A number of international organizations are actively involved in activities that have direct relevance to wind energy in general and offshore wind energy in particular.  The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) develops design standards that help ensure the wind turbines function as intended (IEC 61400-3-1 (design standard for fixed bottom offshore wind turbines) and IEC 61400-3-2 (design standard for floating offshore wind turbines), among others).  The IEC System for Certification to Standards (IECRE) helps ensure that wind turbines are actually designed and built in accordance with appropriate standards.  The International Energy Agency’s (IEA) wind energy program facilitates forward thinking in the advancement of wind energy technology.  This talk will focus on three main topics with which the speaker has a direct connection: 1) an update on the newest editions of the key standards relevant to offshore wind turbines, 2) an exercise underway to apply the standards to Massachusetts offshore wind energy area, and 3) IEA’s Topical Expert Meeting (TEM #89) Grand Vision for Wind Energy, which is developing scenarios for research and development which will be needed to facilitate wind energy (including offshore) providing more than 50% of the world’s electricity by 2050.

James F. Manwell is Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Massachusetts and the Director of the University’s Wind Energy Center. He graduated from Amherst College with a B.A. in biophysics and then from the University of Massachusetts with an M.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering and a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering. Professor Manwell has been working in field of wind energy for over 35 years, both in the United States and internationally.  His research interests have focused on assessment of the wind resource and wind turbine external design conditions, hybrid power system design, energy storage and offshore wind energy.  He is an author of a textbook on wind energy: Wind Energy Explained: Theory, Design and Application.  He worked with the International Energy Agency’s wind energy R&D activity, Annex VIII, which dealt with autonomous wind systems and in conjunction with that activity was a contributing author to the book, Wind-Diesel Systems: A Guide to the Technology and its Implementation. Subsequently, he was the US representative to the International Electrotechnical Commission’s (IEC) program to develop the first design standards for offshore wind turbines (IEC 61400-3), served on the International Science Panel on Renewable Energies, was instrumental in bringing a large wind turbine blade test facility to Massachusetts and was a charter committee member for the North American Academy of Wind Energy.  He is presently Secretary of the IEC group (IEC TC 88 61400-MT3) which is developing a second edition of the offshore wind turbine design standard.  He is an author or co-author of more than 200 journal articles and conference papers.