About me
I graduated in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Karlsruhe in Germany (now: Karlsruhe Institute of Technology). Early on I was convinced of the bright and successful future of the use of wind power. Therefore, after graduating I worked for more than 5 years as a researcher in the field of rotor aerodynamics of wind turbines – this was also the content of my Doctoral Thesis* released in 1988.
Between 1988 and 1991 I was head of the Renewable Energy Department of FGU Consulting, Koenigstein, Germany, and mainly active in projects of technical cooperation in Asia and Africa.
From 1990 until 2000 I was the coordinator of the “Special Energy Program China” on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, which focused on the dissemination of the use of wind/solar energy and on related technology transfers. Under this umbrella the first wind farms and first wind-diesel supply systems with German technology in China were realized. Moreover the first Chinese-German industrial cooperations have been created for the local production of wind turbines and components – resulting in some of today's successful Chinese products.
Since the early 2000s I have been concentrating my activities in Europe, focusing mainly on Eastern European countries – I advise developers, investors and manufacturers in the wind sector. Most recently German municipalities and energy cooperatives are among my clients.
* Experimentelle Untersuchung der Leistungscharakteristik einer Windturbine unter streng kontrollierten Bedingungen im Vergleich zu den Ergebnissen aus Feldtest und Nachrechnung / Rainer Kniehl; Düsseldorf : VDI-Verl, 1988. - VI, 99 S.; Zugl.: Karlsruhe, Univ., Diss., 1988
