Show organisers are positioning the Wind O&M Summit in Dallas, scheduled to take place at the Hyatt Regency North Dallas, is a reputable and rewarding commercial business forum. It's the place where decision makers from the industry's most influential investors, operators, technology innovators, specialist service providers and R&D experts gather to develop winning O&M strategies, conduct business and to cement their company's name in the growing industry.
“With new business currently at standstill for much of the wind energy construction supply chain, we are pleased to see such movement in O&M,” said Elizabeth Demestiha, Wind Energy Update’s project director. “Obviously there are challenges to be overcome as the industry matures, but as with any business, we will get through it and make it work."
Some of those challenges and issues revolve around investment strategies. According to Demestiha, North American investment banks are scrutinizing wind energy operations and maintenance while Federal Government debates a further extension of the Production Tax Credit. Industry observers say an extension of the Production Tax Credit (PTC) is extremely likely in the United States of America. However, while the Federal Government deliberates this, North American utilities and independent power producers are focussing particular attention to their aftercare strategies in an effort to drive profitability from the wind energy assets that are already in operation.
In response to this shift in the industry, manufacturers and providers of specialist O&M services are beginning to offer extremely valuable technologies at very competitive costs, Demestiha notes. Given the infancy of some of these companies, the financiers backing many projects are concerned that there may be a risk to their investment, so the burning questions are: what works, and where to find it.
Firms such as JP Morgan, Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs and Google are leading the pack and plan to share their insight on such investor-related issues at the Dallas-based Wind O&M Summit in April. Companies confirmed include NextEra, EDF, EDP Renewables, E.ON, BP Wind Energy, DTE Energy, Duke Energy Renewables, Acciona Energy, Alliant Energy, AES Wind, Infigen, Pattern Energy, Noble Power, NRG Energy, Transalta, Rio Energy, Kruger Energy, EverPower Wind, Globeleq, DNV GL, JP Morgan, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Siemens, Gamesa, Suzlon, Broadwind and many more.
More information on this event, speakers, agenda and workshop, etc., is available online.