine
newcomers such as offshore wind.
Maritime planning is currently fragmented along sectoral and national lines, and it
is clear that a more co-ordinated approach
involving all users of the sea equally is
needed, but how strict these rules should
be is a potential sticking point.
Under current rules, the United
Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea
(UNCLOS), there are safety zones of 500m
around each object. But this exclusion
zone is not obligatory, meaning that small
boats are within their rights to sail near
turbines.
The RYA says that since sailors usually
have a high level of local knowledge, wind
farms do not present additional dangers
and sailors should have the freedom of
choice on how close to go.
Photo: Matt Williams
22
| feature |
Photo: Matt Williams
In 2002, the RYA officially objected to
plans to put navigational exclusion zones
in place around the Robin Rigg offshore
wind farm in Scotland during both its
construction and operational phase. While
no-entry zones around oil and gas rigs are
necessary, wind farms do not handle flammable or explosive fuels that could cause
injury or pollution so the same rules are
not necessary, the RYA said.
“Wind farm arrays will be a new type
of marine feature; larger, but in principle
no different to any other which needs to
be accommodated in a passage plan,”
the RYA stated.
Safety measures for wind farm
sailing essential
The RYA also says a minimum of security
measures need to be in place for those
sailing near offshore turbines. For example, turbine blade-tips should be far
enough from the sea level to allow room
for an averaged sized yacht to easily sail
underneath. The British Wind Energy
Association (BWEA) does not object to
this, although it says the RYA’s recommendation should be kept under review.
Turbines at sea should also be well lit
with powerful fog-cutting lights on the
towers themselves and possibly on buoys marking out the area. When it comes
to emergencies, the RYA says there
should be an “emergency response system” in place. Turbines should be able to
shut down when there is an emergency
call, and in popular sailing areas, a
safety boat should be on stand-by.
Notices warning of the risks posed by
construction vessels, anchors, divers,
tugs and barges working on the construction of a wind farm, could also be pinned
up at local sailing clubs and made available on relevant websites, the RYA says.
When it comes to the possible effects
of turbines on a boat’s navigational equipment, the UK’s Maritime and Coastguard
Agency (MCA) carried out tests on navigational equipment sailors might use. No
adverse effects on boat satellites, magnetic compasses and VHF communications
equipment were found, the MCA said.
Racing around offshore wind farms
but many sailors are competitive racers
and an offshore wind farm can add a
new element to a wind-powered regatta.
One of the first races to an offshore wind
farm to take place was out to the Arklow
Bank wind farm in the Irish Sea. Now,
every June, Arklow sailing club organises
a popular annual ‘turbines yacht race’.
Such is the attraction of offshore wind
farms and sailing that some wind industry companies have hopped on-board.
An annual regatta takes place in the
waters surrounding the Thannet offshore
wind farm in the North Sea. Mike Brand,
Commodore of the Royal Temple Yacht
Club near Ramsgate in the UK said he
was “delighted” that the RTYC partnered
with Vattenfall for the 2009 event, and
is set to repeat the joint venture for this
year’s championship.
With plenty of entries from wind companies across Europe, the BWEA also
holds a popular annual boat race. Last
year, some 58 boats and 39 wind and
marine companies entered, all racing for
the sought-after regatta trophy.
Pottering about on the water may be a
common image associated with sailing,
23
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APRIL
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24
Make your own fortune
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| country focus |
A closer look at
Romania...
In 2010, Wind Directions will
take a look at a selection of the
developing wind energy markets
with the most potential.
By Anne Liekenbrock
A
fter large hydro, wind energy is the
second most important renewable
energy technology in Romania, despite
the county’s late start and as yet small
installed capacity. In 2009, cumulative wind capacity was marginally over
14 MW. Excluding large hydro, this
represents some 15% of all renewable
electricity installed capacity.
Romania has to meet a binding EU
target of 24% renewable energy in final
consumption by 2020 – up from 17.8%
in 2005. Romania has a great theoretical wind energy potential with an average
wind speed of above 6.3 m/s1. The best
locations are found in the Dobrogea
region, Moldova Hills and other hilly or
mountainous plateaux.
Although most of the turbines currently in operation are second hand and
owned by local companies, Romania has
a significant amount of wind projects in
the pipeline, and large projects supported by foreign companies along with
national players are planned or under
construction, including a project in
Fontanele and Cogealac that should,
upon completion of all phases, reach a
capacity of 600 MW.
With such investor interest and
wind speeds averaging above 6.3 m/s,
there is no doubt that wind power will
play a major role in Romania’s future
energy mix. “Wind energy will be key
for us to reach our 2020 renewables
target,” Alexandru Sandulescu from the
Romanian Ministry of Economy commented at a European workshop on the
integration of wind energy in Romania in
April 2009.
Since 2004, Romanian energy legislation has provided for the mandatory
dispatching and priority trading of renewable energies. Romania also adopted
the system of Green Certificates with
quota obligation. The mandatory quota
increased from 0.7% in 2005 to 2.74%
in 2007, and will reach 16.8% by 2020.
1
At 60m above ground level.
Photo: Dreamstime/Ioannicolae
Romania – the wind energy facts
NATIONAL EU RENEWABLE TARGET . . . . . 24%
CURRENT RENEWABLE ENERGY CAPACITY . . . . .
CURRENT INSTALLED WIND ENERGY CAPACITY . . .
THEORETICAL WIND ENERGY CAPACITY POTENTIAL .
Romania’s support mechanism for renewable energy was updated in November
2008 via the adoption of law 220/2008.
However, the legislation has yet to come
into force as administrative delays and
a late communication to the European
Commission have stalled the process. It
is expected that the text will be cleared
by Brussels in the coming months and
that the law will enter into force during
the course of this year.
The Romanian Wind Energy
Association (RWEA) expects installed
capacity in 2020 to be significantly
above the government’s estimates.
There are almost 4 GW of projects
in advanced planning stages and a
15 GW pipeline. Analysts consider that
Romania could cover between 30% and
60% of its total electricity demands with
wind power by 2020.
The Romanian TSO currently
considers that 800 MW to 1,000 MW of
wind generation (equivalent to 3,000
to 4,000 MW of installed capacity)
by 2020, up
. . . . . .
. . . . . .
. . . . . .
from 17.8% in 2005
. . . . . 91.86 MW
. . . . . 13.81 MW
. . 23 TWh per year
can be adequately managed without
any significant restrictions. However,
investments in the grid infrastructure
are needed to fully exploit the vast wind
potential to avoid congestion, especially
in the Dobrogea region where there
are some of the best winds, but also
a significant amount of thermal and
nuclear generation.
An EWEA policy workshop was
held last year in Bucharest.
Photo: EWEA
27
| focus |
The climate battle
Copenhagen and its aftermath
As COP15 got underway, it seemed the hopes of the world
were pinned on Copenhagen, and on whether the international
community could come up with a global plan to reduce and reverse
the worst effects of climate change.
By Chris Rose
W
hile it was billed by British Prime
Minister Gordon Brown as the most
important international meeting since
the Second World War, the more impartial arc of history will reveal whether the
two-week UN climate change conference
held here in Denmark in December lived
up to its heady potential.
Certainly much was at stake as the
15th Conference of the Parties (COP15)
meeting in Copenhagen began on 7
December. The expected attendance of
an unheralded number of global leaders.
Agreeing target reductions for greenhouse gas emissions. Developing nations
accepting responsibility for their carbon
outputs. Finding how to help the poorest
28
countries finance necessary and costly
mitigation efforts.
The Copenhagen summit had the potential to allow the world to begin replacing the fossil-fuel hungry business-asusual approach to the way society uses
energy with a green revolution powered
by wind and other renewables.
The potential for the world to endorse in Copenhagen a new, strengthened post-Kyoto treaty began picking
up steam in late 2007 at the COP13
meeting in Bali, Indonesia, when nations
agreed to a two-year negotiating process
that was to result in an international
climate change pact limiting and then
reducing destructive greenhouse gas
emissions associated with burning fossil
fuels. Discussions continued at the COP14
conference in Poznan, Poland in December
2008, followed by five additional negotiating sessions in 2009 in Bonn, Bangkok
and Barcelona.
In the two years before Copenhagen –
sometimes referred to as ‘Hopenhagen’,
such was the anticipation surrounding the
summit – the public and media attention
focused on global warming issues seemed
to increase exponentially, especially after
scientists on the Intergovernmental Panel
on Climate Change (IPCC) revealed conclusively that the biggest cause of global
warming was humankind’s doomed love
affair with polluting fossil fuels.
| focus |
Photo: Reporters
That wasn’t always the case, however.
Climate change discussions were barely
on the public agenda in 1992 when the
United Nations Framework Convention on
Climate Change (UNFCCC) was adopted
to respond to global warming caused by
burning fossil fuels.
When the Kyoto Protocol was adopted
at the COP3 meeting in Japan in 1997,
society had begun to realise it needed to
reign in its escalating levels of greenhouse gases. The aim of the Kyoto
Protocol, which runs out at the end of
2012, is to stabilise greenhouse gases
in the atmosphere to prevent dangerous
human interference with the climate.
Kyoto entered into force in 2005 with
Photo: Crispin Aubrey
the backing of 187 states, but without
the United States – then the world’s
biggest emitter and responsible for 21%
of global greenhouse gas emissions in
1990. While Kyoto was a diplomatic start
to the climate change fight, ongoing science soon revealed that global warming
is happening at a faster rate with more
serious consequences than previously
predicted. Global emissions in 2009
were 25% higher than in 1990.
As the high-profile Copenhagen conference drew nearer, several questions
remained for the international community.
Would world leaders agree on a binding formula that sees CO2 emissions
peak by 2015 and then decline rapidly
so that global temperature rise can be
limited to 2°C by the end of this century?
Would wealthy industrialised nations pass
on enough finance so developing countries
can also reduce their own growing carbon
footprints? Would the business-as-usual
approach result in a future marked by melting ice sheets, rising sea levels, droughts,
famine, pandemics of contagious diseases,
mass extinction of species and mass migration? Or would politicians have the courage to embrace a healthier, smarter, green
energy revolution?
