"It [came] at the right time, and it has helped us to identify the key challenges and opportunities in the CIS wind markets," said Stefan Gsänger, Secretary General of the World Wind Energy Association.
The conference was held at the the National Sports Complex “Olimpiyskiy”, in Kiev, Ukraine.
Delegations from 15 countries participated in the conference and exhibition, including representativies of Austria, Belarus, France, Germany, Israel, Kazakhstan, Lithuania, Netherlands, Portugal, Poland, Russia, Spain, Tajikistan, Turkey, and Ukraine.
Key topics discussed at the conference included an analysis of the global and European wind markets, policies and legal frameworks for further wind development, investment attractiveness and peculiarities of financing wind farms in the CIS and Eastern Europe, technical aspects of grid connection, “green” tariff regulations and state support in view of recent legislative changes as well as the risk management in wind projects
In addition, companies actively working in the field of wind energy and offering the full range of services -- from wind measurements to manufacture of wind turbines and development of wind power projects -- presented their products and services as well as new technologies at the trade show.
“Experience gained in Ukraine during the implementation of wind projects with MW-class wind turbines has identified a number of barriers that the market has to overcome in the near future," said Andrey Konechenkov, Chairman of the Board of the Ukrainian Wind Energy Association.
"First of all, issues related to obtaining the technical conditions for grid connection and shortcomings of the current law," Konechenkov continued. "Players in wind energy in the other CIS countries are now facing the same problems. Energy systems of these countries were based exclusively on fossil fuels. European experience has shown that innovative technologies can solve the problem. CISWIND2013 clearly demonstrated this."
The organizers of the annual CISWIND conference are the Ukrainian Wind Energy Association and the IBCentre, General Partner is the World Wind Energy Association WWEA. The event is supported by the State Agency for Energy Efficiency and Energy Saving of Ukraine and by a number of specialized and public organizations.
Sergei Dubovik, Vice-President of the State Agency for Energy Efficiency and Energy Saving of Ukraine, said his nation has committed itself to a new level of development of the fuel and energy sector and the economy as a whole.
"Renewable energy industry, and wind energy in particular, is an integral part of this process, a catalyst for innovative developments,” Dubovik said.
Gsänger said there is a strong need to convince governments to improve frameworks for wind power investment.
"Another important conclusion [growing out of the conference] is that it is time for a closer cooperation within the wind sector in the CIS countries," he said. "CISWIND has offered an excellent platform for exchange of ideas and for networking. We are very pleased that we can continue and intensify this cooperation in the near future.”
CISWIND2014 will take place in Kiev in April 2014.
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