WPED Contributor

By Martin Sørensen, director of alliances, WindESCo As the wind industry continues to scale-up globally, now is the time to reimagine how key players within the sector interact with each other, learning lessons from industries such as rotorcraft — where the correct functioning of complex gearboxes and rotating blades is a matter of life and…

By Bronwyn Sutton, Offshore Wind Principal; and Kim Connolly, Principal Engineer; Clir Renewables As the world increases investment in the energy transition, companies in the sector are expanding from small teams of tens or hundreds to multinational offices with thousands of employees. However, unless these companies take an active role in promoting diversity and equity…

By Shubhamita Basu, Ph.D., North America Product Manager, Industrial Oils; Carlos Nazario, North America Product Manager, Grease Additives; and Gareth Fish, Ph.D., Technical Fellow, Industrial Additives and Greases; Lubrizol Wind energy has steadily become one of the strongest components of electricity generation in the United States over the past 30 years. According to the U.S.…

By Chris Poynter, Division President, ABB System Drives At 13 MW, the Haliade-X wind turbines that GE is supplying for the UK’s Dogger Bank Wind Farm are currently the most powerful in the world. However, the next generation turbines will push the power up to 15, 16 or even 20 MW. That means we are…

By Matt Tremblay, Senior Vice President, Global Offshore, ABS The next three years could be a defining period for the U.S. offshore wind sector. It represents a growth area of the maritime industry at both a domestic and international level. Globally, developers have announced projects totaling at least 200 GW of new capacity since the…

By William Baldwin, Cindy Muller, and Sarah Dicharry, Jones Walker The Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) adopted regulations in 2009 to regulate wind energy development offshore (30 C.F.R. Part 585). But to date, only two offshore wind projects are currently online in the United States: Block Island, located off the…

By Georgena Terry, research associate, Clean Energy States Alliance In late March, President Joe Biden announced an offshore wind goal of 30 GW by 2030 in a manner that protects environmental assets and creates employment. Through a coordinated multi-agency approach, Biden plans to fast track the deployment of utility scale offshore wind. The focus will…

By Wesley Witt, chair, and Kristy Abel, vice chair, GWO North America Committee The amount of standardized safety training continues to increase year-over-year across North America in the wind industry because companies gain productivity and a more flexible workforce, while workers are more easily hired and valuable to their employers. In 2020, the number of…

By RAD Torque Systems As we move through 2021, the effects of the last year can be felt across all industries. However, despite some major disruptions due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the global wind industry still managed to achieve a record year. According to the Global Wind Energy Council, 2020 saw a 53% year-on-year…

By Elvira Aliverdieva, product specialist; and Mathias Regnier, WindCube product manager, Leosphere, a Vaisala Company All around the globe, offshore wind energy is gaining significant momentum. In 2020 alone, the world added more than 6 GW of new capacity via offshore installations. As global interest in offshore wind energy continues to grow in both near-shore…

By Chris Huxley Reynard, creator of the BareFLEET advanced remote monitoring and reporting system, and Managing Director of Reygar Ltd. Providing operations and maintenance (O&M) services for an offshore wind farm can be a grueling task. Consider the complexity of installing or fixing a machine as large and complex as a wind turbine — a…

By Sam Heim, Media Specialist, Petzl The wind technician career is projected to have the highest job growth rate in the United States for the next eight years. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the projected percent change in employment from 2019 to 2029 for wind techs is 61%; the average job growth rate…

By Andras Kaldos, Product Engineering Group Manager, Key Industries, James Walker In recent years wind turbines have made significant increases in size as operators and OEMs seek to optimize the costs of power generation by building fewer larger and more efficient turbines. Whilst these will produce substantially more energy than they take to manufacture, install…

By Gareth Brown, CEO, Clir Renewables In February 2021, Texas faced a disastrous power failure as a result of an unexpectedly severe winter storm. Natural gas wells froze, transmission substations went offline, and the grid operator was forced to initiate rolling blackouts, leaving millions of homes and businesses without power for days. This extreme cold combined…

By Georgena Terry, Clean Energy States Alliance Energy equity has become an increasing priority at both the national and state levels. As offshore wind moves into a major development phase, ensuring that it advances energy equity and environmental justice is essential. For the federal government, President Joe Biden elevated the importance of an “equitable, clean…

By Sam Salem and Peter Nyegaard Jensen, Wind Cluster The February 2021 freeze event in Texas attracted attention to wind turbine behavior in cold weather. Wind generation fell short of expected output but was not the main driver of the extensive power outages experienced across the state. Wind turbines have proved to generate power successfully…

By Adam Nevin, Innovation Lead, Trelleborg Over the last few years, renewable energy has become more prominent and features in almost every governmental policy across the globe, with China most recently declaring an ambitious goal to become carbon neutral by 2060. The importance of renewable energy sources is exemplified by the fact that green investment…

By Duncan Higham, VP Global Strategy, Remote Medical International As the world continues to grapple with a global pandemic, companies with offshore wind operations are looking at ways to improve processes while reducing costs. A major part of this is maintaining the health and safety of offshore and remote employees. And while every organization has health and…

By Scott Duffin, director of client drone strategy and business development, Skyward, a Verizon Company Drones can come in handy for wind O&M technicians, as long as their use is accepted across all levels of the company. In order for wind techs to gain a helping hand from drones, they should avoid these common pitfalls…

By Scott Duffin, director of client drone strategy and business development, Skyward, a Verizon Company In the aftermath of a natural disaster, drones can be critical tools for first responders and recovery workers. As an eye in the sky, drones provide situational awareness that helps response teams target critical locations even when roads are blocked…