Organised to decide the future of humankind as we know it, the hotly-awaited
Copenhagen conference was to come up
with answers to those questions.
29
| focus |
A disappointing outcome
in Copenhagen
Despite the Copenhagen Accord, a legally-binding international
agreement on limiting and then reducing global greenhouse gas
emissions is still required.
I
n the end, the Copenhagen Accord,
arrived at by the leaders of just five nations on 18 December, was a mind-numbing disappointment considering the two
years of work that international negotiators had logged trying to work towards a
new, strengthened post-Kyoto agreement
on reducing greenhouse gases.
The 12-point plan agreed to by the
US, China, India, Brazil and South Africa
after 10 days of discussion at the UN
climate change conference in the Bella
Centre in Copenhagen was vague, unambitious and non-legally binding.
While it contained no firm targets for
limiting and then rapidly reducing greenhouse gases caused by burning fossil
fuels, the Accord – eventually supported
by a majority of countries attending
the conference – did acknowledge that
climate change is one of humankind’s
greatest challenges.
US President Obama addresses the conference
30
“We emphasise our strong political will
to urgently combat climate change in
accordance with the principle of common
but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities,” the accord stated.
Nations need to work harder to fight
global warming in order to keep temperature rise to less than 2°C, it added.
“We agree that deep cuts in global
emissions are required according to science,” the Accord noted.
In order to keep global temperature
rise below 2°C so that runaway climate
change does not occur, the document
notes that wealthy, industrialised nations
will implement “quantified economy-wide
emissions targets from 2020, to be
listed in the accord before 31 January
2010.” Continuing, it also notes “a
number of developing countries, including major emerging economies, agreed
to communicate their efforts to limit
Photo: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark
By Chris Rose
greenhouse gas emissions every two
years, also listing their voluntary pledges
before the 31 January 2010.”
The Accord says heads of state intend
to establish the “Copenhagen Green
Climate Fund” to support immediate action on climate change in poor countries.
This mitigation fund for the years 2010 to
2012 is to be approximately $30 billion.
Developed nations also agreed to
raise $100 billion annually by 2020 to
help developing countries fight climate
change. “This funding will come from
a wide variety of sources, public and
private, bilateral and multilateral, including alternative sources of finance. New
multilateral funding for adaptation will be
delivered through effective and efficient
fund arrangements, with a governance
structure providing for equal representation of developed and developing countries. A significant portion of such funding should flow through the Copenhagen
Green Climate Fund.”
The document stated that a review of
the accord is to be completed by 2015
since the pledges listed by developed
and developing countries may be insufficient to keep the global temperature
rise below 2°C.
The Accord also noted that a
Technology Mechanism to accelerate
technology development and transfer in
support of action on adaptation and mitigation will be established. The mechanism “will be guided by a country-driven
approach and be based on national
circumstances and priorities.”
In discussing the Accord, UN
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon described it as a good first step.
“We have sealed the deal,” he said.
“This accord cannot be everything that
everyone hoped for, but it is an essential
beginning.”
Photo: Jacob Nielsen/DWIA
| focus |
At COP15, the size of this
balloon underlined the
battle we face to reduce
CO2 in the atmosphere
Kyoto, Copenhagen and what happens next
With 194 Parties, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
(UNFCCC) has near universal membership and is the parent treaty of the 1997
Kyoto Protocol.
The Kyoto Protocol has been ratified by 190 of the UNFCCC Parties. Under the
Protocol, 37 States, consisting of highly industrialised countries and countries
undergoing the process of transition to a market economy, have legally binding
emission limitation and reduction commitments.
The ultimate objective of both treaties is to stabilise greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that will prevent dangerous human interference with the climate system.
In Copenhagen, 119 world leaders attended the meeting, the largest gathering of heads of state and government in the history of the UN.
The next annual UN climate change conference is to take place late in 2010
in Mexico City, preceded by a negotiating session in Bonn, Germany, scheduled
31 May to 11 June.
“Climate change is the permanent leadership challenge of our time,” he added.
“I therefore urge world leaders to remain
engaged.”
UNFCCC Executive Secretary Yvo de
Boer was less positive.
“We must be honest about what we
have got,” said de Boer. “The world walks
away from Copenhagen with a deal. But
clearly ambitions to reduce emissions
must be raised significantly if we are to
hold the world to two degrees.”
De Boer called the accord “a package
to work with” and said immediate action
by politicians is now required.
“We need to be clear that it is a
letter of intent and is not precise about
what needs to be done in legal terms.
So the challenge is now to turn what we
have agreed politically in Copenhagen
into something real, measurable and
verifiable.”
While scholars and historians will
debate the value of the Copenhagen
Accord, there is no doubt that governments, businesses and environmentalists will all experience increased
uncertainty until the world agrees to a
legally-binding treaty that sees global
greenhouse gas emissions peak by
2015 before rapidly declining.
The accord reached in Denmark,
which many see as a stalling tactic
by narrow national self interests, was
frustrating for the wind power industry
since it is already supplying increasing
amounts of emissions-free electricity
and, because it is a rapidly deployable
proven technology, can provide an even
greater solution to climate change.
Steve Sawyer, Secretary-General of
the Global Wind Energy Council, described the accord as vague and not
helpful to the wind industry.
“The voluntary approach taken in
this declaration would fail to send clear
confidence building signals to the market
and to investors. If this document goes
forward as the basis for negotiation, then
it will be important to keep an eye on
how the agreement will catalyse investment in clean energy technologies,”
Sawyer said.
“The wind energy industry stands
ready to deliver on its promise to save
10 billion tonnes of CO2 by 2020. The
boom of wind energy and other renewable energy technologies will continue,
driven by national concerns over climate
change, and economic and security
considerations. However, a clear signal
of long-term political commitment into
decarbonising our energy system would
drive even more private investment to
clean technologies. I hope that global
leaders will not miss this unique opportunity to speed up the energy revolution.”
31
| focus |
Copenhagen: powerful
presence for global wind industry
T
here was no missing the wind power
message in Copenhagen. Everywhere
you went in Denmark’s capital city the
instantly recognisable image of the three
bladed turbine on its slender tower was
evident across billboards, giant screens
and in countless leaflets, brochures and
fliers. From the metro stations to street
exhibitions to the crowded halls of the
Bella Centre, where the main climate
talks took place, the wind turbine image
was ubiquitous.
Mainly organised by the Global Wind
Energy Council (GWEC), but with the
close involvement of EWEA and industrial members of both organisations,
the international wind industry had set
up a rolling programme of events and
activities both inside and outside the
conference venue over the middle two
weeks of December.
Having the Danish Wind Industry
Association (DWIA) based in
Copenhagen, and able to organise many
of the GWEC-sponsored events, was a
bonus. So was the fact that Denmark
can boast the largest penetration of
wind power in the world – about 20% at
the last count. If the Danes can do it,
was the message to the delegates from
almost 200 nations, then so can you.
“The wind industry has never had the
same visibility at international climate
negotiations before, and I think it has
really made an impact,” said GWEC
Secretary General Steve Sawyer, who has
been attending UN climate negotiations
for more than 20 years. “As a sector, we
are finally being heard and getting our
message across that wind power can
contribute substantial cuts in CO2 emissions. People hadn’t really made that
Delegates and press members at COP15 gaze up at turbines
on a boat trip to Middelgrunden wind farm
32
By Crispin Aubrey
connection between climate and wind
before, but now they’re starting to get it.
Wind turbines have become the symbol
for the fight against climate change.”
The wind power industry ensured its
visibility with a presence in all the right
places. One of the brightest ideas was
to set up a free coffee stall right outside the entrance to the Bella Centre.
As the weather turned bitterly cold and
the queues of people trying to access
an already overcrowded venue turned
into hundreds, and then thousands,
the demand for a hot drink proved a
powerful magnet. Hopefully the queuing
delegates, as they warmed their hands
around the recycled cardboard cups of
steaming brew, registered who had made
the effort to stop them freezing.
Inside the Bella Centre the industry was prominently promoted in an
exhibition organised by the Climate
Consortium, a public-private partnership
between the Danish state and five major
business organisations, including the
DWIA. Across a giant screen filled with
wind turbines the message was that
by 2050, “renewables can be the main
platform of our power systems”. There
were also interactive displays of the
technologies available to combat climate
change, including wind energy, and a
number of presentations by industry figures. Nearby, a joint EWEA/GWEC stand
offered visitors the chance to send home
large coloured postcards of wind power
at work around the world.
Just outside the conference centre
a 61 metre blade, the largest manufactured by Danish blade maker LM
Glasfiber, was on display. To emphasise
its scale, an explanatory sign pointed out
that once installed, the 5 MW turbine’s
rotor diameter would be greater than the
height of the Statue of Liberty. A fully operational Vestas 850 kW turbine had also
been installed overlooking the venue.
Over the middle weekend of the
conference, wind and other renewables
| focus |
Wind industry voices
in Copenhagen
“When people talk about how to
reduce the global output of CO2,
if every country got 20% of its
electricity from the wind, as we do
in Denmark, it would be quite a
different story. Our message is: ‘It’s
possible, just do it!’.”
Ditlev Engel,
CEO, Vestas
“Wind is already the most mature
and competitive of the renewable technologies and can offer a
solution in a short timescale. The
only things we need to make that
happen are visibility, predictability
and probably a clear price for every
tonne of carbon saved.”
Xabier Viteri,
CEO, Iberdrola Renovables
The turbine outside the conference venue provided power to the event
featured in the Bright Green exhibition,
which filled a giant hall in the centre
of Copenhagen with the latest green
technologies. Exhibitors included DONG
Energy, with its commitment to 85%
renewable generation by 2020, and
Vestas, with a digital counter clicking
up the number of its turbines installed
each day, and their CO2 saving. In a royal
flush, Vestas CEO Ditlev Engel personally escorted round the show members
of the royal families from Sweden,
Denmark and Norway.
For those who wanted to see the
technology in action, a series of boat
trips was organised by the Danish hosts
to the wind farm conveniently located in
the sea just off Copenhagen harbour. The
Middelgrunden wind park – 20 Siemens
2 MW turbines curved in a gentle arc
– welcomed a steady stream of conference delegates and journalists. Among
the former were US Interior Secretary,
Ken Salazar and the US Ambassador to
Denmark, Laura Fulbright. Among the
latter were representatives of leading
international media, including the New
York Times.
