The Renewable Energy Strategy: Is the stage set to meet 15% renewable energy by 2020? Chaired by journalist and presenter, Stephen Sackur

Alan Moore, BWEA Board Director: Renewable Energy Strategy presentation, followed by discussion, with panellists:

• Stephen Sackur - Introduction
  
• Alan Moore - Renewable Energy Strategy presentation
  
• Panel discussion
  
• Simon Virley, Head of the Renewable Energy and Innovation Unit, BERR
  
• Nick Goodall, CEO, Renewable Fuels Agency
  
• Stephen Tindale, Head of Communications and Public Affairs, npower renewables
  
• James Wilde, Director of Insights, The Carbon Trust
  
• John Constable, Renewable Energy Foundation
  
• William Norris QC.
  

Just weeks after the consultation has closed on arguably the most important consultation to date for the renewables industry, Alan Moore will present a summary of the most relevant fiscal and policy instruments set out in the Renewable Energy Strategy and highlight the key issues for BWEA and its members. The ensuing debate with Government, industry and key stakeholders will investigate what it means for delivery of renewable electricity, heat and transport objectives and whether the 15% renewable energy target by 2020 is a reality, a difficult challenge or just a pipe dream.

Wave & Tidal: A Year of Deployment and a Strategy for Future Support Chair: Alan Moore, Low Carbon Futures and BWEA Wave and Tidal Strategy Group Chair

• Alan Moore - Introduction
  

Into the Water:

• Martin Wright, Managing Director of Marine Current Turbines.
  
• Phil Metcalf, Chief Executive Officer of Pelamis Wave Power.
  

Panelists:

• Trevor Raggatt, Deputy Director Bioenergy and Marine Energy Technologies, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR).
  
• David Clarke, Chief Executive Officer, Energy Technologies Institute.
  
• Andrew Mill, Chair of the W&T group within RAB & Chief Executive, New and Renewable Energy Centre Ltd (NaREC).
  
• Q&A Session
  

A celebration and opportunity to showcase the industry for the benefit of those in the wider renewables field. 2008 has seen impressive achievements with numerous wave and tidal stream technologies entering the water, generating both power and a renewed enthusiasm and interest within the UK and the world. The two speakers will report on the deployment of their full-scale energy converters and the invaluable lessons learnt. The ensuing panel debate will then focus on the Strategy for continued support of the vital UK based industry.

Offshore Wind Technology 'Dragons Den' Chaired by Roger Harrabin, BBC Broadcaster & Special Correspondent for Energy for the Today Programme

Technology manufacturers present to a panel of dragons waiting to question before investing.

'Dragons':

• Andrew Garrad, Managing Director, Garrad Hassan and Partners Limited
  
• Paul Dowling, Chief Executive, Airtricity
  
• Charles Rose, Hainsford Developments Limited and BWEA Vice-Chairman
  
• Megan Arnold, Account Manager, GE.
  

Technologies and presenters:

• David Still, Managing Director, Clipper Windpower Europe Limited: Britannia Wind Turbine, 7.5MW turbine
  
• Neal Bastick, Chief Executive Officer, Blue H Technologies: The World’s First Floating Wind Turbine
  
• Peter C Hunter, Chairman, VertAx Wind Ltd: 10MW vertical axis turbine
  
• Alan Tricklebank, Consultant, Gifford & Concrete Centre: Concrete Foundations
  
• Matthew Knight, Business Development Manager Renewables, Siemens Transmission and Distribution Ltd: Siemens 8DA Offshore Array Switch
  
• Peter Jones, Head of Technology, ABB Ltd: HVDC Technology.
  
• Summary on presentations
  

New technology is the key to increased deployment of offshore wind. Brave souls will face down a panel of ‘Dragons’ and convince them that their technology holds the solutions to deeper water and higher power turbines.

Offshore Renewables Health & Safety Chaired by John Sharp, visiting Professor at Cranfield University on Offshore Technology

• Wg. Cdr. Peter Lloyd, Chief of Staff/ Deputy SAR Force Commander, RAF
  
• Jerry Carnell, PMSS: Progress with BWEA Jack up barge guidance
  
• Lez Atkinson, E.ON: Robin Rigg – H&S delivery in the operational phase
  
• Peter Hearn, Tesicnor: Diving Safety for Offshore Wind Projects.
  
• Q&A Session
  

Ensuring that engineering operations in the offshore environment are as safe as possible is of the highest importance. This session will examine some of the challenges unique to constructing and operating offshore and discuss the procedures being adopted to ensure safety. This session will focus on offshore wind, but will also consider practices relevant to all marine energy.

