WINDPOWER 2008: THRIVING AT THE EPICENTER OF ENERGY

The annual wind energy industry conclave opens Sunday (June 1) in Houston, TX, the headquarters of the oil & gas business.

Coming right after the big announcement from the wind industry that it intends to provide 20% of U.S. electricity by 2030 and the U.S. Department of Energy’s affirmation that the industry is on track and capable of doing just that, this conference should be bursting with even MORE than the wind industry’s usual exuberance and élan.

See WIND: YOU AIN’T SEEN NOTHIN’ YET! for details on the wind industry’s goal.

The scheduled list of speakers is impressive. The presentations promise to show the way. Exhibitor- and attendee- statistics are up. Think wind energy is on the upswing? You ain't seen NOTHIN' yet!

Last minute addition to the conference agenda: T. Boone Pickens, legendary oil & gas industry entrepreneur and financier of the planned Pampa Wind Project, the world's biggest wind energy installation, will be walking the exhibition floor on Monday evening, June 2.

click to enlarge

WindPower 2008: Conference and Exhibition
June 1 – 4, 2008 (American Wind Energy Association)

WHO
- Welcome: Bill White, Mayor, Houston, TX; Randall Swisher, Director, American Wind Energy Association (AWEA)
- Opening Session (Monday): Rick Perry (R), Governor, TX; Kathleen Sebelius (D), Governor, Kansas; Alexander Karsner, Asst. Scty, U.S. Department of Energy; Thomas C. Dorr, Under Scty, U.S. Department of Agriculture; and others
- General Session (Tuesday): John Podesta, President/CEO, Center for American Progress & former White House Chief of Staff, Clinton Administration; General Wesley Clark, former Supreme Allied Commander, NATO Europe; Jeff Goodell, author; and others
- Conference Dinner: Joe Scarborough

click to enlarge

WHAT
The annual conclave of the wind energy industry promises to be quite a do, with a battery of noted speakers, an exhibition floor teeming with innovation and accomplishment and a message to deliver: Wind will get the job done!

WHEN
- June 1 thru 4, 2008
- Schedule-at-a-glance

WHERE
- Geroge R. Brown Convention Center
1001 Avenida de las Americas
Houston, TX 77010
- Directions

click to enlarge

WHY
- WindPower is the most significant wind energy industry gathering of the year.
- This year’s event has scheduled 770 exhibitors, up from 420 from the previous show.
10,000 are expected to attend.
- Wind energy capacity grew 27% in 2006 and 45% in 2007.
- Wind was second only to natural gas as a source of new electricity generation in the U.S. in 2007.
- New topics: Safety within the Wind Inudstry and Wind Energy Forecasting 101
- What AWEA is doing to make the event environmentally friendly

click to enlarge

QUOTES
- Andy Karsner, Assistant Secretary of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, DOE: "DOE's wind report is a thorough look at America's wind resource, its industrial capabilities, and future energy prices, and confirms the viability and commercial maturity of wind as a major contributor to America's energy needs, now and in the future…To dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions and enhance our energy security, clean power generation at the gigawatt-scale will be necessary, and will require us to take a comprehensive approach to scaling renewable wind power, streamlining siting and permitting processes, and expanding the domestic wind manufacturing base."
- Randall Swisher, Executive Director, American Wind Energy Association (AWEA): “The report shows that wind power can provide 20% of the nation’s electricity by 2030…[it] identifies the central constraints to achieving 20% - transmission, siting, manufacturing and technology - and demonstrates how each can be overcome. As an inexhaustible domestic resource, wind strengthens our energy security, improves the quality of the air we breathe, slows climate change, and revitalizes rural communities.”