Germany’s First Offshore Trade Fair and Conference: WINDFORCE 2012

The German WINDFORCE 2012 – Offshore Conference & International Trade Fair will take place for the first time in Bremen in coming June. Messe Bremen will be the focus of the offshore sector from June 26 – 29, 2012. Bremen, Bremerhaven and the Northwest Region together form the competence center as far as offshore wind energy in Germany is concerned.

Bremerhaven, as a leading cargo handling hub and production site, and Bremen, as a location for cutting-edge technology, are an ideal setting at the very pulse of the offshore industry.

Offshore is on the rise. A billion-euro market is emerging. The large-scale energy turnaround project is forcing the sector to expand. Germany is already a leader in terms of the number of approved offshore projects. According to forecasts, the German market share based on the total number of megawatts installed in Europe will come to 30% by 2015. Opportunities and challenges compel companies to improve networking in the sector. In the course of time the WINDFORCE conference held by Windenergie-Agentur (WAB) e.V. has developed into a fixed meeting point for the industry. As the site of Germany’s first offshore trade fair, Bremen will now be the scene for a new episode in this success story in 2012.

“For us it was only natural to take another step forward. The WINDFORCE conference has become a genuine institution in the offshore segment – now we hope to achieve even closer interlinking in the sector by virtue of this expansion and even greater added value for the entire republic,” Ronny Meyer, Managing Director of Windenergie Agentur (WAB), explains the ambitions of his organization regarding the WINDFORCE 2012 project. Jens Eckhoff, retired Senator and Managing Director of Offshore Wind Messe und Veranstaltungs GmbH, is also involved and, aside from the conference, has shaped the trade fair as a focal point. “This is precisely the right time to launch such a project because the market is in upheaval. We are sure that the sector has been waiting for the first German offshore wind trade show,” states Jens Eckhoff.

The new offshore trade fair is an important project for the industry. Achim Berge, Managing Director of wpd offshore GmbH, shares this view: “We are now seeing initial commercial offshore projects in Germany and are thus at the beginning of a very strong industrial development. There is a demand for quick answers to fundamental questions in the market. In our view, establishing a special offshore trade show is a major step in this direction.”

“Since, according to our expectations, a major portion of the offshore wind energy development will take place in Germany, the commitment to such a trade fair with an offshore focus is, for us, only consistent and a good opportunity to give the German market additional momentum,” says Anders Søe-Jensen, President of Vestas Offshore.

WINDFORCE 2012 – Offshore Conference & International Fair is geared to the offshore sector in all its diversity. Apart from wind turbine manufacturers, rotor blade producers, steel companies and logistics enterprises, the target groups include firms involved in shipbuilding, the shipyard industry, ship equipment, port technology and other maritime services. WINDFORCE 2012 will bring together the offshore sector in its entire complexity.

The trade fair will offer exhibitors 20,000 square meters of space.

Windenergie-Agentur WAB is the leading network of companies for wind energy in the Northwest Region and a nationwide contact for the offshore wind energy industry in Germany. The organization comprises more than 300 companies and institutes in all segments of the wind energy industry, the maritime sector and the research field.

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Offshore WIND staff, December 06, 2011; Image: wab