The AWEA award annually honours wind industry supporters, leaders, innovators and advocates for their outstanding efforts on behalf of wind energy. Recipients of this year's awards were recognised during AWEA's Wind Energy Fall Symposium in Carlsbad, Calif on 3 November.
The 2011 AWEA Award for Wind Energy Advocacy went this year to the Danish wind turbine manufacturer Vestas Wind Systems A/S for its contribution to raising awareness of wind energy through the WindMade label, which it developed as founding partner of the initiative. Albæk came from Copenhagen to accept the award in person. The WindMade label was introduced this year to the public, ushering in a new era of environmentally friendly production and manufacturing. As a founding partner of WindMade, Vestas is empowering citizens to choose companies and products that are made using wind energy. "WindMade is probably the most unique communication innovation made in the wind business in the last 30 years," said AWEA CEO Denise Bode. "Vestas deserves to be commended for launching this new way to drive demand for wind power and then letting it grow as a separate entity on behalf of the whole industry."
In accepting the award, Albæk said: "We are grateful and proud to receive this year's Wind Energy Advocacy Award, and on behalf of both Vestas and the WindMade organization we would like to express our deep appreciation of the help, support and endorsement that we from the very beginning have received from AWEA and CEO Denise Bode. Without this, WindMade couldn't have become a reality."
Other 2011 AWEA Awards recipients
The Wind Energy Advocacy Award was given to TPI Composites, Inc./General Electric for their work to showcase the power of wind by displaying a 130-foot TPI wind turbine at selected events around the US “as a symbol of wind's immense economic potential and environmental benefits”.
The Outstanding Technical Contribution to the Wind Industry Award was received by William Erdman from BEW Engineering, Inc., described by AWEA as “a technical pioneer in the application of power electronics for variable speed wind turbine technology in North America”. He is a named inventor on over thirty US and international patents related to wind technology, and the intellectual property contained in these patents has been commercially implemented in wind turbines manufactured over the last two decades by leading turbine producers.
The Andrew Linehan Award for Environmental Excellence went to John Calaway from Pattern Energy in recognition of being “a leader in using advanced technologies to minimize the environmental impact of wind energy projects, as well as in proper site selection and design”. Calaway’s work included pioneering the use of radar technology to monitor migratory birds at the Gulf Wind project site, and the use of the latest high resolution three-dimensional radar and infrared technology to monitor bat flying patterns.
At Gulf Wind, John also led the effort to reduce cut-in speeds during bat migrations, which resulted in a 60 percent reduction in bat mortality. “Throughout his career, he has been one of the most successful pioneers in reducing the impact of wind projects on the environment,” says AWEA.
The Achievement in Operations Award was given to Alex George from Invenergy LLC for his 28 years of service in the power industry, and particularly as head of operations and asset management of Invenergy's growing portfolio of more than 4,800 MW of wind and thermal power plants.
The Outstanding Commercial Achievement Award went to Joe Fahrendorf from enXco in recognition of the past 20 years spent in the wind industry, where the AWEA points out he “has made good things happen through a combination of hard work, creative problem solving, and building long-term relationships”. The association highlights that Joe's contributions to enXco and to the industry as a whole “have set the example of how to develop wind projects in multiple regions at a rapidly expanding scale, while at the same time achieving commercial success and taking shareholder concerns into account”.
Finally, the wind energy world bid farewell to an industry icon in AWEA, COO and Senior Vice President Britt Theismann, who passed away in August. Theismann, who joined the AWEA team in 2005, was a driving force behind the creation of the Wind Energy Foundation. In his Membership Director post, he led the recruitment of hundreds of supply chain companies into the US industry and AWEA membership. As COO, he spearheaded the effort to reorganize AWEA and develop its human resources to make it the strong vital organization it has become. Britt was a staunch advocate of wind energy in America. The AWEA has decided to permanently honour Britt by establishing a new award in his name – the Britt Theismann Wind Energy Person of the Year Award – which will be presented each year in his memory.
Pioneer adopters of WindMade to be announced
A group of senior executives from major US and global brands will announce their commitment to become the first to adopt WindMade during a panel discussion at 9:30 (EST) on 18 November at the Trump SoHo Hotel in New York (US). These pioneer adopters of the global wind energy consumer label will pledge to procure at least 25% of their operations’ overall electricity consumption from wind energy.
Those attending the event will be joined by Henrik Kuffner (CEO, WindMade); Steve Sawyer (Chairman, WindMade) and senior representatives of WindMade Founding Partners (UN Global Compact, Vestas, WWF, GWEC) and will discuss their motivations for joining WindMade.
WindMade is backed by the UN Global Compact, Vestas Wind Systems, WWF, Global Wind Energy Council and the LEGO Group. PricewaterhouseCoopers is the official WindMade verification partner, and Bloomberg is the official data provider.
[Photo: Morten Albaek of Vestas]
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