A central focus of GWEC activity in
Copenhagen was the Wind Power Works
campaign, whose aim throughout 2009
had been to show how wind power has
become a truly global phenomenon.
The campaign website’s 12 monthly
examples of wind farms from around
the world – each with a different story to
tell about the technology’s advantages culminated with Horns Rev 2. Located off
the North Sea coast of Denmark, this is
currently the largest offshore project in
the world. Magnificent photos of all 12
sites, captured by experienced international photographers, featured at several
venues around the Danish capital.
There were also a number of more
formal industry-organised events. A “high
level dinner” enabled a number of politicians and officials involved in the climate
“I think we’re the most visible industry at the conference. People know
now that we can deploy renewable
technology and avoid carbon - because the Europeans have shown
it can happen. We just need to get
the rest of the world to agree.”
Denise Bode,
CEO, American Wind Energy
Association
“Whatever happens here we still
strongly believe that the industry
can grow at a rate of 20%, and if
there is a very clear roadmap as a
result of a global deal, then at more
than 30%.”
Tulsi Tanti,
Chairman, Suzlon Energy
“The important thing is that we end
up with binding (emissions reduction) targets, which would have to
met by renewable energy. But if
we’re going to deliver those targets
then other barriers need to be overcome, especially the need for a new
grid infrastructure.”
Ian Mays,
CEO, Renewable Energy Systems
33
| focus |
One of the many demonstrations to take place during COP15
negotiations, including the US Under
Secretary of Energy, Kristina Johnson
and the newly appointed Danish Climate
and Energy Minister, Lykke Friis, to meet
leading wind industry figures. Before that
the CEOs of Vestas, RES, Suzlon and
NRG Systems, as well as Steve Sawyer
of GWEC, took part in a panel discussion chaired by Denise Bode, CEO of the
American Wind Energy Association.
The chief executives of Vestas,
Acciona and Iberdrola also participated in a panel organised by the World
Business Council for Sustainable
Development, whilst EWEA itself took
part in three side events at which CEO
Christian Kjaer pointed out, among other
things, that the capacity of wind power
installed globally in 2008 was equal to
the capacity of nuclear installed over the
entire previous decade.
Outside these formal events, the
major turbine manufacturers and other
wind-related companies made their presence felt in numerous public spaces. At
the airport Spanish company Acciona
promised a “new world of renewables”.
At the entrance to metro stations
Siemens had covered the walls with its
optimistic “Hopenhagen” message and
wind turbine images. In one of the main
city squares Suzlon had sponsored an
outside photo exhibition with the promise
that “wind energy is the main power generation technology in a position to make
a difference in reducing CO2 emissions
34
in the critical period up to 2020”. It was
difficult to move anywhere in the Danish
capital, which was crammed with climaterelated events and displays, without being reminded that wind represented the
positive side of the debate.
Altogether, GWEC estimated that
about 300 wind industry insiders were
present in Copenhagen, including the
CEOs of wind turbine manufacturers,
wind farm operators and developers.
Most felt their presence was vital in
terms of spreading the message that
wind power was an essential part of the
solution to the climate crisis.
“We’ve been working for the last three
years all over the world to communicate
what we think is central about these
messages; now it’s all coming together
at COP15,” said Ditlev Engel of Vestas.
“We’re hoping to tell the story, like all our
colleagues from around the world, that if
you want to avoid carbon, wind is one of
the best ways to do it immediately,” said
Denise Bode of the AWEA. “I think all the
major players understand this is a big
opportunity to achieve something,” said
Xabier Viteri of Iberdrola. “This is a very
important event, not just for our company
but for the sustainability of the global
economy,” said Tulsi Tanti of Suzlon.
The views of leading figures in the international wind industry were also promoted
through a short film on the Wind Power
Works website. Participants included
Roland Sunden of LM Glasfiber, Han
Junliang of Sinovel, Tulsi Tanti, Xabier Viteri
and Per Hornung Pedersen of REpower.
Many of the delegates at the conference came from developing countries
which have not yet experienced the
reality of wind power. “They were all
very interested in renewables,” said
Sven Teske, Climate Campaigner for
Greenpeace International, who organised
a side event, “and they particularly liked
the fact that wind power can be quickly
installed and therefore follow demand.”
The wind industry’s message was best
summed up by GWEC’s latest projections, presented at a press conference
on day eight of the event, held jointly with
the United Nations Environment Project.
These showed that by 2020, wind power
could have reached a global installed
capacity of 2,000 GW. This would represent a cumulative CO2 saving of 10 billion
tonnes – enough to achieve up to 65% of
the emissions reductions being pledged
by industrialised countries.
“If you want to make a difference
in the power sector between now and
2020,” said GWEC’s Secretary-General
Steve Sawyer, “there are basically three
things you can do. First of all, introduce
efficiency measures. Then you can
switch from coal and gas. But in terms
of new power supply then renewables are
the way forward, and wind is one of the
only sources that can make a difference
in this timescale.”
For more information: www.windpowerworks.net
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35
| focus |
Post-COP15 wind industry
will keep its momentum
W
hile the COP15 conference in Copenhagen
did not have much direct impact on the wind
energy sector, it did create greater political awareness of the problems associated with climate
change that hopefully can be used to help heads
of state arrive at a legally binding agreement that
reduces greenhouse gas emissions.
“In that sense, COP15 was perhaps a small
step on the road to getting the international
community to address climate change seriously,”
Christian Kjaer, the CEO of EWEA, also said.
Kjaer, who attended the UN climate change
conference in December, added that the so-called
Copenhagen Accord – which the conference
‘takes note of’ – did acknowledge the
to keep global mean temperature
“Even if we had had need
rise below 2°C above pre-industrial
a legally binding levels.
“But there is no clear means to get
agreement in there,
and the carbon reduction pledges
on
the
table certainly don’t do it – neiCopenhagen, it would
ther will the pledges that countries are
not have had an sending by end January to the UN be
immediate effect on sufficient to reduce carbon emissions
the level that the scientists say is
the wind power market to
necessary.”
“It seems that what appears in the
because a carbon price
document is the lowest common dedoes not directly affect nominator of the elements to which the
wind power investments.” new ‘big five powers’ (China, India, US,
Brazil and South Africa) could come to
agreement on, and the rest of the world
(including the EU) was told to ‘take it or leave
it,” was the reaction of Steve Sawyer, SecretaryGeneral of the Global Wind Energy Council
(GWEC). “This is a weak agreement, which missed
a unique opportunity to make genuine progress
towards saving the climate and spurring investment in renewable energy technologies.”
Kjaer noted that the accord, which was eventually endorsed by most of the 190 nations attending the UN conference, did promise $30 billion
in mitigation funding to the developing world
between 2010 and 2012 and up to $100 billion
annually by 2020.
However, he added that promises are vague
as to where the money is actually going to come
from. Also lacking clarity, he said, is a “Technology
Panel” and the “Copenhagen Green Climate
36
By Chris Rose
Fund” which lack explanation as to how it will be
governed and what, precisely, it will do.
“For the wind industry, COP15 did not change
much. We didn’t gain much, but we didn’t lose
anything either, but momentum was kept,” he said.
“Even if we had had a legally binding agreement in Copenhagen, it would not have had an
immediate and direct effect on the wind power
market because a carbon price does not directly
affect wind power investments. The direct effect
would be on technologies that emit carbon and
that would make investors turn to zero-carbon
technologies. Since (onshore) wind power is the
most affordable of the zero-carbon technologies,
that would direct more investments towards wind
energy -- had there been an agreement.
“But this would be a medium to long-term
effect. That is exactly why it is important to have
specific legislation to promote renewable energy
technologies, which there is in most countries. This
is what drives the markets and what brings down
the cost (economies of scale) of new technologies
– onshore and offshore wind power, hydro, geothermal, solar thermal, photovoltaics, tidal/wave
power etc. A carbon price would to a large extent
promote the cheapest technology (onshore wind
and biomass), but we need to develop the currently
less competitive technologies to achieve the 80%
reductions in CO2 that are needed by 2050.”
Kjaer noted there are a number of key dates in
2010 that could help the international community
finally forge a legally binding agreement on reducing greenhouse gas emissions caused by burning
fossil fuels. These include the 31 January deadline
for nations to send in their pledges for the annexes
to the Copenhagen Accord; whether proposed US
legislation on climate change gets enacted and
what it will look like; the June inter-sessional meeting of the Parties in Bonn; and the COP16 meeting
in Mexico from 29 November to 10 December.
“One can only hope that world leaders will
come to understand the depth of both industry’s
and people’s disappointment over their lack of collective political will and courage [in Copenhagen],
and spend the next few months working together,”
Kjaer said. “The worst thing that could happen
is that they entirely abandon the UN process of
reaching a new treaty on reducing greenhouse
gas emissions.”
| interview |
Industry can push
climate change action
Tulsi Tanti, the Chairman and Managing Director of Suzlon Energy, was in Copenhagen for the
COP15 conference. He later answered questions about the conference posed by EWEA’s Chris
Rose and talked about what should be done now.
What was your initial reaction to the so-called
Copenhagen Accord? And, has your opinion
changed since the December conference?
COP15 offered us a chance to act as one world
towards a common goal. As the only global wind
energy major from an emerging market, we understand the challenge both developing and developed countries are facing as they grapple with
climate change. This is a global challenge with
many local components. It needs to be tackled
jointly. As COP15 did not deliver the agreement
that is required to fight climate change in a concerted manner, it is now up to all stakeholders to
push the agenda at upcoming forums.
What needs to be done now so that a legally-binding international agreement on reducing greenhouse gases can be reached as soon as possible,
perhaps in Mexico in December?
Green is the buzzword but really cohesive strategies on resource optimisation and sustainability
are still lacking. Since COP15 did not deliver an
agreement that lays the groundwork for reaching
emissions control targets globally, governments
now need to regroup and keep pushing the agenda at every opportunity available. Furthermore,
this is an opportunity for industry to come together and combat climate change by thinking smart,
thinking laterally and providing realistic solutions
that serve our needs.
