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About BWEA

Inaugural Meeting of the BWEA

As published in the first ever issue of Wind Directions

On 17th November 1978, the inaugural meeting of the British Wind Energy Association was held at the Rutherford Laboratories, Chilton. The presentations covered a review of wind energy research and demonstration projects In Europe and the U.S.A. There was also considerable discussion of the present research strategy within this field in the U.K. Discussions continued while a visit was made to the 6m diameter variable geometry vertical axis wind turbine, constructed at the Rutherford Laboratories.

Future research in the UK was discussed during the afternoon. It was clear from the personal opinions expressed that wind energy was being considered most seriously by the government through the Wind Energy Steering Committee at the Department of Energy.

Wind over the Waves

1978 has been an eventful year for Wind Energy in the UK. Most notable perhaps has been the growing recognition of the role that large wind energy systems could play in meeting future energy needs. For example the Chairman of the CEGB, Mr Glyn England, in a speech at Fawley power station in July, suggested that offshore wind energy systems with a total rating of 20,000MW could be deployed in the shallow waters around our coasts, and could provide roughly a quarter of the CEGB's present electricity output. Our own work at Reading indicates that the economics of such systems look very encouraging, and the figure shows our impression of the appearance of an offshore wind energy system. Though it depicts the use of vertical axis wind turbines - reflecting our own research at Reading - one can readily visualise a similar scene using large horizontal axis wind turbines.

Accompanying this recognition of the large scale potential of wind energy systems there has been a marked increase in the level of funding, by the Dept. of Energy. As announced in June in the White Paper on Alternative Sources of Energy this has been increased from the 1977 total of £167,000 to a current commitment of £973,000. The new sum includes substantial funding for a detailed study of offshore wind energy systems by Taylor Woodrow Construction and the Electrical Research Association, in close collaboration with the CEGB. It also includes £341,000 for the detailed design of a 60 metre diameter, fixed pitch horizontal axis wind turbine by a consortium which includes British Aerospace Dynamics Group (formerly Hawker Siddeley Dynamics), the Electrical Research Association, Taylor Woodrow Construction and Cleveland Bridge Engineering. There are encouraging signs that the construction of this 3.79W rated wind turbine, on a Scottish hill-top site, will be authorised within the next 18 months. The development of large, vertical axis wind turbines is also proceeding via a consortium which includes British Aerospace Aircraft Group (formerly British Aircraft Corporation), Taylor Woodrow Construction and Reading University. And to oversee the emerging UK national wind energy programme a Wind Energy Steering Committee was established by the government earlier this summer.

On a smaller scale 1978 has also seen a much more favourable response from the Science Research Council to wind energy related grant applications, with substantial awards being made to several universities, including Exeter, Cambridge and Reading. Though the overall UK wind energy programme is still modest by comparison with that of the USA, or several of our European neighbours (most notably Sweden, Holland and Germany) I am confident that the next few years will see rapid growth.

The increasing interest and activity in the field of wind energy which became apparent in the first half of 1978 was, of course, very largely responsible for the formation of the BWEA. Planned activities include an annual Wind Energy Workshop, the first of which will be held on April 19th and 20th, 1979, at Cranfield (and the first AGM of the BWEA will be at Cranfield on the afternoon of April 20th). The annual Wind Energy Workshops will include invited review papers, but their main function will be to provide members (and non-members) with a regular opportunity for presenting technical papers detailing their plans and their progress. It will also provide an opportunity for people to meet informally and exchange ideas.

Arrangements are being made for proceedings of the annual workshops to be published, and a preliminary call for papers for the first BWEA Wind Energy Workshop will be found elsewhere in this newsletter. Other meetings may be arranged from time to time, as the need arises. A second important activity of the BWEA will be the production and circulation of a regular newsletter, 'Windirections', to be edited by William Grylls of Exeter University. This promises to serve a very valuable role in disseminating news and information to BWEA members. But may I encourage you to help William as much as possible by writing to him with details of your research/development activities, or your wind energy application. The more material we have, the more useful will be the newsletter.

My space is nearly up, but as this is the first issue of 'Windirections' I would like to close by reiterating the declared objectives of the BWEA:

(i) To promote discussion and to disseminate information on wind energystudies, projects and products, through publications and meetings, for the benefit both of workers in the field and of the general public.
(ii) To encourage wind energy research and development and to promote its utilisation.
(iii) To compile and maintain a register of wind energy studies and projects, particularly within the United Kingdom.
(iv) To foster links with similar organisations outside the United Kingdom.

I hope we can all join together in helping to further these objectives and see wind energy make its contribution towards our future energy needs. And I look forward to a 1979 that promises to be quite as eventful - for wind energy - as 1978.

Dr Peter Musgrove, Chairman, BWEA,
Dept. of Engineering, Reading University