Is the small wind industry dead? Are governments doing enough to support the wider sector? What remaining work needs to be done to develop an effective supply chain? These are just three of the questions that are tackled by our five specially-selected wind experts in our exclusive roundtable this issue…
PES: Welcome to the magazine. Can you tell us a little about yourself and your organisation?
Richard Cockburn: Bond Dickinson is a UK law firm with offices nationwide, including locations in the heart of the energy sector – the two North Easts (Aberdeen, Newcastle and Teesside) and London. We have 1,200 staff and one of our key sectors is energy, both power & renewables and oil & gas. In renewables, we act in five of the nine Round Three offshore wind zones and we act for five of the Big Six utilities as well as The Crown Estate. In addition to offshore wind, we advise on projects in onshore wind, marine energy, solar, biomass, energy from waste and a range of other technologies.
Steve McMahon: My name is Steve McMahon and I am the VP Sales & Marketing for a Canadian company called Orenda Energy Solutions. I am a Chartered Engineer and MBA and for the last 25 years I have worked in a wide range of high technology businesses around the world. For the last five years I have been involved in the wind industry, specifically in the small-medium wind sector.
Orenda Energy Solutions is a new company which we started in May 2012, with a mission to bring innovative and efficient renewable energy solutions to the market. Our first product is Skye, a 51kW wind turbine system targeted at farmers, landowners and investors.
Benj Sykes: As Country Manager for DONG Energy’s UK Wind Power business, I have oversight of our portfolio of wind farms in the UK including the London Array, the world’s biggest. A geologist by background, before joining DONG Energy I held a series of senior roles in the oil and gas sector with Shell International and Hess, and then spent three years at the Carbon Trust as Director of Innovation leading their multi-million pound technology innovation programme.
DONG Energy is a world leader in offshore wind and the UK is the biggest market for our future investment programme. Headquartered in Denmark, DONG Energy is committed to the UK for the long term with two key areas for growth: offshore wind power and oil and gas exploration and production. We also have a B2B gas and electricity sales business here and are the second largest supplier of gas to the industrial and commercial sector.
