Quality assurance is the international task of the future

- 2nd world summit of the small wind industry at der New Energy Husum

Husum - Quality assurance is the main challenge for the future in the international small wind turbine industry. \"Only manufacturers who consistently place worth on quality and subject themselves to a certification procedure, have a medium-term chance to gain an edge over the competition\", is the conclusion of a soon to be published study commissioned by the German Wind Energy Association (BWE). The market is confusing \"and to date offers amateurs too few comparable information about the quality and performance of turbines on the market.\"

It is not without reason that the first international meeting of the small wind turbine industry at last year’s New Energy Husum trade fair chose standardisation as the main topic. Now, at the follow-up meeting (2nd World Summit for Small Wind) at New Energy 2011, \"the progress made in international harmonisation will be a subject of discussion\", announced the general secretary of the World Wind Energy Association (WWEA) Stefan Gsänger. Another focus of the two-day congress (17 and 18 March) organised in association with WWEA and BWE and with participants from over ten nations will be the worldwide potential and the political framework that small wind has to work in.

\"The potential markets for small wind are huge: China alone has today already almost half a million small wind turbines in operation. In Husum, we will discuss the experiences from all over the world to answer the question: Which policies are the best to support small wind? We will draw conclusions from these debates in order to advise governments on such policies, with an equal focus on offgrid as well as grid-connected applications. One basis for such effective tools will be appropriate standardisation and certification schemes. The progress on international harmonisation will be discussed as well during the 2nd World Summit for Small Wind\", confirmed Gsänger.

\"Manufacturers should orientate their technical data on international standards\", is therefore also one of the demands made in the BWE study. An example of such quality assurance – also from the international point of view – is EasyWind, a company from the Schleswig-Holstein town of Langenhorn, which is the first to achieve full type in line with the international IEC61400-2 standard for Wind Class I for its EasyWind 6 AC. \"This means certified safety, successful long term tests, ISO 9001 quality standard, and measured, not estimated, performance data\", emphasised EasyWind managing director Volker Wiethüchter.

A recently concluded contract with Chinese partners now assures the transfer of this \"Made in Germany\" quality to the Far East. After that the small wind turbine will be manufactured in China, initially for the Chinese and then later for other Asian markets – according to the company’s own standards. The most important components and the quality guidelines will come from Germany, as will quality control, says Wiethüchter: \"Our partners have committed themselves to adopt our ISO 9001 quality management system.\"

EasyWind will have a stand at New Energy Husum (17 to 20 March), because small wind turbines are not just a main topic at the congress, but also a focus of the exhibition itself. There will be about 70 firms from the small wind sector, making up almost 30 per cent of all exhibitors, making this renewable energy trade fair an international shop window for the industry. With 14,000 square metres of exhibition space, New Energy Husum offers \"all the renewables at a glance\" (according to the motto of the fair) and is expecting 17,000 visitors from 35 countries.

More information about the second international summit of the small wind industry and about New Energy Husum here: http://www.new-energy.de


Husum, 8 March 2011


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