Hi Alberto, Thank you for catching up with us quickly today, I have a few questions for you
regarding Operation and Maintenance within the Wind Energy industry.
Could you tell us a little bit about the projects that you’re currently working on? What are
your current aims for the next 6 months?
As The Spanish wind energy Association we are mainly working on modifications of the
existing regulation and preparing for the new regulation to be applied after 2012. We will
be presenting our proposals to the Ministry of Energy to keep the economic feasibility of the
projects and to facilitate the integration of the electricity produced by the wind farms into
the grid.
Great! Sounds like you are going to be very busy over the next few months!
What partnerships are you looking at currently, or which companies in particular would
you like to work with? Who has come up with the most exciting innovation that you’ve
seen recently and why?
We are actively trying to integrate all the stakeholders with interest in those activities. These
are from the plant owners to the insurance companies and of course with the involvement of
the maintenance companies and the equipment manufacturer.
So bringing the industry together is always an important factor. This shows how important
Operations and Maintenance can be for the industry.
What are the main issues that need to be addressed now to ensure smooth transition out
of warranty & how do you see the industry changing over the next decade?
I feel that the availability of spare components is a crucial factor that we need to look at as
soon as possible in order to have a turbulent free movement into the post warranty period.
Secondly it’s clear to us here in the AEE that adequate labour training and exchange of
experience are high on any serious wind farm operator who wishes to remain profitable in
the next two to five years.
Wind Energy Update’s operations and maintenance report states that turbine O&M costs
are subject to an average increase of up to 253% over the 20 year lifetime of a turbine.
What will the audience learn from your talk at the upcoming conference?
They will learn the importance of the maintenance for keeping the wind farms availability in
a scenario of possible reduction of the income.
Thank you for your time and it was great to catch up with you. Finally, given the chance, in
your ideal world would you be doing right now?
To be retired and relaxing in the sun… See you In Madrid!
We look forward to it!
Alberto will be talking at the upcoming conference along with 25 other industry experts
