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Wind as piece in the energy puzzle 

Reliability and distribution are some of the important challenges for wind energy, says the Danish wind expert Erik Lundtang Petersen, who speaks at the Research Congress on Climate Change in Copenhagen in March 2009.

“Wind energy is valuable, because it is so abundant, and it doesn’t create carbon emissions. But it’s not a miracle cure – it’s one piece in the puzzle.”

The words come from Erik Lundtang Petersen, who works at Risø National Laboratory for Sustainable Energy and until this year headed the Wind Energy Division.

He has also earned international recognition for creating 'The European Wind Atlas' and for helping to develop a computer program that calculates the profitability of turbines.

Two challenges
Petersen, who is scheduled to address researchers at the scientific climate congress in Copenhagen in March, talks about two important challenges facing wind energy: reliability and distribution.

"The need for reliable products is growing as future wind turbines are installed offshore or in remote areas."

Storing the energy is also a problem.

"Matching supply and demand is an engineering challenge, since it’s currently impractical to store the energy the turbines produce in peak periods."

“An important part of our work is dedicated to developing a ‘smart grid’ in which wind energy works in conjunction with solar energy and other renewable energy sources."

Read the background interview with Erik Lundtang Petersen (pdf).

By Uzi Frank, uzif@cowi.dk  
Published: 09.03.2009

Climate research congress in Copenhagen 

Approximately 2,000 researchers and experts from more than 70 countries will take part in the forthcoming congress 'Climate Change: Global Risks, Challenges and Decisions', at Copenhagen's Bella Center, from 10 to 12 March 2009.

During the congress the latest knowledge about the climate will be presented, along with ways to stop and adapt to climate change. Its conclusions will, by agreement with the Danish government, be disseminated to climate negotiators all over the world in advance of their meeting at the UN climate conference (COP15) in Copenhagen in December 2009.

Erik Lundtang Petersen speaks on March 11
Erik Lundtang Petersen will be speaking on March 11. His talk, 'Wind – the challenge' draws on nearly four decades of working with wind energy.

COWI is one of eight sponsorsThe eight corporate sponsors of the congress are COWI, DONG Energy, VELUX, Vestas, Maersk Oil, the Confederation of Danish Industry, Novozymes and Rockwool.

 

LAST UPDATED: 31.01.2012