This week saw a trend of investment banks sign up to the Dallas Wind Energy Operations and Maintenance (O&M) Summit taking place on 15-16 April at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Dallas, USA. Firms such as JP Morgan, Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs and Google registered interest in sharing insight at the summit on key investor issues and the need to understand more about operational challenges.

Eduardo Garcia Pérez, Head of Central Maintenance, Europe, for EPD Renewables, said that the focus for the wind industry needs to be on asset management.

Garcia says that ‘if you control the asset effectively, you can get more value and more output, and investors need to be made aware of this potential. The problem with investors is that they tend to outsource as a reflex, thinking that O&M is the OEM. ‘This is because they don’t know what options are available – they don’t know the value of sourcing.’

His words are echoed by Jean Lemaire, director of asset management at Akuo Energy who stated that there must be a ‘better link between operations, finance and the real world – we need to bridge this gap to create growth in the industry.’ In terms of financing there is still a major lack of awareness of the risk mitigation opportunities that are available to the wind industry.

The key to success could be a case of channelling much of this informa¬tion through financial avenues. Lemaire suggests ‘highlighting the opportunities that exist, having regular interactions, being aware of the potential benefits and most importantly making investors aware of the ground breaking tech-nologies and innovative options for cost reduction and risk reduction.’ These financial issues along with asset life extension, data implementation, post warranty management and main component strategy will be central themes at the Wind Energy O&M Summit in Dallas.

This meeting point is now recognized as the Americas most reputable and rewarding commercial business forum. Uniting decision makers from the industry's most influential investors, operators, technology innovators, specialist service providers and R&D experts to develop winning O&M strategies, conduct business and to cement their company's name in the growing industry.

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, Globaleqa, DNV GL, JP Morgan, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Siemens, Broadwind and many more.

For more information on this event, speakers, agenda and workshop, visit the website: http://www.windenergyupdate.com/operations-maintenance-usa/

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Elizabeth Demestiha
Project Director
Elizabeth@windenergyupdate.com