As the snow begins to coat the ground here in Cleveland, Ohio, I’d like to take a minute to say, “Happy Holidays to all the wind industry advocates (or winnies, as I like to say) out there!”

2013 holds a lot of promise, especially for offshore wind. Let’s not forget the DOE recently issued seven awards for offshore wind projects in Maine, New Jersey, Ohio, Oregon, Texas, and Virginia. Also, Google announced it would use wind energy to power its Oklahoma data center. What’s more, Texas hit a new record of 7,599MW for wind power generation this year. So even if the PTC does expire, wind enthusiasts should be proud.

With that being said, let’s focus on wind turbine reliability and innovation to ensure wind farms are running at full capacity. Again, Happy Holidays!

PS. Expect to see more of Assistant Editor Steven Bushong from Windpower Engineering in 2013!