What can be done to bridge the differences in
attitudes to climate change between countries at
different stages of industrialisation?
A large majority of the world’s populations lives
in the developing nations. The future emissions
potential from these countries is huge and no
doubt need to be curbed but the cost needs to be
shared by the world community. According to the
Copenhagen Accord, the various representatives
have agreed that developed countries will provide
adequate, predictable and sustainable financial
resources, technology and capacity-building to
support the implementation of adaptation action
in developing countries. What now remains to be
seen is how this will play out – we need to see
action. This challenge is a global challenge with
many local components. And as we are equally
affected by climate change, we need to come
together to tackle it.
What happens to the possibility of achieving a
new, strengthened post-Kyoto treaty if President
Obama cannot sign an international treaty
because the US Senate blocks domestic climate
change legislation?
As mentioned earlier, it is the responsibility of
each and every country to take the initiative to
combat climate change. Should key countries opt
out of a multilateral agreement indefinitely, it is up to these governments to
unilaterally do their part – and up to
industry to take charge and play a
larger role. Development cannot
be held hostage to politics. Where
real political will is lacking, there
is an opportunity for industry to
come together and help define the
agenda. We need to find ways to
combat climate change by
thinking smart, thinking laterally, and
providing realistic
solutions that
serve our needs.
What can
ordinary
citizens do to
force positive change
when it comes
to the way
the world uses
energy and emits
carbon?
We cannot always rely
on the government to
Photo: Suzlon
37
| interview |
Climate change will impact people all around the world
“This is an
opportunity for
industry to come
together and
combat climate
change by thinking
smart, thinking
laterally and
providing realistic
solutions that
serve our needs.”
38
find solutions to all the problems. Climate change
is a grave issue that will impact the lives of everyone in the future. Countries like Indonesia and
Bangladesh are already seeing its impact. This
issue will require all the stakeholders to come
together and employ out-of-box thinking to find
solutions. I firmly believe that we should tie in all
stakeholders in the fight against climate change.
One solution would be to raise a carbon tax from
all citizens around the world who can afford it, to
pay for investments in renewables, smart-grid and
technology innovations.
Do you think the world is capable of coming together in a new green energy revolution or will the
old, business-as-usual approach continue unabated?
This only reaffirms the urgency behind this effort.
Energy needs will continue to rise and not only
in developing countries, in developed countries
as well. But the solution cannot be to slow down
Photo: Keenpress Publishing/Sisse Brimberg & Cotton Coulson
development; that is unrealistic. We need to find
ways to combat climate change and I believe we
can -- by thinking smart, thinking laterally and
providing realistic solutions that serve our needs.
A key part of the solution is to change the way we
consume energy by moving our consumption patterns to renewable energies.
Since onshore emissions-free wind power is already a proven success story, what role do you see
wind power playing in the future?
COP15 provided the wind sector with an excellent
opportunity for growth and if the global community
can come to an agreement, this can result in a
great momentum in the industry. And the industry
can help in this fight. For example, increasing
the viability of wind energy would make it easier
to achieve the emission reduction targets. R&D
is the key to help achieve this and at Suzlon we
invest 2-3% of revenues in R&D each year.
Benefit from the activities of the most
powerful wind energy network
EWEA is the voice of the wind industry, actively
promoting the use of wind power in Europe and worldwide. It has over 600 members from more than 60
countries, including companies, research institutions
Make the right
connections
and associations, making it the world’s largest and
most powerful wind energy network. EWEA helps to
create a better business environment for the entire
wind industry.
Get massive
discounts
Influence policy
Obtain key
information
Raise your profile
and visibility
For further information about EWEA activities, please visit www.ewea.org
39
Raise your profile
among key wind industry players
Advertise in Wind Directions,
the European Wind Industry magazine
Wind Directions is published by the European Wind
Energy Association and read by 6,000 wind energy sector
professionals, European institutions, local governments,
academia and media. Wind Directions is mailed to over
60 countries including the EU 27, Australia, Canada,
China, India, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Norway,
Switzerland and the US. It is also distributed at all the
major wind energy events.
Upcoming issues in 2010*:
April:
Focus: Wind’s impact on power prices
Minifocus: Where are the women in wind?
June:
Focus: Small wind
Minifocus: EWEC 2010
September:
Focus: Globalisation and Europe’s wind industry
Minifocus: The National Renewable Energy Action Plans
December:
Focus: The new wind industry players
Minifocus: Offshore grids
BOOK YOUR ADS
IN THE UPCOMING
SPECIAL ISSUES
See above
*Subject to confirmation
Join the leading
companies in
wind energy and
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Wind Directions!
ARE YOU PASSIONATE ABOUT OFFSHORE WIND?
Offshore Project Engineer
Glasgow
How do we harness the
power of the wind offshore
for the cities onshore?
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London
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Berlin
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Berlin
General Manager
European Offshore
London
40
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The wind is at its strongest and most constant out at sea,
so offshore wind farms deliver even more clean power.
For more information on these
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We are. And we’re looking for people with flair, vision and a
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Mainstream Renewable Power was established in 2008 to develop, build and operate
renewable energy plant in collaboration with strategic partners and we have almost
100 people working together in seven countries, spanning four continents.
We have established our Offshore Centre of Excellence in London, where our highly
experienced and dynamic team is dedicated to delivering our ambitious plans for offshore
wind in Europe, including the Neart na Gaoithe project in Scotland and the Horizont project
in Germany. Through our investment in supporting wind technician training in the UK,
Mainstream is committed to driving the offshore wind sector by training skilled personnel
to work offshore.
We’re focused on delivering the bigger picture and our vision for a pan-European offshore
supergrid is central to our offshore strategy.
At the Øresund, off the Swedish coast, a revolution is taking place. In fact, hundreds of thousands of revolutions every
day. Revolutions of wind turbine blades out at sea, away from the coast, where wind conditions are at their strongest.
The Lillgrund wind farm – Sweden’s largest, operated by Vattenfall – provides clean and renewable power for 60,000
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the best out of offshore wind resources. www.siemens.com/energy
If offshore wind is your passion and you want to be part of an exciting and entrepreneurial team,
we are looking for exceptional people to fill positions in London, Glasgow and Berlin.
Answers for energy.
BERLIN – CAPE TOWN – CHICAGO – DUBLIN – LONDON – SANTIAGO – TORONTO
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| EWEA news |
EWEC 2010
programme now online
Get active in 2010 and make a
difference with the Koru Foundation
From policy and markets to finance and
economics, from resource and aerodynamics to grids, the European Wind Energy
Conference (EWEC) 2010 programme is
now online at www.ewec2010.info.
EWEC will run from 20 to 23 April
in Warsaw. It will include a wind energy
finance forum where the latest financing
issues will be discussed, and there will
be numerous side events.
On 19 April, the day before the
conference begins, a Polish Day will be
held, giving attendees the opportunity to
participate in sessions dedicated to the
Polish wind energy market.
This year the Koru Foundation, EWEA’s
chosen charity, is organising a series of
challenge events in the UK to raise money
for its work on tackling energy poverty and
climate change in developing countries.
So this year, why not get fit while doing
something which makes a real difference
to the lives of others?
Photo: Graeme Cooper
Register now and find out more at www.ewec2010.info.
EWEA is active on
the social networks
Have a look for EWEA on Facebook,
LinkedIn and Twitter and get all the
latest updates on our activities as
well as the hottest news from the
wind industry.
For more information: www.facebook.com;
www.linkedin.com and www.twitter.com.
London triathlon
Come and participate in the largest
triathlon in the world! You can either
sign up as an individual or share the
challenge of 750m swim, 20 km cycle
and 5 km run with a team. Last year the
event raised over €9,000 to replace
paraffin lanterns used by refugees in
Sierra Leone with clean and sustainable
solar lamps.
EWEA Chief Operating Officer Bruce
Douglas has already signed up for the
individual challenge and there are only
20 places available – so sign up now!
Running4renewables
Running4renewables is a fundraising
initiative set up by Daniel Rafferty, Project
Developer at Scottish based wind farm
developer Vento Ludens, who are the
main sponsors of the event. The aim
is to get 50 runners to participate in
events across the UK, culminating in the
Edinburgh Marathon on 23 May and raise
£35,000 (€40,000) to fund a Koru renewable energy project. Many brave EWEA
members have already signed up from
Natural Power, AWS Ocean Energy, and
Scottish Renewables amongst others.
Koru’s great north walk
If running isn’t your cup of tea, then how
about a walk in beautiful countryside?
Teams of four will cover over 50 miles in
24 hours in the Lake District from 10–12
September with camping, catering and
bar facilities provided.
The Koru Foundation can support you
with a fundraising pack and help you set
up an online fundraising page.
So what are you waiting for? If you are
passionate about renewables and making a real difference to people’s lives,
sign up for one of these challenges on
www.korufoundation.org/get-involved/
fundraising-event now!
Alternatively, contact Tahel on tel:
00 44 (0) 1273 606 685 or
[email protected].
Wind industry conference
devoted to grids – dates confirmed
Majority of 2011
exhibitions sold out
60% of both the EWEC 2011 and Offshore
Conference 2011 exhibitions are now
sold out. Extra space will soon be added
to cater for the high demand for a spot on
the exhibition floor next year.
For more information: www.ewec2011.info;
www.offshorewind2011.info
From 23-24 November, the ‘Grids
2010’ conference will take place in
Berlin to explore the financial, issues
that will shape the development of a
grid that meets Europe’s energy, consumer and climate needs.
The event is supported by the
German Wind Energy Association
(BWE), VDMA Power Systems – the
German Wind Turbine
Manufacturers’ Association, and the
European body of transmission system
operators (ENTSO-E).
Sponsorship deals are available –
contact Christi Newman on cn@ewea.
org or tel. + 32 2 400 1056.
For more information: www.ewea.org/grids2010.
41
| interview |
No peace of mind
Kumi Naidoo, the new International Executive Director of Greenpeace, attended the UN climate
change conference in Copenhagen in December. Also the chair of the Global Coalition for
Climate Action and a co-chair of the Global Call to Action Against Poverty, Naidoo responded
to questions posed by Chris Rose.
