U.S. Department of Energy - Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy
Wind and Water Power Program - Wind-Diesel Workshop
The 2008 International Wind-Diesel Workshop took place April 24-25, 2008 in Girdwood, Alaska. It was hosted by the U.S. Department of Energy, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, the Alaska Energy Authority, and the Renewable Energy Alaska Project. It had been almost four years since the last Wind-Diesel Workshop and the technology had expanded in nature and application. New systems had been installed from Alaska to the Galapagos Islands and several older sites had seen large expansions. The rising cost of diesel fuel and the maturing of the wind industry continued to spur the market forward, with projects being planned or implemented from Mongolia to Antarctica. As with all of the workshops in pervious years, this one focused on what has worked, and what has not, bringing the wind-diesel community together to share and discuss the current status of the technology and where we feel it should be going.
Workshop Flyer
Pre-Workshop 
On Wednesday, April 23, 2008, a 4-hour course was offered in the afternoon. It covered the basics of wind-diesel power systems, including power systems technology and some examples of current hybrid power systems. This introductory level, short course was targeted to those who have little or no experience in wind-diesel power systems. The session provided people new to wind-diesel applications with knowledge that enabled them to take an active role in the Wind-Diesel Workshop.
Wind-Diesel Workshop
On Thursday and Friday, April 24-25, 2008, the 2008 Wind-Diesel Workshop presented the latest information in operating experience, design concepts, system components, related research and development, discussion of emerging markets, and description of institutional issues and perspectives based on the experiences of operating systems in Alaska and around the world. There was also a series of panel sessions on addressing the barriers to the further development of wind-diesel applications. A workshop dinner and special event was held on Thursday evening.
Wind-Diesel Project Field Trips
On Saturday and Sunday, April 26-27, 2008, participants could choose to fly to two remote communities, Kasigluk, with a stopover in Bethel, and Kotzebue, to tour the wind-diesel plants and talk with local operators and village leaders on the operations and value of retrofitting diesel mini-grids with wind turbines and associated controls.
