The annual Futurewind seminar provides a stage for wind CDT students to present their work to guests from both academia and industry. This year the seminar was opened by Ignacio Marti (ORE Catapult and IEA Wind), a fellow forecaster. Despite a slowdown in investment in wind over the last couple of years, Ignacio gave an optimistic presentation highlighting the success of countries such as Spain, Denmark and Germany. He highlighted success of research efforts, for example how in the 90s 20% penetration was thought to be the maximum at which a power system could safely operate, and how now Spain and Denmark safely operate with over 70% instantaneous penetration.

Following presentations form PhD students, a panel made up of academics and industry representatives discussed the wind industry's prospects following the general election this May. The consensus was that prolonged uncertainty is holding up investment in renewables while other technologies are being pushed. When asked about the possibility of a referendum on membership of the EU, the importance of European targets and initiatives in driving the industry in the UK was highlighted.

The day was closed with the award of the poster prize to Alice Malvaldi (another forecaster!), and remarks from Prof David Infield, manager of the wind CDT.

Today I have started to build this website where I hope to communicate my research (and other interesting things) and share datasets and code I have used to enable others to replicate my work and develop their own. I'm on a steep learning curve so please bear with me while I get everything up and running!