Photo: Greenpeace/Marco Okhuizen
What was your reaction to COP15
and the so-called Copenhagen
Accord. What we can learn from it
to achieve a legally-binding agreement at the next major UN climate
change conference scheduled for
Mexico City in November 2010?
The Copenhagen climate summit
was a monumental failure by world
leaders. They let the chance of a
fair, ambitious and legally binding agreement slip through their
fingers. Virtually all of them share
in the blame, acting as they did
out of self-interest. Leaders failed
to listen to the millions of people
who have been clamouring for action against climate change.
Greenpeace does not consider
the Copenhagen Accord to be an
important step forward and is not calling upon
countries to sign on to it. It is a political declaration that is desperately lacking in substance. It
was ‘noted’ but not adopted by the summit. It is
not legally binding and must not be allowed to
stand in the way of further international climate
negotiations. Work must continue to conclude
a fair, ambitious and legally binding agreement
treaty at November’s UN climate conference in
Mexico City. The job is far from done. While the
Accord’s objective is to hold increases in global
temperature to below 2°C, current emission commitments will lead to warming of at least 3°C.
Warming beyond 2°C risks triggering catastrophic
climate change.
Realistically, the Accord is only relevant if it
somehow forces industrialised nations to up their
commitments to ensure the planet remains well
under this 2°C ceiling. Otherwise, the Accord is
a distraction. It might even be termed a hand
grenade lobbed into the multilateral process.
42
As a matter of urgency, we have to push political
leaders to up their game in reducing developed
nations’ emissions and restraining emissions
growth in developing countries. We need to see
these increased pledges early this year, in advance of UN climate talks in May. This is vital to
regaining momentum and finally closing the deal
in Mexico City.
The renewable energy industry did not get the
positive sign it needed from the Copenhagen
climate summit. It was a missed opportunity for
creating new jobs, particularly in least developed
countries.
The good news, however, is that the industry
has undergone enormous development over the
past decade in the absence of any legally binding
framework extending beyond the Kyoto Protocol.
Wind and solar technologies are already competitive in some countries and will continue to
gain ground in others. Far from being a ‘burden’,
renewable energy is a sound business opportunity
that makes countries less dependent on fossil and nuclear fuel imports. Politicians have to
realise that renewables are no longer expensive.
Hopefully, this will increase acceptance of larger
cuts in greenhouse gas emissions. The right to
develop is the right to access energy. That has
nothing to do with the ‘right to pollute’.
What are the current obstacles to getting a new,
strengthened post-Kyoto agreement on reducing
lethal greenhouse gases?
First of all, the Kyoto Protocol does not end, and
what we need is agreement on both a second
commitment period of the Protocol, post-2012,
and a new Protocol covering the commitments
of those countries not yet having a Kyoto target.
All we need to achieve such a legally binding
agreement is political will. We need a clear sign
from political leaders in industrialised countries
that they are willing to take ambitious and fair
Photo: Greenpeace/Shayne Robinson
| interview |
measures to reduce their emissions by 40% by
2020 and to help developing countries to adapt
to climate change by limiting their emissions
growth by at least 15% by 2020, and protect
their forests.
It is clear that in order to avoid dangerous
climate change we need action from both developed and developing countries, although our
expectations from them are very different. We
expect industrialised countries to take the lead
and develop a trust-building package in the runup to Mexico. Such a package needs to reassure
developing countries that industrialised nations;
a) do want to keep a clear distinction between
what is expected from developed countries (i.e.
economy-wide reduction targets) and developing
countries (i.e. nationally appropriate actions); b)
will provide new, additional, stable and substantial funding for developing countries; and c) are
willing to take up the ambitious action needed to
prevent dangerous climate change.
How do you see the European Union’s role in bridging a new agreement?
Europe has an important role to play in this
trust-building process and should immediately
launch a trust-building package. The EU should
indicate not only its support for a continuation
of the Kyoto Protocol but also its willingness to
provide €35 billion a year for developing country
action. It should shift its emission reduction
target from the range 20-30% to 30-40%, take
on a 30% reduction unilaterally and offer a
40% reduction if and when other governments
engage in a legally binding agreement in Mexico.
Studies show that innovations, on the one hand,
and the economic crisis, on the other, mean it
will cost the EU as much to reduce emissions
by 30% as was estimated to achieve 20% cuts
at the time the EU climate and energy package
was decided on.
An Earthlife Africa and
Greenpeace rally in
Johannesburg, calling
for a fair and just
climate agreement at
COP15
In addition to continuing to provide increasing
amounts of rapidly-deployable, emissions-free
electricity, what role do you see the wind industry
playing prior to the next UN climate change
conference?
Greenpeace would dearly like to see the wind
energy industry adopt an even more active role in
lobbying for a sustainable future, in the way that
we would like any industry to. For too long polluters have lobbied to continue polluting, while the
good guys have sat on their hands. That is why
we were encouraged to see IT companies like Dell
calling for progress in Copenhagen and companies like Excelon, PG&E
and PNM pulling re“Renewable energy is a sound
sources out of the US
Chamber of Commerce. business opportunity that makes
They no longer wanted
countries less dependent on
to fund denial of climate change.
fossil and nuclear fuel imports.
Wind power has
Politicians have to realise
enjoyed an average
annual growth rate of
that renewables are no longer
about 30% in the past
expensive.”
decade. In many regions of the world, it is
competitive with conventional fuels. Wind energy
will remain the single most important technology
for combating climate change in the coming years
and will be joined by the solar industry well before
2020. For instance, concentrated solar power
for countries in sunbelt regions - including many
developing countries. This source of renewable
power is now in a position to deliver industrial
scale electricity 24 hours a day, 365 days a year
and make a direct contribution to poverty alleviation and economic development.
We all have a stake in a sustainable future.
Smart businesses know that a ‘climate crash’
will make the financial crash look like a walk
in the park.
43
| mini focus |
Standing up for the future
A self-confessed wind aficionado, Arthouros Zervos finds himself at the
epicentre of humankind’s greatest dilemma: how to quickly de-carbonise our
inefficient energy sector in order to halt the worst of global warming?
Academia in Athens
They sit attentively, the 12 Masters students who
are listening to Professor Arthouros Zervos review
the main elements of the wind specialisation
course work he has been teaching them the last
few months.
In the nearly three-hour lecture, there is little
fidgeting as Zervos, an acknowledged international expert in wind power, shares with the students
his vision of a world no longer threatened by the
destructive carnage of global warming.
Yet that healthier vision can become a reality,
he tells them repeatedly, because the technology
required to harness wind power already exists
commercially and other renewable energies are
quickly following.
“It is possible to go in a different way,” says
Zervos, who teaches this class in English and
three others to undergraduates in Greek. “It is
possible, it is feasible.”
Using a Powerpoint presentation, he confidently leads the students through the story of wind,
from tax breaks to local production, turbine size
By Chris Rose
Photos: EWEA/Diamantakis
to climate change, regional players to global juggernauts, from onshore to offshore, from Europe
to the US to Asia, from utility companies to wind
farm developers to national grids, from the past
to the future.
Throughout his presentation, Zervos mixes the
technical with the political, compares national interests to personal choice, and continually comes
back to the pressing issue of climate change.
“How do you exact meaningful change in
a relatively short period of time?” asks the
57-year-old bespectacled visionary with distinguished grey hair.
A number of times he returns to his central
theme: man-made greenhouse gases have been
heating up the atmosphere to dangerous levels
since the Industrial Revolution 150 years ago;
these gases and the accompanying temperature
increase have to stabilise in the next decade
and then begin to decrease; wind power is the
renewable best placed to quickly help heal the
planet.
“It’s a question of time. How much can you
achieve by 2020? It’s going to be more and more
evident that wind is going to be the easiest to
[implement] in terms of large numbers.”
Zervos’ lecture is a variation of the message
he delivers to politicians and industry leaders in
his frequent travels around Europe and the world.
Simply put, as the world begins to de-carbonise
and abandons its tragic love affair with polluting
fossil fuels, wind power and other renewables will
undeniably take centre stage. They are, after all,
the only option.
Moving on to new challenges
Professor Zervos at work in an Athens classroom
44
In addition to being a professor, Zervos is also
President of EWEA, and has just recently been
appointed President and CEO of Greece’s Public
Power Corp, the country’s biggest company.
With Zervos at the helm, Greece hopes to
raise renewable energy output and has plans to
produce 20% of its energy from green sources by
2020, up from the current level of 3%.
| mini focus |
Zervos has been involved with with wind energy for many years
While not one of the initial founders of the wind
power industry, Zervos was a committed and passionate pioneer in the sector dating back to the
early 1980s.
Despite embracing the entire renewables sector, Zervos is at heart still in love with the wind.
“I’m a wind guy. Of course I’m fighting for all
renewables but I remain a wind person.”
Mechtild Rothe,Vice-President of the European
Parliament, is laudatory about the pivotal role
Zervos has played in promoting the use of wind
power and other renewables.
“Thanks to his outstanding commitment
and his professional and personal dedication,
Arthouros Zervos is one of the key drivers for
the successful development of renewable energy
sources in Europe,” Rothe said.
Christian Kjaer, Chief Executive of EWEA, said
Zervos has single-handedly had the most influence on the development of renewable energy in
Europe and the world.
“Our [wind industry] sector would certainly be
at an earlier stage of development – in terms of
market size, technology development, policy and
international scope – had his life taken him down
a different route after graduation,” said Kjaer.
“The European Union can seem like an awfully
big thing to turn around. Arthouros has a strong
belief that, in the end, it is about people. He believes that a single person can change the course
of history, regardless of whether that person is
European Energy Commissioner or an assistant in
the Parliament. If you can find and convince that
person, you can change the world. Arthouros has
already changed the world.”
Steve Sawyer, the Secretary General of the
Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC), said he can’t
Deep in conversation with Wind Directions’ Chris Rose
remember a time when Zervos was not a key
leader in the renewable energy movement.
