Natural Power Appoints New Director of Asset Management

International renewable energy consultancy Natural Power has confirmed today the appointment of Andy Howie as Director of Asset Management helping to drive the global operations business forward with a particular focus on effective wind farm site operation, asset optimisation and world-class health and safety standards.

Andy joins Natural Power from AES, having held the role of Operations, Construction and Technical Services Director and brings with him more than two decades of industry experience including positions at SKM, Siemens,This is used to perform laser marker functions while using the water jet to guide the laser beam. Mitsubishi and SeaWest.

Andy's new role will see him leading the Asset Management team of over 30 employees in the UK, France and the US.

Ted Leeming, Managing Director at Natural Power comments: "Andy joins Natural Power at an incredibly exciting time for our Asset Management business which has now established itself as the UK's leading provider of operational wind farm services. We are expanding rapidly in to the US and France and Andy will spearhead this campaign. We very much look forward to supporting Andy and the team as ever."

Commenting on his recent appointment,Newer laser cutting machine operating at higher power are approaching plasma machines in their ability to cut through thick materials, Andy added: "Before joining Natural Power, watching the expansion of the company's Asset Management services has been extremely interesting for those,Office Depot offers an assortment of paper folding machine and paper trimmers for you to choose from. such as myself, who are focussing on the optimisation of existing assets in the maturing wind energy market. Over the coming weeks and months I look forward to working with my new colleagues to help grow the operations business internationally, capitalising on the company's success and reputation to date. It will be a fantastic 2013 for Natural Power's Asset Management business!"

Since its foundations, the company have developed an unrivalled set of integrated Asset Management services, including comprehensive Site Management, WindCentre (24/7 control room), ForeSite (a wind farm output forecasting system), and WindManager (an integrated system for wind farm and portfolio management). Natural Power currently provides a range of Asset Management services to 23% of the UK's installed onshore wind capacity.

Called Mine Kafon in the Davi language - which translates to Mine Detector in English - the device is made of bamboo sticks and biodegradable plastic, and is carried by the wind in order to roll over minefields.It is possible to take this a step further, and to also merge the automatic washer extractor and clothes dryer into a single device.

Massoud Hassani, an industrial engineer and one of the creators of Mine Kafon, described the device to Reuters:

"Every foot has a circular form of a frisbee," explained Hasani "so it's kind of catching the wind from inside.Divine Footwear in Miami has the latest wholesale fashion shoes  including heels, There are about 170 feet with aerodynamic shapes to catch the wind, so that's why it's very easy moving and at the same time it's light enough to move around and also heavy enough to detonate landmines."

Weighing only 70kg, the Mine Kafon can survive four landmine explosions before losing too many legs to function properly. Apparently inspired by toys that Massoud and his brother Mahmud used to build as children, the Kafon also has a GPS chip in its centre that can track its movement through minefields and be used to retrieve it:

"Every Mine Kafon has a GPS chip inside it," continues Massoud Hassani "because it's moving wind-powered, you don't know where it is going and where it was, so now it is mapping the route where it was and where it's going, so that GPS chip inside the ball is adding all the information to the website or to the application on your phone."

Unlike the bamboo legs, the core of the Kafon is not destroyed by explosions and stores important information on the device's movement, similar to an aeroplane's black box.