Germans and British deepen their offshore wind-cooperation
WAB goes Berlin: Established regulars' table visiting the British Embassy on 6 February
Bremerhaven/Berlin, 29 January 2020 – WAB e.V. cooperates with the British Department for International Trade (DIT) in the areas of offshore wind and "green" hydrogen. The partners start their cooperation on February 6 with a joint WAB regulars’ table at the British Embassy in Berlin. At the WINDFORCE Conference 2020 on 12 and 13 May in Bremerhaven, the cooperation continues: The United Kingdom is this year’s partner country of the international offshore wind conference.
Wind industry group WAB e.V. and the British Department for International Trade (DIT) remain in dialogue regardless of Brexit and have agreed to deepen their cooperation for this purpose. While the EU is preparing its "Green Deal" under which up to 450 gigawatts of offshore wind could be installed in Europe by 2050, Great Britain is also pursuing ambitious expansion goals: their "Sector Deal" foresees up to 40 gigawatts of offshore wind in the UK by 2030, followed by up to 75 gigawatts in 2050. WAB members have been gaining some experience in the sector that they can contribute to this endeavour. In the past ten years, they have already been able to show in German waters that an expansion of more than 2 gigawatts per year is possible. The partners WAB e.V. and DIT are therefore collaborating for two events to discuss the future possibilities for cooperation in the expansion of offshore wind energy in the respective markets.
“Our members represent the entire value chain of offshore wind. They are making a significant contribution to the establishment and industrialization of the industry in Germany and other markets and are proving that offshore wind energy is cost-efficient and reliably delivers large amounts of electricity. In the future, we will also need this amount of electricity to produce 'green' hydrogen,” says WAB Managing Director Heike Winkler. "As our federal government's expansion plans are insufficient to maintain our mature supply chain, we support our members in taking advantage of the export opportunities that arise in the UK and other markets."
The WAB regulars’ table will take place on February 6th (6 pm to 10 pm) at the British Embassy in Berlin. At the event, Karl John will talk about "The role of offshore wind on the way to climate neutrality", followed by a pitch session of six companies that will introduce themselves to the audience. This will include WAB members Convent Experts, Neova, and Steelwind Nordenham as well as UK companies 3Sun Group, Offshore Design Engineering and LOC Germany. After the pitch session, the Berlin media and TV production company Granitza / Wolter will explain how storytelling works and why it is important for the wind industry. Participation in the event is free of charge. Non-WAB members are also welcomed to sign up for the WAB regulars’ table via www.wab.net/termine/veranstaltungen/uebersicht/wab-stammtisch_20-ST-01/.
The cooperation also includes the WINDFORCE 2020 Conference on 12 and 13 May in Bremerhaven: Great Britain is the official partner country of this year’s international offshore wind industry conference. Experts from the UK will be on site to speak about the current development of the markets, the political framework and the latest innovations in the industry. Abstracts for presentation proposals can be submitted until February 5 via windforce.info/windforce2020/call-for-abstracts/.
„The fact that over 80% of the North Sea offshore wind generation capacity is installed in German and British waters, as well as the increased focus on economies of scale, cost reduction and the common sense of collaborating on infrastructure and planning, motivates us to pursue a closer working relation than ever with the German offshore wind industry to the benefit of both countries”, said Kenan Poleo, Deputy Trade Commissioner for Europe and Counsellor International Trade, Germany. “The partnership agreement recently signed between WAB’s chairwoman of the board Irina Lucke and our Trade Commissioner Andrew Mitchell is the beginning of that journey together. We believe that we can learn from one another and support each other towards a cleaner more sustainable future energy supply in a challenging environment where offshore wind plays a key role.”
About WAB e.V.:
WAB is the leading business network for wind energy in the north-west region and nationwide contact partner for the offshore wind energy industry in Germany. The association comprises some 250 businesses and institutes from all sectors of the wind energy industry, the maritime industry as well as research.
Kontakt:
Hans-Dieter Sohn | Senior Communications and Marketing-Manager WAB e.V. | +49 173 2382802 | hans.sohn@wab.net