“I’ve been in and around renewable energy
for 30 years now, and I don’t believe that there
is anyone else that combines his academic and
technical background, policy experience and
expertise, close contact with the ‘business’ end
of things,” said Sawyer,
adding he believes
“‘Arthouros believes that a single
Zervos, who is Chairman
of GWEC, is unique conperson can change the course
sidering his combination
of history, regardless of whether
of skills and experience.
“At the same time,
that person is European Energy
he has played a key
Commissioner or an assistant in
leadership role in building up the trade assothe Parliament. Arthouros has
ciations across Europe
already changed the world.’”
and internationally. He’s
truly ‘one of a kind’,
which in this case I believe to be literally true.”
Christine Lins, Secretary General of the
European Renewable Energy Council (EREC), of
which Zervos is also President, concurred.
“I’ve enjoyed the privilege of working with
Arthouros for more than eight years and am always
impressed by his vision, his diplomatic skills, the
sharpness of his analysis as well as his commitment to making this world a better place to be.”
Lins described Zervos’ enthusiasm for renewables as contagious.
“With his vision, Arthouros guided EREC and its
members from its first steps in formulating a common message for all renewables to articulating a
strong voice of an industry sector, which today in
Europe alone employs more than 450,000 people
and has an annual turnover of €45 billion.”
45
| mini focus |
The professor’s office
Growing up in Greece
On the way to his office after the university lecture, Zervos passes by his silver Toyota Prius, the
car that commercially perfected for the automotive sector the environmentally-benign hybrid
engine technology. As if to demonstrate that he
doesn’t take himself too seriously, he notes with
a smile that his trusty Prius cancels out the emissions from his often present Marlboro cigarettes.
His office is typical of those inhabited by university professors around the world. Bookshelves
bend under the weight of far too many publications. Posters, many of them with his name on
them, adorn what little wall space is left. A bank
of windows looks out onto the campus and a
sloping hillside of Athens. A somewhat cantilevering pile of papers, journals, and reports dominate
Zervos’ desk. A small desk for a secretarial
assistant and a long table for discussions take
up much of the remaining room. His two mobile
phones and the land line keep him connected to a
globe-trotting life that involves far too many sterile
airport lounges. While he is at ease in the computerised Internet world, he prefers the simplicity,
immediacy and intimacy provided by telephone
communication. It also allows him to exercise his
unmistakably deep and gravelly baritone voice.
During an interview in his office, he recalls his
childhood spent on the island of Corfu in western
Greece. His time was divided between Corfu City
and a village 40 kilometres away where the family
46
had a home and business, mostly to do with olive
oil. His mother looked after and cared for the
family, which included an older brother, while his
father worked. He describes his upbringing as
being middle-class for the time, but notes that
Greece was then for the most part a developing
nation still recovering from the twin hardships of
the Depression and the Second World War.
The war had especially bad memories for
his father, who was imprisoned in Italy, first
by Italians invading Greece and then by the
Germans. Late in the war, his father was also imprisoned by the independent Greeks, in Libya, for
his strong leftist tendencies. That same ideology
later got him detained again briefly by the Greek
authorities during the seven-year military dictatorship which began in the late 1960s. For his part,
Zervos said his father’s imprisonments taught
him the importance of not being afraid to stand
up for what you believe in.
He remembers his formative years on Corfu,
which was before the island was forever altered
by international tourism, as being mostly sunny
and often breezy. Like many of the island boys,
he divided his time between swimming, football,
fishing and bird hunting. He also played cricket,
a hold-over from British rule of the Ionian Islands
between 1815 and 1864.
He recalls doing well academically during his
high school years, but he didn’t particularly enjoy his time spent in classrooms. “I don’t think
| mini focus |
there is any kid that really likes school,” he said
laughing. “I was much happier when I didn’t
have school.”
Whatever he felt about the merits of his primary and secondary years, his curiosity, ingenuity,
discipline, intellectualism and tenacity went into
overdrive when he became a university student.
The smiling Greek boy from a sleepy small town
had entered a different dimension, and, armed
with continually excellent marks, there would be
no stopping him.
Making the grade
Equipped with a scholarship from the AngloAmerican-Hellenic Bureau of Education, Zervos
started his university courses at the School of
Engineering of the City University of New York. After
two years, he received another scholarship, this
time from prestigious Princeton University, where
he received a Bachelor of Science in Engineering
degree, with distinction, in 1974. The following
year, as a graduate student still at Princeton, he
received his Master of Science in Engineering.
He completed his military service in the Greek
army during 1976-77, a duty he says was quite
boring with uneventful postings to out-of-the-way
bases throughout the country. His duty done,
he resumed his graduate studies in Paris at the
Université Pierre et Marie Curie, with the aid of
a scholarship from the French government. He
received in 1978 the degree Diplome d’Etudes
Approfondies in Experimental Fluid MechanicsAerodynamics. Three years later, he received his
doctorate degree after defending his thesis on the
numerical calculations of fish propulsion.
In 1982, he became a faculty member of the
School of Mechanical Engineering of the National
Technical University of Athens, a position he still
holds. It was there that he began to develop his
then fledging interest in energy and wind power.
“At that time, there were very few people interested in wind at the academic level,” he recalled,
adding an accompanying exploration of other
forms of renewable energies was soon to follow.
Navigating global conundrums
In addition to being President of EWEA since
2002, Zervos has also been President of EREC
since 2000 and Chairman of GWEC since 2005.
The headquarters for all three non-profit organisations is in Brussels at the Renewable Energy
House, a 140-year-old building that was renovated
to minimise energy consumption while integrating renewable energy technologies. With his new
position in Athens, some of his duties in Brussels
may well have to change.
Asked how he has been able to fulfil all three
positions while still teaching in Athens, plus all
that travelling (he estimated that one year he
was away from for Athens for six months), Zervos
breaks out into one of his throaty laughs. “It’s an
impossible task so I give the emphasis to one or
the other depending on the period.”
Being able to focus on what is most important
and deciding when something needs to be done
are disciplines that have helped Zervos contribute
considerably to government, research, industry
and academia. His most recent CV shows he has
published more than 130 papers in scientific and
technical journals, books and conference proceedings. He has been the author, co-author, editor,
contributor or coordinator of 50 publications. He
has been chairman of seven international conferences, made presentations at 220 conferences,
and been a member of the organising or steering
committees of 60 international conferences and
25 scientific committees, led 76 research
“Ten years ago people were saying
and development,
demonstration, disthat renewables are marginal
semination and training
and the energy game is played
projects funded by the
European Commission
elsewhere. But now the other
and the Greek governsectors feel this competition very
ment. In addition to his
work with the European strongly; that renewables are
Commission, he has
taking a piece of the pie.”
been a policy advisor to
the Greek environment
ministry, the Republic of Cyprus and the European
Bank of Reconstruction and Development.
Fluent in four languages, he is currently
lead author for wind energy in the upcoming
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
report on renewable energies.
Bringing it all together
In 1990, Zervos took a leave of absence from his
university position and became Scientific Officer at
the Renewable Energy Division of the DirectorateGeneral for Science, Research and Development,
of the European Commission in Brussels.
While there, he was responsible for
overseeing the Research and Development
activities of all renewable energy technologies in
the European Union.
The work that he is most proud of while at
the EC involved managing the Large Wind Turbine
programme, which promoted the possibility of the
wind power industry becoming more successful by
switching from 300 to 400 kW machines to 1 MW
turbines and bigger.
47
| mini focus |
“The idea was to persuade the major manufacturers to go into the design and production of
the larger machines, but at first they were very,
very reluctant,” Zervos said, adding that the first
generation of MW machines which came out of
the programme supported the industry to take the
economic risk and start making larger turbines.
The mantra of the industry today is, of course, bigger is better, especially offshore. (The European
onshore wind power industry average turbine size
now is 1.7 MW; offshore turbines are 3 MW).
Zervos and his trusty Prius
By 1996, Zervos had left the Commission and
returned to university life in Athens. By then,
however, he was increasingly becoming involved in
the policy aspects of wind power and other renewables. This in turn led to national and international association politics, board elections, additional
responsibilities. Like the renewable energies he
so ardently supported, the guiding hand of Zervos
was increasingly in demand.
Faith in his skyrocketing reputation next saw
him being appointed in 1997 the lead author of
the White Paper for Renewable Sources of Energy,
the EC’s first policy document on renewables.
The White Paper, according to Zervos, produced for the first time sectoral and overall
targets at the European level. It also described
the need for the Renewable Energy Electricity
Directive and for the Biofuels for Transport
Directive, recognised as the most powerful pieces
of renewable energy legislation in the world.
48
Out of that paper, Zervos said, it became obvious
the renewables sector had to unite if it was to be
successful in helping change society’s approach
to energy consumption. Proud of his part in helping create EREC, Zervos said initially it was not
easy bringing together the sector, which suffered
at first from competition between members and
misunderstandings.
“It became clear that the renewables sector
had to be represented with one voice if we wanted
to be effective.”
He recalls that, while becoming established,
wind power and other renewables also had to
deal with tension and indirect attacks from the
traditional energy sectors.
“Ten years ago people were saying that
renewables are marginal and the energy game is
played elsewhere. The attitude was more or less
to ignore renewables and criticise the politicians;
that [renewables] were marginal and were going
to remain marginal.
“But now the other sectors feel this competition very strongly; that renewables are taking a
piece of the pie.”
Looking pleased at the turn of events, Zervos
adds, diplomatically: “Now the big players play
both sides.”
And, just like he told his students, he notes
the real competition in the political-energy arena
now is the choice society makes for the future as
de-carbonisation of the power sector begins.
He reiterates that while many renewables will
be part of the traditional power sector by 2050,
when Earth is expected to support a population
of nine billion people, only wind energy has the
technological maturity to significantly replace
greenhouse gas emissions in the next 10 years.
Now, wind is pivotal.
Solar will become huge, he predicted, but it is
probably a decade behind wind power in its development trajectory. CCS, or carbon capture and
storage, may work one day, he says, but not in
time for climate scientists who want CO2 levels to
stabilise by 2015 and begin to decrease by 2020.
Lastly, he adds any new nuclear power plant
would also be too late since it would take about
15 years from planning to completion.
“If we don’t manage to do this in the next two
decades, to counter attack [climate change], then
we’re entering a very grey zone of what the future
could be.”