Offshore Round 3, the industry perspective Chair: Tony Dorazio, BP and BWEA Offshore Strategy Group Chair

• Mike Rolls, Director, Business Development, Siemens UK Energy Sector: Round 3 Projects from Wind Turbine Manufacturer’s Perspective
  
• Chris Towner, Senior Associate, Bond Pearce LLP: The Practical Legal Consequences of the New Offshore Regulatory Regime
  
• Uffe Vinther Schou, Sales Director, Vestas Offshore A/S: Building Wind Farms Offshore – Challenges and opportunities
  
• Dr Richard Court, Technology Specialist – Wind Renewables, NaREC: NaREC - Accelerating Technology Development for Offshore Round 3 Deployment
  
• Chris Hill, Head of Offshore, Mainstream Renewable Power: Offshore Round 3 - A Developer’s Perspective.
  

The fascinating worlds of offshore technology and development knowhow are demonstrated in this highly noteworthy session. Round 3 brings many challenges to technology, development and new practical legal issues. Here is an opportunity to hear the views of (and question) some of the most experienced experts in the industry.

COWRIE – Current research on the benefits and impact of offshore wind farms Chaired by Carolyn Heaps, COWRIE Trustee and Director

• Bill Cooper, Managing Director, ABP Marine Environmental Research Ltd: Coastal processes modelling for offshore windfarm environmental impact assessments - best practice guide
  
• Sue King, AMEC Power & Process - Renewable Energy: Cumulative impact assessment for birds and offshore wind farms– working towards a standard process
  
• Dr. Martin Perrow BSc, PhD, MIEEM, MIFM Cenv, Director, Econ Ecological Consultancy Ltd: Quantifying the relative use of coastal waters by breeding terns: towards effective tools for planning and assessing the impact of offshore wind farms.
  

It is with great pleasure that BWEA welcomes back COWRIE to its annual conference. COWRIE stands for Collaborative Offshore Wind Research into the Environment and their session will update on the research projects supported by the COWRIE fund. It will explain the results of some of their studies and outline the impacts for projects being developed today.

Onshore Development Issues Chaired by Douglas Wright, CEO RES Northern Europe & Asia Pacific

• Martin Mathers, ScottishPower Renewables: Government Guidance - Calculating carbon savings from wind farms on Scottish peat lands – an overview
  
• Andrew Bullmore, Hoare Lea & Partners: The Consequences of Noise on Achieving Government’s Renewable Energy Targets – a nuclear scale opportunity?
  
• Dr John Barton, Research Associate, CREST: Beyond Nimbyism: Researching public engagement with renewable energy technologies.
  
• Q&A Session
  

This session will cover the latest industry developments and will update you on the latest issues.

• Peatland is of environmental importance, both for nature conservation and as a carbon sink. Can wind energy development take place in such sensitive habitats?
• Are nuclear scale opportunities lost in the noise of wind?
• The significance of issues of public acceptability is being increasingly recognised by policy makers. What is the current level of understanding of public views and are they relevant to the way in which wind energy developments are evolving?

The Impact of the Strategic Area Planning ApproachChair: Marcus Trinick, Partner, Eversheds and BWEA Board Director

Opening with a 10 minute presentation from Dr Helen Phillips on Natural England’s Strategic Planning approach, followed by a panel debate with audience participation:

• Marcus Trinick - Introduction
  
• Dr Helen Phillips, Chief Executive, Natural England
  
• Brendan Turvey and Panel discussion
  
• Brendan Turvey, Policy and Advice Officer - Renewables, Scottish Natural Heritage
  
• Simon Power, Associate Director, Arup: The Arup perspective
  
• Tanya Davies, npower renewables: The Wales perspective
  
• Alasdair MacLeod, Head of Wind Development, Infinis Ltd: The Scottish perspective
  
• Fiona Stevens, Development Project Manager, RES: The Northern Ireland Perspective.
  

Natural England has issued a Draft Wind Energy Policy, which also includes ‘opportunity maps’ for the location of wind energy developments. Following a presentation from Helen Phillips from Natural England, a panel of experts will debate the pros and cons of a strategic area planning approach, from their experiences across the UK.

Winning an appeal – your questions answered Chaired by Richard Mardon, Managing Director, Your Energy Ltd, BWEA Director and Onshore Strategy Group Chair

• John Ainslie, Head of Consents, npower renewables: the developer’s perspective.
  
• Marcus Trinick, Partner, Eversheds LLP & BWEA Board Director: The lawyer’s perspective
  
• Peter Burley, Assistant Director - Environment and Special Casework, The Planning Inspectorate for England and Wales: The Inspector’s perspective
  
• Q&A Session
  

Should I submit a planning application if I am not willing to go to appeal? How do I know whether it is worth going to appeal? What are the advantages of written reps versus full inquiry? How is evidence used? This session aims to answer these questions and more.

Wind Resource & Analysis Chaired by Anabel Gammidge, SKM and Chair of the BWEA Wind Resource Group

• Bob Hodgetts, Garrad Hassan – Preconstruction predictions of turbine suitability
  
• Peter Clive, Sgurr Energy – Mitigating the impact of complex terrain on Lidar wind resource assessment accuracy
  
• Neil Douglas, Natural Power – Operational Wind Farm Troubleshooting in Complex flow environments
  
• Andy Oldroyd, Oldbaum Services: Preliminary results from a wind industry led remote sensing validation study.
  

