Wind recognizes no borders. Increasingly, wind energy development and generation are oblivious to boundaries, as well. Whether we’re talking about companies moving beyond shorelines, national demarcations or continental coasts, the industry is expanding to the four corners of the globe.
Branding, marketing and advertising for wind energy should have the same boundless potential as the industry itself. Regardless of where a company does business or wants to do business, the fundamentals of branding and marketing hold true. The difference is in whether those companies have a marketing partner that understands the industry and communication norms of specific geographic markets.
The partners in the Wind Marketing Alliance combine that kind of market understanding with extensive industry experience and long-standing branding expertise to help wind energy manufacturers, suppliers and service organizations to be successful.
Making connections
As wind energy expands across the planet, there are growing opportunities for a vast array of supply companies, wherever in the world they are located.
The US market provides an excellent example. The United States is the world’s second fastest-growing market for wind. While US development and associated manufacturing have slowed in the past two years, the industry is poised to rebound. How quickly and to what extent remains to be seen. It will depend to a certain extent on whether the United States can adopt a federal renewable energy standard and establish a reliable production tax credit, and whether more individual states adopt standards and create business environments that are conducive to development.
But even with these political uncertainties, development is moving forward. According to the American Wind Energy Association, 1,240 MW were installed in the first two quarters of 2010, putting the country’s total capacity at more than 36,300 MW. While these figures are well below 2008 and 2009 levels, the resource simply cannot be ignored. For example, while Germany leads the world in installed capacity, it has only a fraction of the wind energy potential of my home state, North Dakota. And that’s just one state. The market will continue to gain momentum as investors and lenders regain confidence necessary to provide financing for new projects.
