Revving up like the factories across America that make wind turbine components, the WINDPOWER 2012 Conference & Exhibition—the world’s largest annual wind energy event—got under way with a packed schedule of educational sessions, the opening of its giant exhibition and the induction of the American Wind Energy Association’s (AWEA) new board leadership for 2012-2013.
The theme for WINDPOWER 2012, ‘Manufacturing the FUTURE today’, is fitting both in terms of the 75,000 people that the U.S. wind energy industry employs (30,000 in manufacturing alone) as well as the Atlanta location for this year’s conference. A true hub of wind power manufacturing, the Southeast is home to nearly 100 factories that produce components for the industry. Over 470 U.S. manufacturing plants, located in every region of the country, are part of wind power’s domestic supply chain.