WindEnergy Hamburg has strengthened its position as the most important platform of the global wind industry, the past four days have demonstrated convincingly. Many of the 1,482 exhibitors from 40 different countries at the world’s leading expo of the onshore and offshore wind industry announced product launches and business transactions.
International interest in the industry event has increased further: The share of international exhibitors grown to more than 50per cent (as compared to 44per cent in 2016). All key players of the entire value chain were present in the fully-booked exhibition halls, including 16 wind turbine manufacturers from Europe, the Americas, and Asia. The featured topics of this year’s flagship fair included Dynamic Markets, Cost Effectiveness, and Smart Energy, putting the spotlight on current developments in the globally expanding wind industry. All in all, WindEnergy Hamburg was attended by 35,000 industry visitors from 100 countries (as in 2016); the share of international visitors grew to 45per cent.
“WindEnergy Hamburg is the only global industry event of the wind energy sector,” stated Bernd Aufderheide, President and CEO, Hamburg Messe und Congress. “As the energy transition unfolds around the world, and more and more wind markets exhibit dynamic growth, the interest in sharing knowledge and ideas and staying informed is stronger than ever. The world’s leading wind industry expo offered the right opportunities at the right time – an innovative platform for sharing information, doing business and networking at the highest levels,” Aufderheide continued. “What became clear in the discussions with international industry visitors and exhibitors more than anything else was that the Global Wind Summit is considered a launchpad for further growth.” In parallel with WindEnergy Hamburg, the global WindEurope conference was held at the Hamburg Messe fair site. Both events jointly formed the Global Wind Summit 2018.
Giles Dickson, CEO WindEurope, said: “The WindEurope 2018 conference has been a big success. The Global Wind Summit brought together the WindEnergy Hamburg exhibition and the WindEurope global on and offshore conference under one roof. The co-location and integration of the two events increased the level of interaction between all the different players in the wind industry. More than 2000 conference delegates delved into the key issues facing the industry. We looked at how wind is breaking new ground geographically, technologically and financially. And we had top-level speakers such as EU Climate & Energy Commissioner, Miguel Arias Cañete, and IEA Executive Director, Fatih Birol, plus European energy ministers.”
Enercon CEO Hans-Dieter Kettwig had this to say: “Enercon can report a positive outcome for WindEnergy Hamburg 2018. The visitor response at our exhibition stand was excellent; we had many great discussions with customers and stakeholders from Germany and other countries, and there was great interest in our new wind energy products and services and our regenerative energy system solutions. In short, this year’s fair was a great success. The outstanding feedback once again shows that Hamburg is well established as a key meeting place for the international wind energy community. The only sad note is that no representative of the Federal Government came to Hamburg to get informed about the wind industry. We would have loved the opportunity to discuss our industry’s current challenges and the necessary political reforms.”