Despite his note of caution, Zervos says he is
hopeful for both humankind and wind power.
“I believe that we will [succeed]. I don’t feel
the human race is so destructive. The question is:
when do we feel the urgency of that and will we act
in time? But I am optimistic we will pull it off.”
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WIND
DIRECTIONS | February 2010
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I=:B6<6O>C:;DGG:C:L67A::C:G<N
No. 6 / December 2009 65570
Sweden energizes biomass
and wind power but falls
short of radical reform.
8ki_d[ii
Special loans breathe life
into European wind farms,
even during the crisis.
IebWhfem[h
China pulled a fast one, and
now German PV companies
have to respond.
FAST ING
FOR THE
CLIM ATE
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| interview |
Research, industry, finance
sector and NGOs must unite to fight
for real climate legislation
Stephan Singer is Director of Global Energy Policy for WWF International.
He answered questions put to him by Chris Rose.
Photo: WWF E.Scagnetti
“We need a very
comprehensive
and large media
offensive in almost
all nations by all
those who have an
interest in clean
development.”
What was your reaction to the so-called
Copenhagen Accord agreement reached at COP15?
Many of us in the global NGO community had
been seriously disappointed – it was much below
our own ‘worst case’ scenario. We could not
believe that after two years of rather intense negotiations on UN level, after substantive involvement of many ministers and even head of states
and after so many public actions on and attention
to the urgency of climate change such a vague
document was the more or less only outcome to
address one key problem of mankind and nature.
However, we also believe that although
that document is not legally binding and omits
many necessities, some of its very rudimentary
and ambiguous text contains agreements that
should not be dismissed. It’s the first time that
major developing countries agreed to substantially reduce emissions and embark on low
carbon actions and clean energy policies.
Although the Accord is lacking any target
proposal by governments, some of those will
come in by the next weeks and months. The
overall limit to reduce temperature increase to
below 2°C signed by the major polluters from
rich and developing nations will have huge
implications on reductions of greenhouse gas
emissions worldwide. It also provides a fund of
$US 100 bn for poor nations annually by 2020 to
combat deforestation, supplement clean energy
solution and help adapt to climate change.
This is not as much as we wanted and what we
are still fighting for – but this is not an agreement
that will allow the laggards both in industries and
governments to postpone investments in clean
and efficient energies, forest protection and
industrial re-structuring.
What needs to be done so that a legally-binding
international agreement on reducing greenhouse
gases can be reached as soon as possible, perhaps in Mexico in December?
First, in the Accord the vaguely agreed funding
50
mechanisms and the other proposed mechanisms
on technology transfer and combating deforestation need to be operationalised very soon.
Second, governments as a bare minimum need
to put down in the Accord their emission reduction pledges.
Third, governments need to explain as to how
their pledges – and assuming those are identical
with those announced in the weeks and months
prior to Copenhagen – will meet the 2°C objective
in the Accord. We know they don’t. And we need
to close those loopholes with additional regional
and global polices including early phase-out of
fossil fuel subsidies, banning of the F-gases, feedin tariffs for renewables, inclusion of rapidly rising
aviation and maritime greenhouse gas (GHG)
emissions in a global sectoral agreement etc.
Fourth, governments need to continue the work
on the Kyoto Protocol and the Convention track.
Overall, governments must work on all fronts
and in all meetings to secure what is in the texts
already. Although there is no alternative to the UN
system, other meetings and other actors such as
businesses, the IEA, financial institutions, regional and bilateral agreements shall all be used to
supplement – not replace – a finally legally-binding
UN treaty in Mexico at end of year.
However, we face a fundamental dilemma
almost everywhere. There is the deep-sitting and
prevailing suspicion by most governments and
industries that cutting carbon substantively and
very soon is still very uneconomic. We need a
very comprehensive and large media offensive in
almost all nations by all those who have an interest in clean development. It’s time for a coalition
of the many researchers, industries, financial
institutions and NGOs which all should overcome
their specific interests and unite publicly.
What should the EU do this year to make sure
there is a successful conclusion in Mexico?
The EU must immediately go to a 40% unilateral
GHG reduction commitment by 2020 and ditch
| interview |
the ‘20% option’ which is not in line with staying
below the 2°C warming and which would actually
slow the observed speed of emissions reductions
in the EU since 1990 until today. It also needs to
reduce its high dependence on dubious offsets,
make sure that at least 30% emissions reductions occur domestically and mobilise substantive
funds for helping poor nations to combat deforestation, adapt to climate change and foster clean
energy solutions.
The EU needs also agree on an Emissions
Performance Standard for CO2 and similar to all
other pollutants for all new and existing power
stations to stop conventional coal and gas. The
EU ETS has not delivered on this one so far. Also,
it needs to agree on a legally-binding target to
save energy by 20% at least by 2020. It remains
a joke that the most cost-effective and low-hanging fruits of energy efficiency potentials are not
covered by binding EU legislation.
hydrogen-based power storage capacities that will
be used to fuel ships, lorries and even planes?
It’s all the power of wind!
What will it take for citizens to realise that they
have to change, and quickly, if humankind is to
avert the worst of global warming?
Lifestyle changes have to play a large role in a
fully decarbonised world. Putting on safety belts
is compulsory in all cars. We accept that in the
name of our own safety. Why not banning gasguzzling SUV’s? Many regions have low-energy
building requirements for new houses. Why not
make that a legally-binding standard? Many
countries in the world have strong air pollution
standards to reduce sulphur, heavy metals and
smog from large industrial installations such as
coal-fired power stations. We accept that from
health reasons. Why not supporting strong CO2emissions standards as well? No more conventional coal. Full stop.
What can be done to bridge the differences in
attitudes to climate change between countries at
different stages of industrialisation?
This divide can be overcome. And it is not as
deep as some may perceive. We need a policy in
rich nations and in emerging economies that bundles in a clever way economic, jobs and energy
security concerns, fossil fuel price volatility and
climate security needs with enhanced investment
provisions for the financial sector. This can be
complemented by ‘green and low-tax free trade’
zones. Yet, this is not enough as some of the
needed climate policy is beyond ‘simple’ economic effectiveness. Equity and fairness require
strong investment in climate adaptation for poor
communities and fragile ecosystems.
Wind power is already a proven technology that is
rapidly deployable and a healthy and dependable
energy source in the fight against climate change,
do you see it as becoming even more important?
Definitely. Wind power is THE renewable energy
success story. It is amazing: bringing specific
installation costs down by >50% in last 10 years,
enjoying annual growth rates of up to 30% globally and expanding in markets like US, China
and India very fast. Let us look into the future.
Offshore wind is the way to go.
Indeed, wind power is likely to become the largest renewable power source within two decades
or so. In the EU alone, which power source is able
to contribute the lion’s share to the 20% renewable energy target in ten years time that probably
requires more than 30% renewable electricity.
Which power source can provide the backbone for
a renewable-powered electric car fleet, and the
Photo: Fotolia
Freedom to pollute or even being allowed to pay
to pollute is unjust and benefits the rich on the
expenses of the poor and those who suffer. If we
want a 100% global renewable energy system by
2050, we have to go down the route of strengthened legislation – to the detriment of a few, but to
the benefit of the most. This is not about Burden
Sharing; global, regional and individual action is
about Benefit Sharing.
51
| new members |
EWEA welcomes new members
Actiflow BV (Netherlands)
Actiflow is an engineering company: we offer aero
consulting (aerodynamics, fluid flows, ventilation & air
conditioning, fire & smoke, etc) and design engineering
(the conceptual design and basic engineering of hightech products, including prototyping and testing).
www.actiflow.com
Ammonit Gesellschaft für Messtechnik mbH
(Germany)
www.ammonit.com
ArcelorMittal Ringmill (Belgium)
A subsidiary of the ArcelorMittal group, ArcelorMittal Ringmill specialises in ring rolled products. Our rings are mainly used by gearboxes and large bearings manufacturers.
www.arcelormittal.com
AREVA R. (France)
www.areva.com
ASOCIATIA EOLIANA ROMANA AERO (Romania)
This association is creating a platform for promoting,
strengthening and defending the rights of its members
and third-party renewable energy especially wind.
www.asociatiaeoliana.ro
Baumer Management Services AG (Switzerland)
The Baumer Group is a leading international
manufacturer of sensors and system solutions for factory
and process automation. In 2009 the innovative familyowned company employed about 2,000 people in 18
countries worldwide.
www.baumer.com
David Brown Gear Systems Limited (United Kingdom)
David Brown is a manufacturer of engineering products.
Our dedicated Wind Energy Team are on hand to repair
and upgrade gearboxes for onshore and offshore wind
turbines, providing spare parts, minimising down time
and reducing costs.
www.davidbrown.com
DeWind Europe GmbH (Germany)
www.dewindco.com
Du Pont Iberica, SL (Spain)
DuPont creates sustainable solutions essential to a
better, safer, healthier life, including agriculture, nutrition,
electronics, communications; home and construction,
transportation and apparel.
www.dupont.com
Drydocks World – Southeast Asia Pte. Ldt. (Singapore)
Drydocks World – Southeast Asia has four shipyards
in Singapore and Indonesia. We have built four wind
turbine installation units and are building a Jack-Up
Construction Vessel and a modified MSC Gusto NG
9000C-HPE installation vessel.
www.drydocks-sea.com
52
Endowed Chair for Wind Energy (SWE) (Germany)
www.ifb.uni-stuttgart.de
Korea Inst. of Mach & Mat’ls (Korea)
www.kims.re.kr
ERM Environmental Resources Management
(United Kingdom)
www.erm.com
Leitwind AG (Italy)
www.leitwind.com
Falck Nutec (Denmark)
Falck Nutec is a leading provider of safety training and
offshore services. We provide training for the oil & gas
industry, renewable energy industry, shipping companies,
military defence units and aviation industry worldwide,
and offer consultancy within safety and other areas.
www.falcknutec.com
Fuhrländer AG (Germany)
www.fuhrlaender.de
Gerber Technology (Belgium)
Gerber Technology manufactures integrated software and
hardware automation systems for the flexible materials
industries. We offer specialised software and cutting
systems and provide complete turnkey solutions and
associated services.
