Wind energy is increasingly becoming the driving force of the global energy transition. The main challenge now is to reduce the production cost of wind power. The industry is taking up this challenge, as one of the most innovative industries in the world. Its new products, applications and efficiency strategies add up to continuous progress. It is less than four months until the start of WindEnergy Hamburg, the world’s leading expo for wind energy. From 27 to 30 September, more than 1,200 exhibitors from over 30 countries will present their innovations for use of wind energy onshore and offshore at the Hamburg Fair site. The nine exhibition halls are almost fully booked. This year for the first time, the WindEurope Conference will be held in parallel. “The world’s leading wind industry expo is teaming up with the WindEurope Conference to give the industry the most important international meeting point for know-how transfer, which is so important for taking up the global challenges and cutting carbon emissions,” said Bernd Aufderheide, President and CEO of Hamburg Messe und Congress GmbH, at today’s advance press conference in Hamburg.
“These two top-level events at one location generate optimal synergies for all trade visitors,” said Aufderheide. “Once again that makes Hamburg the place where the wind industry gets vital insights.” Giles Dickson, CEO of WindEurope, said: “The WindEurope Summit will address the opportunities and challenges in the development of the European wind markets. New topics such as storage and electrification will be reflected in the programme.” WindEurope is the European wind energy association, pursuing the economic policy goals of the industry.
It was clear at the press conference where the wind industry currently stands in the reduction of power generating costs. Dr. Markus Tacke, CEO of Siemens Wind Power and Renewables Division, said: “Remote diagnostics and data analyses now enable higher yields and targeted, hence more cost-effective deployment of maintenance engineers. Digitisation is already helping us to develop technologies that will enable us to match wind energy production better to grid demand.”
Nils de Baar, President of Vestas Business Unit Central Europe, was also present at the advance press conference for WindEnergy Hamburg, and underlined the successful efforts undertaken to reduce the cost of energy by technical innovations and developments: “This goal drives our technological progress and is being reflected by a significant fall of energy costs: We have seen the cost of energy drop by 15 percent in the last five years and 80 percent in the last 20 years.”
