Yesterday I hopped down to LA for the first day of WINDPOWER 2007, the wind energy industry’s annual conference and trade show. It’s not an event that will make a lot of waves in the media (despite high-profile speakers), but I wanted to provide GO readers with an inside look at how the wind industry sees itself and what that means for the rest of us. However, it’s such a huge event that even one day’s coverage demands multiple posts. I apologize for not getting part one up earlier, but here it is.

EcoGeek’s Ransom Riggs sat next to me at the morning press briefing featuring Sen. Tom Daschle, head of conference sponsor AWEA, Randall Swisher, and other energy big-wigs. Ransom's writeup provides a good overview of conclusions coming out of the briefing and the message of the conference in general, so we asked the EcoGeek if we could feature Ransom’s overview in addition to my thoughts and analysis.

Looking down on the showroom from the press room, the wind industry's largest gathering was a sight to behold. Whereas Greenfest Chicago called the ‘green’ world together to speak to tens of thousands of consumers, WINDPOWER 2007 has brought 7,000 wind energy professionals to a showroom about the same size, with the extra space filled by glitzy, expensive (and effective) marketing displays.

Similarly, WINDPOWER replaces Greenfest’s impassioned speeches with multiple themed tracks of seminars and panels for the various types of stakeholders at the event. I hopped around to as many sessions as I could, and every speaker I heard had a particular expert perspective on wind power's potential to help mitigate and solve many of the problems facing our present and future. I'll save the real analytical meat for part 2 of my coverage, but for now, some highlights:

• acclaimed scientists picked apart myths and bogeymen about using and expanding wind energy;
• engineers beamed at new technologies that are ready to make a huge difference in energy production given continued investment growth and economies of scale;
• regulators warned that transmission capacity is emerging as a bottleneck for harnessing the best and most plentiful wind resources, although there remains lots of wind that can be exploited with today’s transmission infrastructure;
• every question about how best to bring wind power to scale (AWEA would like to see 300GW of capacity installed by 2020) had a single answer: stable, supportive long-term government policies that will signal investors that the opportunity profit from wind energy is here to stay.

Until I have time to tackle each of these points and others in greater depth over the next few days, GO and EcoGeek aren’t the only online media outlets providing coverage of the happenings at WINDPOWER 2007. Renewable Energy Access definitely wins the award for most frequent updates from the conference. In keeping with REA’s industry professional focus, most of their updates look like press releases from one of the 400+ exhibitors, but there’s some good, meaty info in their coverage nonetheless. Also, my buddy Summer Bowen of BTC Elements (who kindly chauffered me around at the last event I attended in LA, Phoenix Motorcar’s SUT launch) covered the event for Treehugger (link to come). Lastly, I can’t forget NewEnergyNews. If I’m forgetting any bloggers who are providing their take on the action, or if any of you at home have feelings about wind power or policy you’d like to share, leave a comment below.