Auswind 2007 brought international and local wind energy experts and stakeholders together in Melbourne to discuss key issues surrounding the world’s fastest growing, clean, large-scale, reliable electricity source.

Key speakers at the first major event hosted by the Clean Energy Council included Federal Opposition Environment Minister Peter Garrett, Victorian Minister for Energy and Resources Peter Batchelor, TRUenergy Managing Director Richard McIndoe, futurist Paul Higgins and Andrew Garrad. The conference covered issues including future trends, grid integration, community consultation, investment options, government policy and carbon trading.

At the heart of it all was the fact that wind power in Australia is now a serious business in Australia. Wind is increasingly being seen not as an alternative form of energy but as a modern energy source and the industry must strive to be more competitive to keep up with demand.

“We have to rethink our energy future and move to energy sources that are renewable, predictable and clean,” said Vestas Managing Director Jorn Hammer. “This new form of energy must have a fast start up time and offer energy independency that some of the world’s largest and fastest growing economies demand. Wind delivers in all these parameters. This is what we call modern energy.”

Wind: a rapidly growing industry

The wind energy industry has seen major growth both in Australia and around the world.

Steve Sawyer from the Global Wind Energy Council told attendees that the industry is becoming a truly international industry, with very strong – and seemingly unsustainable – growth rates continuing. Looking forward, he said estimates indicated that installed capacity should increase from 74.2 GW in 2007 to between 91 and 93 GW and by 2010.

In Australia, speakers highlighted that this growth is seen in the movement away from looking at wind turbines as ‘wind farms’ but rather as ‘wind power stations’. The arrival of big players such as GE and Siemens was hailed as politically important as it emphasises the growth of the industry and the role the industry can play in electricity generation to governments.

The conference also saw much discussion about the vertical integration of companies within the industry, with many companies focusing on vertically integrating their business moving forward.

Despite these advances and growth, presenters emphasised that the major issue facing the industry is how to tackle the complex challenge of reducing emissions while delivering affordable, reliable energy.

As Victorian Minister for Energy and Resources Mr Batchelor said, the need for action and innovation is clear but the answer is not. He was not alone in saying that there is no silver bullet, no single solution.

From the government perspective, Mr Batchelor said action is needed on a wide range of policies and initiatives. He recognised that Victoria’s wind energy industry is still in its early stages of development and that the support and encouragement of the government is vital. However he urged the industry to innovate; to become increasingly competitive.

Innovation, Guidelines & Standards

Innovation and technological developments were a key focus of the conference. Technical sessions covered the importance of policy measures and reforms, forecasting and the Australian Wind Energy Forecasting System as well as developments in the UK, Ireland and the United States.

Founding partner of international wind energy consultancy Garrad Hassan, Andrew Garrad gave a keynote address, reviewing the industry, its technology, and its politics, while providing some insights into where the industry is heading. He said that the main technical challenges facing the industry are gearbox reliability, generator reliability, capital cost reduction, long term overhead and maintenance costs and quality.

Pointing to factors holding the Australian industry back, he noted that the bigger wind markets are that way because of political incentives such as tariffs. Unlike the rest of the world, Australia, he said, has had a policy reversal – from supporting renewables, to supporting a fossil fuel based economy. A priority for the nation, therefore, is to work to re-establish confidence in this market and ensure that international investors are not put off. In Australia, we must move toward bigger installations in order to make a difference, with projects in the GWh range.

Another major issue discussed was the need for guidelines and standards. Jonathon Whale from Murdoch University highlighted the current lack of stringent certification procedures for Small Wind Turbines in general and the need for this to be rectified. The major objective of standards is to provide guidance to regulatory authorities and they need to be informative as well methodological. However, many speakers emphasised that such standards are difficult to establish and ultimately, it is a long and complicated process.

Consumers & Business

Innovation, change and growth are also driven by Australian consumers who are becoming increasingly concerned about climate change. The increasing demand for environmentally friendly measures is impelling business executives around the world to move towards wind power.

PwC Energy and Utilities Leader for the Asia Pacific Region Derek Kidley emphasised this point when he addressed the conference about the 2007 Global Utilities Survey - Energy and efficiency: The changing power climate.

The report surveyed executives around the world and for the first time in nine years, said Mr Kidley, sustainability was the number one issue, with over 50 per cent concerned about the security of energy supply.

Mr Kidley emphasised the change in attitude over the last 12 to 18 months in executives around the world, who have an increasing concern that clean coal might not be the solution in the next five to ten years.

Mr Kidley said that there is a greater understanding and responsiveness among executives that renewable energy is what end consumers are talking about and concerned about, and are increasingly seeing wind power as forming a large proportion of their energy use. While last year, only 17 per cent were looking toward wind power, that figure jumped to 48 per cent in 2007.

Mr Kidley posed the million dollar question: How do we become sustainable and successful in a carbon constrained environment? “Wind is definitely on the up and is seen as a solution around the globe,” he answered.

Certainty

Finally, the certainty needed to encourage investment in the industry and drive it forward was a major issue at the conference. Mr Batchelor emphasised the certainty that government policy could provide from an investment point of view and speakers reiterated that wind energy is not an intermittent energy source. It is variable, they said, but it is predictable.

Futurist Paul Higgins made the point about certainty most poignantly, noting that wind power has a benefit other energy efficient energy sources do not - unlike other alternatives, wind never goes away or runs out. This certainty, said Mr Higgins, is what the industry should use to sell the benefits of wind energy to government, businesses and the general public.

Certified Wind Farms Australia launched

Despite the challenges ahead for the wind energy industry, a major milestone was achieved during the conference, with the launch of the world’s first wind farm accreditation system, Certified Wind Farms Australia (CWFA).

The independently audited scheme is based on the Auswind best practice guidelines and the international environmental standard ISO 14001. The scheme is open to wind project developers and operators and includes a range of online tools and templates that provide step by step guidelines for meeting and validating industry best practice.

“The CWFA scheme is the culmination of many years’ work for the industry,” said Clean Energy Council CEO Dominique La Fontaine, “and demonstrates our commitment to transparent community consultation and maintaining world’s best practice for Australian wind projects.”

Future Energy Managing Director David Shapero used the scheme to audit against the process used to develop the Hepburn Community Wind Park and as a result recommended the straightforward and comprehensive system for big and small future projects.

Looking forward

The message from Auswind 2007 conference was clear: the time is right for the wind energy industry to break into Australia’s energy industry. Australia has the resources; it has the space; it has a rapidly growing wind energy industry; and, it has increasing support from government, business and consumers.

As Ms La Fontaine said when opening the conference, “With public opinion firmly in favour of real action to address climate change, the wind energy sector with its cost effective, clean energy technologies, is ready to expand to meet Australia’s growing energy needs with clean, renewable electricity.”

Or, in the words of Mr Hammer, “Wind today has reached an almost unrecognisable level of sophistication…wind power is no longer just a romantic alternative.”