NAWEA/WindTech 2026
Join us in Portland, Oregon, for the in-person NAWEA/WindTech 2026 Conference this September 21 - 23, 2026 with the Graduate Student Symposium taking place September 20, 2026. The event is proudly organized by NAWEA and Portland State University.
Stay tuned for more details.
Panel Wednesday, September 22, 2026: Opportunities on the roller coaster of wind energy United States.
ALESSANDRO BIANCHINI
Alessandro Bianchini is Associate Professor at the Department of Industrial Engineering of the University of Florence (Italy). Prof. Bianchini currently also serves as the President of the European Academy of Wind energy (EAWE), Associated Editor of the Wind Energy Science Journal, and Member of the Management Committee of WindEurope.
In the field of wind energy, he has authored so far more than 200 publications in peer-reviewed journals and conferences, including the authorship of two papers among the recent “Grand Challenges Paper Series”.
His main research fields are wind turbine aerodynamics, floating offshore wind, and design/simulation of wind turbines and farms with multi-fidelity approaches, from engineering methods to high-computing Computational Fluid Dynamics.
ERIC SMITH
Eric Smith is an industrial and cleantech entrepreneur who led Keystone Tower Systems from founding through scale-up and acquisition. Keystone developed and commercialized tapered spiral welding, a new process for manufacturing towers for utility-scale wind turbines, and now operates roughly 1 GW of tower production capacity in Texas, with the technology expanding into new markets. Before Keystone, Eric ran a consulting practice that helped early-stage energy startups and their investors develop, evaluate and prototype new technologies. He holds more than 100 issued patents worldwide and graduate degrees in mechanical and electrical engineering from MIT.
NOAH MYRENT
Noah Myrent is a Principal Technical Leader at EPRI, where he leads wind power R&D focused on improving the reliability, performance, and cost-effectiveness of renewable energy assets. He specializes in wind fleet management, digitalization, data analytics, and condition monitoring strategies that support more informed asset decisions.
Before joining EPRI, Noah led ONYX Insight’s global monitoring program supporting thousands of wind turbines worldwide. Prior to ONYX, Noah was a research scientist for structural dynamics labs at Purdue and Vanderbilt.
He holds MS and BS degrees from Purdue University and has authored numerous publications on wind turbine blade health, monitoring, and renewable asset management.
PAUL VEERS
Paul Veers is the Executive Director of NAWEA and will be moderating the panel.
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