WINDPOWER 2016 opens with high hopes

WINDPOWER 2016 kicked off today with high hopes and strong optimism, as a host of industry leaders highlighted U.S. wind’s successes over the past year and great future potential.

Here are a few of the early morning highlights:

• “Sustainability is the next chapter in human progress… The right side of history is a world with clean, cheap, abundant energy,” Chris Brown, President of Vestas Americas and new AWEA board chairman. He also noted that states, utilities and corporations are choosing wind because its costs have fallen so far in the last six years that it’s now the most economical choice.
• AWEA CEO Tom Kiernan highlighted the human impact of wind power, sharing stories about how wind helps family farmers, while noting that wind turbine technician is America’s fastest growing job, something few in the U.S. industry could have imaged just a few years ago. He also said that wind power is leading both the U.S. and world economies toward a low-carbon energy solution.
• Wind energy’s technological advances are remarkable, and it’s helping cities like New Orleans combat complications resulting from excess carbon dioxide pollution, according to former Sen. Mary Landrieu.
• “Future generations won’t know a world without wind power,” WINDPOWER technical program chair Michelle Arenson.

This morning’s opening session set the tone for WINDPOWER 2016. American wind power is becoming a larger, ever-more important part of the country’s electricity mix, creating a better, cleaner tomorrow. And the next generation of leaders, embodied this week at the Emerging Leaders Program, Department of Energy Collegiate Wind Competition and the KidWind Competition, will take this progress to even greater heights.