www.gerbertechnology.com
Global Energy Services Siema, SA (Spain)
www.services-ges.com
Global Marine Systems (United Kingdom)
Global Marine Systems is the market leader for the
cabling element of offshore wind farms, array & export
cables to shore.
www.globalmarinesystems.com
Gyeongnam Technopark – Green Energy Centre
(Korea)
Our vision: construction of a global networking hub for
technical innovation. Strategy: technical advancement of
Gyeongnam’s four strategic industries and cultivation of
new growth power industries.
www.gntp.or.kr
HSH Nordbank AG (Germany)
www.hsh-nordbank.de
ITW Performance Polymers (UK)
A group of ITW companies producing performance
polymers (i.e. adhesives, coatings, mould releases,
cleaners, repair & maintenance products) to provide
innovative solutions for wind turbine OEMs, contractors
and owners.
www.itwppe.eu
Jens Chr. Siig Int.Transport-Production-Wind Energy
(Poland)
International transport: fleet of trucks, semi-trailers &
trailers, pilot vehicles and specialised saddle sets for
over-normative loads (over-gabarits). Steel production
division: manufacturing of wind turbine elements.
www.int-transport.pl
Limpet Technology Limited (UK)
Limpet Technology pioneers total safety for those working
at height in the wind energy sector. We’ve developed The
Limpet™ – the world’s first multi-functional height safety
system – combining Fall Prevention, Intelligent Climb
Assist™, Remote Rescue, Clip and Go Evacuation and
Work Positioning.
www.limpettechnology.com
Maxwind Technology Co.,Ltd (China)
Maxwind Technology Co., Ltd is located 150 kilometres
from Shanghai and is a professional small and medium
sized wind turbine manufacturer with advanced wind
turbine technology. Our products have obtained the CE
certificate.
www.maxwind.cc
McGregor & Partners (Bulgaria)
www.mcgregorlegal.eu
MCT Brattberg AB (Sweden)
MCT Brattberg AB invented the original watertight and
fireproof cable and pipe transistor harsh environments
and produces transits for offshore and onshore
applications such as Horns Rev 2, Sheringham Shoal,
Greater Gabbard and Walney.
www.mctbrattberg.se
Meteodyn (France)
Meteodyn is an engineering department dedicated to
wind flow computation. We offer consultancy services,
dedicated CFD software (WT, TopoWind, UrbaWind,
TransAT) with application to wind-power, high speed
railways wind safety, construction design.
www.meteodyn.com
Nass & Wind (France)
www.nass-et-wind.com
New World Energy Enterprises Limited (Ireland)
Wind Energy Progression
www.nwes.ie
Nordic Wind Solutions AB (Sweden)
www.nwsab.com
NORTHERN OFFSHORE SERVICES AB (Sweden)
www.n-o-s.se
ORMAZABAL INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS (Spain)
www.ormazabal.com
Pemamek OY (Finland)
www.pemamek.com
| new members |
Power Composites Holland BV io (Netherlands)
Power Composites engineers mould systems, rotor blade
design and production of prototype sets, test blades
with certification services and transfer of manufacturing
technology and the serial manufacturing and supply of
rotor blades.
www.powercomposites.eu
Power@Sea NV (Belgium)
Power@Sea provides complete solutions from project
development and financial, and project realisation to
long term offshore manufacture in order to guarantee
sustainable production and green electricity.
www.poweratsea.com
Powernet Oy (Finland)
www.powernet.fi
Pure Energy Professionals Limited (UK)
Pure Energy Professionals helps investors and
companies evaluate projects and portfolios. Our
experience extends to helping access public markets.
For corporate finance advice we have a subsidiary
authorised by the Financial Services Authority, Pure
Energy Ventures Ltd.
www.peprenewables.com
R.G. Renovatio Group Limited (Cyprus)
www.renovationpower.com
Romanian Wind Energy Association (Romania)
www.rwea.ro
Savino del Bene Global Logistics and Forwarding
Company (Italy)
www.savinodelbene.com
Svendborg Brakes A/S (Germany)
www.svendborg-brakes.com
VISTAGY (US)
VISTAGY, Inc. provides engineering software and
consulting services that optimise product development
processes by enhancing commercial 3D CAD systems.
We provide industry-specific solutions.
www.vistagy.com
VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland (Finland)
www.vtt.fi
Windcomm Schleswig-Holstein (Germany)
Windcomm Schleswig-Holstein is a wind energy
network agency, acting as a partner for companies and
organisations that specialise in this field or wish to enter
the wind energy business.
www.windcomm.de
WindSim AS (Norway)
WindSim pioneered the use of CFD technology to
optimise wind turbine placement. WindSim software
is based on Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) that
combines advanced numeric processing with compelling
3D visualisation in a user-friendly interface.
www.windsim.com
Windstar (Italy)
www.wind-star.it
Zentrum für Sonnenenergie- und WasserstoffForschung Baden-Württemberg (ZSW) (Germany)
The ZSW is one of the most renowned German research
institutes in the fields of photovoltaics, energy system
analysis, renewable fuels, battery technology and
fuel cells.
www.zsw-bw.de
53
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Bleed
Type Area
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220 x 307 mm
216 x 154 mm
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410 x 287 mm
200 x 287 mm
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95 x 287 mm
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DIGITAL FORMAT
You can send advertising copy in digital format only. Wind Directions is an A4 size
publication, printed with 4-colour process throughout. Digital copy should be provided as a high-resolution PDF file. We accept CDs, memory sticks and e-mailed zip
files under 5 MB. You must send the digital copy with a printed version and indicate
“Wind Directions” and the Issue the advert is intended for.
54
For more information on advertising, please contact:
Christi Newman, Sales Manager
European Wind Energy Association asbl
Rue d’Arlon, 63-65, B-1040 Brussels, Belgium
Tel.: +32 2 400 1056, Fax: +32 2 546 1944
Advertising copy material should be sent to:
Ankiza Gakunu, Marketing & Sales Assistant
European Wind Energy Association asbl
Rue d’Arlon, 63-65, B-1040 Brussels, Belgium
Tel.: +32 2 400 1078, Fax: +32 2 546 1944
| the last word |
Young, green and online
Photo: Aaron Thom
B
more than social pursuits, yet recent events such
y now we’ve all heard about the disappointing
as Twitter’s role in the Iranian political protests
outcome of COP15, three pages of verbal,
prove that these are invaluable tools that can be
qualitative commitments that push back final
harnessed to motivate individuals to take action.
negotiations yet again, this time to COP16. Even
My generation is well versed in the tools of combefore the end of the conference in Copenhagen
munication and knowledge-sharing: we just have
the finger-pointing had begun as to who was
to use them, and I’m working toward this goal
responsible, but in the end, what matters now
every day.
is that we bring what progress we have made to
Being a student at a research university, I’m
Mexico as a platform to finally reach a true COP
surrounded by students tackling new ways to
Accord. My fellow youths and I are not interested
harness renewable energy, with innovative new
in blaming one another or accusing one another
techniques for utilising
of causing climate
resources such as wind
change. We’re focused
“Networking is probably the
that break barriers.
on taking action, and
Students participate
working to ensure that
buzzword of the decade, and it
groups such as the
COP16 produces meanis exactly what we need to do to in
one I lead and we are
ingful results.
Looking forward to
engage communities across the easily able to share
ideas and publicise
COP16, what is the sigworld to take action to tackle
events on short notice
nificance of the world’s
student at the Massachusetts
because of tools availyouths in ensuring a
Institute of Technology and
climate change.”
able to us. Through
successful outcome?
co-president of
this group I have been able to work with the World Sustainability@MIT.
The majority of the world today is under 35 years
Student Community for Sustainable Development.
of age. Four decades from now, when we finally
hit the landmark year 2050, today’s youths will be We frequently connect to one another through
online media and share research instantaneously
as old as or older than the politicians at COP15.
among our members.
We do not want to see COP54 roll around and
Our job now is to use these tools more effecthe nations not having reached a binding agreement to limit greenhouse gas emissions. We want tively to engage an even greater portion of youth
worldwide to share ideas and offer one another
our leaders to reach an agreement at COP16 to
encouragement and support. Even if our leaders
tackle climate change, or it is our generation that
have not taken the steps we wish they would,
will pay the price.
that is not an excuse for us not to take action.
Youths take very progressive stances on the
Rather, we have an opportunity to lead by example
issues of promoting renewable energy and ac– even beyond protesting for change, we can and
tion on climate change. What we must do now
must work together to cause change and demonis act collectively to turn our beliefs into actions
strate to politicians that we are willing to work for
that will speak to the political leaders of the
change and want their support through a binding
world. Our generation wants to take action to
international agreement at COP16.
fight climate change.
Climate change is an unprecedented issue
that will require global communication, collaboraAaron Thom is working towards a Bachelor’s of Science in
tion, and cooperation. My generation is extremely
Environmental Engineering with Minors in Economics and Political
fortunate, then, that we are also growing up in
Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is the coa time of unprecedented ability to communicate
president of Sustainability@MIT. He served as MIT’s undergraduate
world-wide. Networking is probably the buzzword
representative at COP15, where he worked with the World Student
of the decade, and it is exactly what we need to
Community for Sustainable Development (www.wscsd.org). You can
do to engage communities across the world to
reach him at [email protected] or +1-508-944-3414.
take action to tackle climate change. It is easy to
dismiss these websites and programmes as little
by Aaron Thom,
55
No. 1 in Modern Energy
We understand your needs,
like we understand the power of wind
Experience is one thing, but true,
valuable understanding and
knowledge of our customer’s
needs is another.
At Vestas we invest as much
time building strong
partnerships as we do making
clean, renewable energy for
our planet.
It is our commitment to
successful partnerships
combined with over 30 years
of experience in the wind
industry, that enables us to
provide you with the highest
levels of service, the most
sophisticated modern
technology, and the reassurance
that your investment in wind
power is truly realised.
This is our commitment to you.
vestas.com
Vestas - Committed to modern energy, committed to you.

tulsi tanti kumi naidoo t - The European Wind Energy Association

Transcription

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