The offshore wind industry is poised to become one of the most important custodians of the world’s oceans.
Erhardt Projects was present through our Renewable Segment Lead, Manuel Diaz Pozueta, at the WindEnergy Hamburg from 24 to 27 September. This allowed us to learn about the current situation of the clean energy market, discover trends, innovations, new products, explore opportunities, create new commercial links and refresh current ones.
Counting around 30,000 visitors from 92 countries, WindEnergy Hamburg, the world’s flagship fair of the wind industry, demonstrated its leading role in driving the expansion of renewable energy internationally.
“WindEnergy Hamburg is certainly the leading trade fair for the Renewable Energy Sector in Europe. Despite the uncertainty generated by the conflict between Ukraine/Russia, the stakeholders in the sector were present at this edition of Wind Energy Hamburg, after the two-year break caused by the Covid pandemic. There was a desire to meet face to face, to talk with colleagues, to make new contacts, to discover the innovations and opportunities of the exhibitors,” says Manuel Diaz Pozueta.
In his keynote speech during the opening event, Dr Robert Habeck, Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, stressed the importance of the event, saying, “It is a great pleasure to open the world’s leading trade fair for onshore and offshore wind energy here in Hamburg. The roll-out of wind energy and the expansion of renewable energy in general has become more urgently needed and more important than ever. An accelerated energy transition is the key to a secure and sustainable energy supply, not only in Germany, but right across Europe.”
“The urgency of the energy transition was present in different ways at the fair, from the opening speeches to the commitment of the different exhibitors in their projects, proposals and solutions. Particularly visible was the bet and push for Floating Offshore.”
Bernd Aufderheide, President and CEO Hamburg Messe und Congress, likewise emphasised how urgently this event was needed: “The global wind energy industry was in urgent need of an opportunity to meet in person and discuss the pressing issues in these times of an energy and climate crisis. Once again it became clear that renewable energy can be one of the keys to overcoming our challenges, and the H2EXPO & CONFERENCE is a perfect match for what WindEnergy Hamburg stands for.”
Digitalisation of permitting processes and the accelerated upgrading of electricity grids were among the key topics addressed by the flagship fair, as were wind turbine upscaling and floating offshore wind turbines.
The hydrogen sector was represented prominently at the H2EXPO & CONFERENCE, a game changer for the turn away from fossil fuels. The extraordinary combination of highly innovative, state-of-the-art technologies and processes with a multifaceted presentation programme in a separate hall was met with much interest.
On the second day of the fair, a cooperation agreement was signed between the northern German hydrogen networks, in which the partners committed to cooperating on hydrogen projects closely and regularly and providing joint support to stakeholders of the hydrogen industry.
Sven Utermöhlen, Chairman of WindEurope and CEO of the Offshore Wind division of RWE Renewables, said, “In these times of massive economic challenges, we must not lose sights of our main goals: to ensure energy security for our industries and people and at the same time to reduce the impacts of climate change.”
Dr Dennis Rendschmidt, Managing Director of VDMA Power Systems, added, “Wind energy is the key to resilience, security of supply and climate neutrality in the energy system. The political will for the ambitious expansion targets is a great opportunity for the industry and must now be supported with concrete political measures.”
