The plenary meeting of the Executive Committee (ExCo) of the International Energy Agency (IEA) Wind Technology Collaboration Program (IEA Wind TCP), which, under the aegis of the IEA, promotes research and technology development activities on wind power at the international level, was held at the Politecnico di Bari on May 21-24.

The event in Bari was organized by Laura Serri, Head of the Research Group ‘Innovative Systems and Technologies for Energy Networks’ of RSE Transmission and Distribution Technologies Department, and Luca Greco, a researcher at CNR’s Institute of Marine Engineering (Istituto di Ingegneria del Mare, INM), as Italian representatives, and was attended by 70 participants from around the world who analyzed the state of the art of wind power from industrial, research and market perspectives.

The objective of the ExCo is to promote collaboration among member countries by implementing collaborative research projects (Tasks) with the aim of fostering the exchange of information and facilitating, at the international level, the achievement of harmful emission reduction targets through the use of renewable energy sources. During the meeting, scientific aspects of wind power were explored from different and complementary points of view. In fact, ExCo members focus on technologies, issues related to the integration of an energy source such as wind in national power systems, the environmental impact that such generation systems entail, and problems of social acceptance of the same.

As part of this event, two visits to industrial sites were organized in Taranto. In the morning, there was a visit to the facilities of Vestas Wind Systems A/S, a leading company in the construction of wind turbines that, precisely at the Taranto plant, is building the blades for the 15 MW V236 turbine. In the afternoon, there was a visit to Beleolico, the first offshore wind farm in the Mediterranean, built and operated by Renexia Spa. The plant, inaugurated in April 2022, consists of 10 turbines and is capable of producing about 58 thousand MWh per year, covering the needs of 60 thousand people, with CO₂ emissions saving of more than 730 thousand tons.

The plenary meeting was held at the facilities of the Politecnico di Bari, Department of Mechanics, Mathematics and Management (DMMM), a university at the forefront of wind power research, which participates in the IEA WIND TCP Research Tasks and supported CNR [National Research Council of Italy] and RSE in organizing the event.

The event was a remarkable success: it registered a record number of participants and was cited by the committee chair for its excellent organization.

IEA is an association aimed at fostering collaboration among member countries on issues such as energy, economic development, and environmental awareness, and focused, among others, on fossil fuel needs, exploitation of renewable energy sources, and access to resources. There are currently 30 member countries, mainly in North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand. Italy was among the agency’s founders in 1974.