Wind Forum

At the ETH Wind Forum on 12 September 2012, key senior executives coming from diverse backgrounds, including one of Europe’s largest developers in the wind sector, the largest wind farm in Switzerland, the manufacturer of the world’s first large-size offshore wind turbine that features a hydraulic drive train, a leading re/insurance companies in the wind power, and a large provider of corporate finance in renewable energy shall meet together to discuss the challenges and opportunities in the wind sector. The wind sector faces several challenges, including: rapidly evolving technology in an environment of strong cost pressures; uncertain risks in the performance of wind turbines due to challenging (onshore and offshore) locations and adverse weather conditions; the need to foster dialogue with stakeholders in order to address the strong opposition to wind farms. On the otherhand, as the wind sector is the fastest growing sector of the world’s energy market, it also offers great opportunities for research & development, manufacturers, investors, and service providers. Thus the Forum shall provide timely and accurate information across the broad technical, practical, economic and regulatory themes that impact the development of wind energy in Switzerland, and onshore and offshore across Europe.

Over the past five years the level of grid-connected wind power generating capacity has grown at an average rate of over 27 percent per year. Thus in Europe at the end of 2011 there was a total of 94 GW grid-connected wind power installations, providing 192’000 jobs and representing more than €12.6 billion of investment. As a result of public concerns that have been heightened by the Fukushima nuclear disaster, Switzerland and Germany announced their intentions to completely phase out nuclear power by 2034 and 2022, respectively. Therefore in the future, a larger portion of the energy shall be derived from wind-generated electricity. Thus in Germany for example in order to meet the anticipated demand for electricity 33-45GW of new installed wind power generating capacity shall be needed. A substantial portion of these installations shall be offshore requiring also major improvements in the infrastructure of the transmission grid network, as well as the operation of storage capacities.

As one of the most dominant platforms for research, development, and investments in energy production, wind energy continues to provide affordable, clean renewable energy, while creating substantial economic value. Swiss expertise exists in many fields of wind energy including engineering, geology, atmospheric physics, logistics, economics & risk management, and social acceptance. Within this framework, the Laboratory for Energy Conversion at ETH has developed an internationally recognized, highly inter-disciplinary research wind energy research program that is addressing the broad range of scientific, technological, social and economical issues related to wind energy. Furthermore, there is continued and growing interest in wind energy among Swiss utilities, as well as Swiss industrial and financial institutions.