Preben Maegaard
| Preben Maegaard | |
|---|---|
| Born |
September 25, 1935 Ærø, Denmark |
| Occupation | Founder and director emeritus of Nordic Folkecenter for Renewable Energy, renewable energy pioneer, author, expert |
| Years active | 1974–present |
Preben Maegaard (born September 25, 1935), is a Danish renewable energy pioneer, author and expert. Since the oil crisis in 1974 he has worked for the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy. Preben Maegaard is co-founder of the Nordic Folkecenter for Renewable Energy, established in 1983, and its director 1984 till 2013 (www.folkecenter.net).
Preben Maegaard works locally, nationally and internationally at the organisational, political and technological levels within broad spectrum of renewable energy technologies. From 1979 to 1984 Preben Maegaard was chairman of the Danish Renewable Energy Association (OVE), since 1991, vice-president of Eurosolar (the European Renewable Energy Association) and in 2006, appointed senior vice-president. Since 1992 he has been co-ordinator of the European Solar Prize in Denmark and member of the European Solar Prize Jury. In 1995 he became Member of Senate, UTER, Technical University, Havana. In 1996 and the following years, Preben Maegaard was member of the board of EUROSUN, an intergroup set up by the European Parliament. Since 1999, he has been a board member of the European Renewable Energies Federation (EREF) and Renewable Energy Adviser to the President of Mali, Alpha Konare, leading to the establishment of the Mali Folkecenter. In 2001, he became a chairperson of the Committee of the World Council for Renewable Energy (WCRE). When the World Wind Energy Association (WWEA) was founded in 2001, he became its first president, a position he held till 2005. In May 2006, the World Wind Energy Institute (WWEI) was initiated in Kingston, Canada, involving seven institutes from China, Brazil, Cuba, Canada, Russia, Egypt and Denmark. Preben Maegaard was appointed the first president of the WWEI. He was co-founder of the SolarSuperState Association when it was founded in 2012 and became its first president.
As the director of the Folkecenter he has been responsible for the technological innovation of windmills, including design, construction and implementation of sizes from 20 to 525 kW, farm biogas digesters from 50 to 1000 m3 as well as integrated energy systems including hydrogen and biofuels for transport. The technological development and implementation activities took place in cooperation with DS Trade and Industry (www.ds-net.dk). The Folkecenter has under his leadership provided transfer of renewable energy technology to many countries, and set up numerous pilot projects worldwide. In 2002, the liberal government suspended the national renewable energy development and implementation activities and programs in which Preben Maegaard held positions. Danish State support to the Folkecenter received since 1983 was suspended as well. Since 2005, Folkecenter has received funding from the Energifonden and since 2012 support from the Danish state.
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