About the Speaker:
Alla Weinstein is the CEO of Principle Power Inc., a technology development company based in Seattle and focused on the deep-water offshore wind energy market. Ms. Weinstein was the co-founder and CEO of AquaEnergy Group (AEG), a company that successfully developed a wave energy conversion technology that was acquired by Finavera Renewables Inc., a TSXV listed Renewable Energy company, where she was the General Manager and a Director. Alla brings over 30 years of industry experience, building global engineering projects for companies like Honeywell and Boeing. She is a frequent speaker in the US and Europe on the development of Renewable Energy and has served as the first President of the European Ocean Energy Association. Alla holds a BE in Electrical Engineering from Stevens Institute of Technology and an MBA from Thunderbird, the Garvin School of International Management.
About the Speech:
In recent years there have been two significant trends in the wind industry: developers seeking higher quality wind resources and the development of larger turbines. Floating wind turbines is a significant innovation in the renewable energy sector as it provides developers with better access to offshore resources unconstrained by water depth.
In her presentation, Ms. Weinstein examined the policy basis for the development of renewable energy and offshore wind energy in particular, in Europe. She elaborated on Principle Power's pilot project, the first full-scale WindFloat which will be completed in September 2011 and which will be located off the coast of Portugal. Drawing a comparison between Ireland and Portugal in terms of our similar climate, energy mix, size and population, Ms. Weinstein alluded to Ireland's potential for developing its massive offshore wind energy resource. Finally she commented that WindFloat technology could play a central role in making offshore wind energy more accessible in Ireland and across Europe.
This event was the third event in the Energy Ireland Series, which is proudly sponsored by ESB.
