Quo Vadis 2011 in Belfast
Quo Vadis Was Titanic
The fifth Quo Vadis Conference was held in November in Belfast and record numbers were in attendance. On Wednesday afternoon the delegates were treated to a tour of Belfast Harbour and the Titanic Quarter, where two tour guides who were aptly named “Titanoraks” gave an amazing insight into the design and building of the legendary ship. Wednesday evening windpower renewable solutions Limited had the honour of hosting our pre-event dinner at the Harbour Commissioner's Office. The splendour of this building is amazing and thus it was a fitting backdrop for the 90+ guests to enjoy the opportunity of networking with their colleagues from the wind industry over a sumptuous dinner. Maria McCaffery, CEO of RenewableUK, attended again to show her support for this event which is growing in stature and popularity within the wind industry.
Thursday was the day of the conference with speakers from utility companies as well as experts from the industry. The event was chaired by Clifford McSpadden, Chairman of the Global Wind Alliance. Arlene Foster, MLA, Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment gave an informative opening speech on Northern Ireland’s vision for renewable energy. The first presenter was Olivier Gaget from RES with an interesting view on SCADA, followed by Gert Korbijn from Stork Gears who allowed a fascinating insight into gearbox failures. Jon Beresford from E.on then told the audience how to have their cake and eat it by maximising production.
Other speakers included Carsten Andersen from the Danish Windpower Academy, Michael Wilkinson from GL Garrad Hassan, Clive Newell from the Global Wind Alliance, Benn Faulkner from Renewable Advice, Maurice Henderson from SKF and Brent van de Merwe from Swale Skills Centre.
One of the delegates was Duncan McGilvray from Wind Energy Network who covered the event and made his thoughts about Quo Vadis known in his latest December/January edition:
And the delegates seem to have enjoyed Quo Vadis 2011 also, as the following selection of quotes shows:
