“Believe in the Wind – The Rapid Growth of Wind Power in the World”

PSU’s University Place, 310 SW Lincoln, June 18, 2009

Host: Scandinavian Heritage Foundation’s Nordic Business Council

Sponsor: Portland Danish Brotherhood Lodge #167

Guest Speaker: Henry Tilghman, VP Government-to-Government Relations, Vestas-North America

The growth of wind power is truly global. Vestas-North America moved their headquarters from Palm Springs to Portland five years ago and employs 400 here in Portland out of 1200 in North America and 19,000 world-wide. Vestas is a Danish company with offices in 24 countries and has research centers in Århus, Denmark, two in Germany, and one in the UK. For more info: www.vestas.com.

Vestas now has 10,144 wind turbines in the U.S., 822 in Canada, and 250 here in Oregon. The turbines have steadily grown in size and generation capacity – from 0.03 MW (megawatts) to 3 MW. There are four Vestas wind projects (or farms) here in Oregon. Two more are under development. The Port of Vancouver has the largest specialized loading-crane in North America for wind turbine components.

After many years to gain recognition, wind power is now competitive with oil, coal, and natural gas as a mainstream energy resource. The major attractive traits of wind power are: (1) Competitive with other energy resources. (2) Independent. (3) Energy security. (4) Predictable. (5) Fast to produce. (6) Clean non-polluting source. (7) Creates jobs.

In 2002, Vestas was producing 2600 MW of wind power. In 2008, capacity rose to 5580 MW. Vestas has installed 38,000 wind turbines in 65 countries (or 1/3 of the world’s wind turbines). The operation of all the Vestas wind turbines is estimated to reduce 40 millions tons of carbon dioxide per year and may help in the fight against global warming. Each turbine has a 25-30 year life expectancy. It takes one technician to service about seven wind turbines.

The biggest potential for wind power in North America is the interior of the Pacific Northwest and most of the Midwest. Wind power is now 1% of the U.S. energy portfolio. Wind farms off the coast of the PNW are not likely for now, as our coastline is too steep for most conventional wind turbines. Vestas is now experimenting with new proto-type wind turbines on the steep coasts of Norway.

Mr. Tilghman was a former BPA staffer and hired by Vestas one year ago. Martha Wyrsch is the new President of Vestas-North America.

Note-taker: Kyle Dittmer, Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission, Portland, Oregon