James Manwell

director, renewable energy lab, UMASS Amherst

Professor James Manwell has been working in field of wind energy for over 25 years, where his research interests have focused on wind resource assessment, hybrid power system design, and offshore wind energy. He is currently on the faculty of the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering and is the Director of the Renewable Energy Research Laboratory (RERL) at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. Beginning in the 1980s and continuing up to the present, Manwell has been active in the design and modeling of hybrid power systems, including the development of the Hybrid2 computer code. Hybrid systems include multiple types of generators, electrical loads, storage units, and control systems. Under his direction, the Renewable Energy Research Laboratory installed in 1994 the first utility scale (250 kW) wind turbine in Massachusetts. This turbine forms an integral part of the research and education program at the University. More recently, he has assisted the Town of Hull in acquiring a 660 kW wind turbine in 2001 (the largest in New England at that time), followed by a 1.8 MW wind turbine in 2006 (again, the largest in New England). Manwell is also an author of a textbook on wind energy; *Wind Energy Explained: Theory, Design and Application*. Professor Manwell provides assistance to the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative (MTC) and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts' Division of Energy Resources (DOER) to facilitate the introduction of renewable energy to the state. Currently he is the U.S. representative to the International Electrotechnical Commission's program (IEC TC88 WG3) to develop design standards for offshore wind turbines. He is also a member of the International Science Panel on Renewable Energy.