Vestas Win(d) Power Challenge Case Competition

Objective
Help scientists provide Governments with information on the potentials of wind
power globally and fuel your potential future wind power career. The International
Scientific Congress on Climate Change (http://climatecongress.ku.dk/), held in
Denmark in March 2009, will analyse, among other things, how much wind power
can contribute to the abatement of climate change. The potentials identified by
scientists in this conference will be reported to the governments negotiating new
commitments under the UN Climate Convention (http://unfccc.int) in the 2009
Climate Summit in Denmark.

The case competition process

In a team of 2-4 master’s degree students you can solve the challenges listed below.
The first challenge is the same challenge also put to the scientists presenting papers at
The International Scientific Congress on Climate Change. In addition, we have added
one more challenge for you to solve in this case competition. The prize to the winning
group is a master thesis sponsorship under Vestas Global University Programme to all
the group members. The sponsorship is given during your master thesis period where
you will spend around 25% of the time at Vestas. The sponsorship covers costs such
as travel, housing and living costs. If you win, you also get a tour to Copenhagen and
a ticket to The International Scientific Congress on Climate Change on 10-12 March
2009 where the prize will be presented to you. The participating groups should
submit an abstract before 1 November 2008 to universityprogramme@vestas.com. On
15 November 2008, we will inform the groups with the best abstracts that they are
invited to make a report of max 20 pages and they will then participate in the final
competition for being the best group in the case challenge. On 25 February, the
winning group will be identified and all groups will at this point be informed about
the result of the case challenge.

Vestas Wind Systems A/S and wind power

Vestas Wind Systems A/S is technology and market leader in the global wind industry
(www.vestas.com). Wind power is a renewable, predictable and clean source of
energy. Substantial capacity can be built up quickly, offering the energy independence
demanded by the world's largest and fastest-growing economies. This is why Vestas
call wind power, modern energy.

Wind power is already part of the energy “life line” in several countries around the
world. In 2007, Denmark generated around 20 percent of its electricity from wind
power; Spain, almost 12 percent; Portugal, 9 percent; and Germany, 7 percent. Other
countries around the world are rapidly increasing wind power’s role in the energy mix.
The United States, for example, led the world in 2007 installing more than 5,200 MW
of new wind capacity. Spain and China ranked second and third globally, respectively
installing almost 3,522 and 3,449 MW, while fourth-ranking India installed 1,730
MW of new wind capacity (for more information see, for example, www.EWEA.org,
www.AWEA.org, www.windpower.org).

Challenge 1
The scientists at the International Scientific Congress on Climate Change are to
answer the question: How much can wind power contribute to combating global
climate change?

Based on existing studies from recognised universities, institutes, international

organisations, governments etc, your group should answer this question. Identify at
least two studies on wind power potentials covering both the short (2020) and long
(2050) term potentials. Compare and analyse these studies and explain differences in
the studies, including differences in the studies’ underlying assumptions regarding for
example global wind resources, oil prices, the electricity transmission network
infrastructure, the regulative context etc.

Challenge 2
Denmark currently holds the world record with a wind penetration of 20%. The
Danish wind power industry association (www.windpower.org) has on their
homepage filed a vision for how Denmark can achieve a 50% wind penetration.
Reaching such wind penetrations require that the grid is modernised - that is, first and
foremost it is necessary to install sufficient transmission capacity. Following this, if
the transport infrastructure is also innovated - so that wind turbines can power, for
example, cars, trucks, trains etc - this would then further assist in paving the way for
very high wind penetrations.

In this challenge 2 we would like your group to discuss innovative technical solutions
that can advance:

1. Powertransmission
2. Energy storage
3. Widespread use of vehicles fuelled by wind power generated electricity

The group can choose to answer one or more of the three above challenge 2 questions.

How to make an abstract

In the first round we only ask for a short abstract from each group. The abstract
should contain the following:

Challenge 1: Identify what studies on wind power potentials you want to analyse.
Provide the reference for the studies and describe in a few lines why you want to
analyse the chosen studies.

Challenge 2: Identify what challenge 2 questions you want to answer and some
further details on how you plan to address the chosen questions.

The abstract must be submitted by 1 November 2008. Vestas will let you know if you
get the opportunity to participate in the final case competition where the above
challenges will have to be addressed in a report of max 20 pages. For the purpose of
being able to inform you about entering or not in the final case competition, we need
the group members to identify themselves in the abstract giving us names, universities,
departments and e-mail addresses. Should your group have questions regarding the
case competition, you can email them to the universityprogramme@vestas.com.