Credit: Emma Phillips Photography
"I liked the complexity of wind," says wind energy specialist Craig Memery of why he ended up in the wind power industry.
Eight years ago, the former traffic engineer decided to mix things up with a TAFE certificate in renewable energy. Wind was a stand out for Memery, as the process of designing and installing wind farms is much more complex than for other renewable energy technologies. He is now a wind energy specialist at the Alternative Technology Association (ATA), a not-for-profit organisation based in Melbourne.
Memery works as a consultant for projects within rural and urban councils and other community organisations that want to understand how to develop and build wind farms. He is also heavily involved in the development of national energy frameworks to make sure the policies reflect the needs of the people who want to support renewable energy.
Memery says there is no limit to the interesting tasks required for building wind farms and wind turbines. In contrast to solar panel systems, which can often take just a few hours to assess and design, analysts can spend months assessing a site for the installation of a wind farm, and years recording wind speed data.
"Turbulence can be a big issue for a wind turbine of any size. A lot of people don't realise that wind is actually turbulent enough to be a problem for a wind turbine even 20 or 30 m above the ground in an open, cleared area," says Memery. "And if you are in a built up area, you have to go up further still. Unlike sunshine, you can't see the wind, you can't just look at it at a certain point and say 'yes, that is a turbulent area'. You really need to understand the effect of the landscape on the wind resource."
Memery has designed and installed multiple power systems incorporating wind turbines to keep businesses off the grid. Coming back to his roots, he has taught wind energy at TAFE with large and small scale wind energy, and has also been involved in the development in training courses for people who work in the wind industry.
Memery says that working in the wind industry is a "safe bet", as there are endless employment opportunities in various disciplines. "It's a changing space too, there are always new developments, be it in policy or technology and as the area becomes better known, people who you speak to have a better understanding of what you do."
Australia has a national renewable energy target of 20% of the total national energy produced from renewable sources by 2020, and this will see a continued increase in wind energy in Australia over the next 10 years. Memery says that there needs to be a combination of different types of energy generation to reach the energy needs of the country, but it is safe to say that wind energy could easily meet even 40% of our energy needs, with the right complementary technologies such as smart electricity networks and energy storage.