Predicting the output from wind farms in complex terrain and forested sites is particularly challenging and requires extensive data collection and detailed analysis to ensure that turbines will not be subject to life-limiting conditions (excessive turbulence, wind shear, high inflow angles) and that energy production will not be reduced below expectations. In this session, methods for more accurately predicting these situations are discussed, including the use of Lidar. Preliminary results from a remote sensing validation study will also be presented.

Micro- and Small-Wind Chair: Matt Partridge, Head of Strategic Wind Development, Ecotricity and BWEA Small Systems Steering Committee Chair

• Paul Rochester, Head of Microgeneration Technology and Standards, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR)
  
• John Callaghan, Senior Manager, The Carbon Trust & Richard Boud, Associate Director, Entec: Smallscale Wind Energy – Policy insights and practical guidance
  
• Terry Rowbury, Head of Product & Service Development, Energy Saving Trust: Energy Saving Trust Micro-wind Field Trials
  
• Dr. Lindsay Sugden, Consultant, Delta Energy & Environment: International markets for small wind systems – Opportunities for UK manufacturing.
  
• Q&A Session
  

This session will cover the latest industry developments in terms of policy, research, and market opportunities relating to the UK micro- and small-wind sector, the only microgeneration industry in which the UK currently holds world leadership.

Health & Safety Chaired by David Farrier C Eng I MechE, Dip AF, Head of Business Improvement, E.ON Climate & Renewables, BWEA Board Director and H&S Steering Group Chair

• Phil Papard, Head of Product Safety Section, Health & Safety Executive: Specifying Lifts for Wind Turbines – meeting legal requirements
  
• Nick Summers, Head of Utilities Section; Services, Transportation & Safety Unit, Health & Safety Executive & David Farrier, Head of Business Improvement, E.ON Climate & Renewables, and a BWEA Board Director: Public Safety and Guidance for Planners
  
• Dr Steve Deacon, Group Medical / H&S Director, ScottishPower Renewables: Medical and Physical Fitness to Climb
  
• Rod Blunden, Blunden Consultancy Ltd: BWEA revised Wind H&S Guidance.
  

Hitting the “hot” topics of 2008, this session launches BWEA’s revised and expanded H&S Guidance as well as tackling the latest developments in working at height and measures to ensure your project does not fall at the consenting hurdle due to safety related aspects. Relevant to all disciplines, the session combines industry experts with HSE speakers to give practical advice in a number of key areas.

Aviation Mitigation – What has worked? Chair: Bill Richmond, Clipper Wind & BWEA Aviation Strategy Group Chair

• Gp Capt Chris Knapman, Deputy Assistant Chief of Staff, Command and Control Support, HQ RAF Air Command & Rune Rønvik, Project Director for the Sheringham Shoal Offshore Wind Farm Project, StatoilHydro: The Sheringham Shoal Experience
  
• Anne Mackenzie, Group Manager Corporate Strategy, Infratil Airports Europe Limited: The Thames Estuary Arrays – aviation mitigations can be found
  
• Colin Caldow, Turbine Manager Whitelee, ScottishPower Renewables, Colin Cragg, Head of Aerodrome Safeguarding, BAA Ltd & Kel Kirkland, General Manager, NATS Edinburgh: The Three Kings - Unlocking Whitelee
  
• Alistair Auld, Systems Engineer (Surveillance), NATS (En-route) Plc (“NERL”): Aviation Mitigations – Modifying NERL’s surveillance infrastructure.
  
• Q&A Session
  

There is no silver bullet for solving the wind farm and radar issue, so what are our options? This session will cover case studies from the MOD, NATS En Route and Terminal Air Traffic Control environments - real projects with the development of real aviation solutions. Learn how they have been successful in their approach and understand why all developments need to be considered on a case by case basis.

The Aviation Plan –Solutions Update Chair: Simon Christian, Project Development Director, ScottishPower & BWEA Aviation Strategy Group Vice Chair

• Gp. Cpt. Maurice Dixon, Air Defence and Air Traffic Systems Integrated Project Team Leader (ADATS IPTL) & Wg. Cdr. Ginge Paige, Ministry of Defence (MoD), Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S): Windfarm Interference Mitigation - MoD Upd
  
• Andy Edmunds, Operations Policy, NERL, NATS En-route plc: NERL’s Windfarm Mitigation Policy – a strategic approach
  
• Dr. Martin Marais, BERR / RWE Innogy: Aviation Plan e-consultation system.
  
• Q&A Session
  

The Aviation Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), signed in June this year by aviation stakeholders and the wind industry, is underpinned by an Aviation Plan, which all parties are working towards in developing mitigation solutions for the wind farm and radar issue. This session will highlight progress in each of the En Route, Civil and Military Air Traffic Control and Military Air Defence areas.