The event, themed ‘Offshore Wind of Tomorrow – Market Integration by Next Generation Technology’, brings together the international offshore wind industry
HAMBURG, Germany - 6 November 2017 - There will be plenty to talk about: experiences with new tender methods, floating offshore plants, promising international offshore markets – all these topics and more will be discussed at the Hamburg Offshore Wind Conference (HOW) 2018, themed “Offshore Wind of Tomorrow – Market Integration by Next Generation Technology”.
On 10 and 11 April 2018, the EEHH Cluster and DNV GL, the international technical adviser and certification body, will host their second joint conference at the Empire Riverside Hotel in Hamburg. This will mark HOW’s 15th instalment.
With 200 national and international attendees, the first joint conference, HOW 2017, was completely booked.
On the evening of 10 April, the event will be opened by speeches from Giles Dickson, CEO of WindEurope, Torben Hvid Larsen, CTO MHI Vestas, and Professor Kurt Rohrig, Fraunhofer IWES. To moderate the event, EEHH and DNV GL have succeeded in booking Darius Snieckus, Editor in Chief of Recharge, an international trade journal.
The main conference day will be packed with presentations on cutting-edge technologies, electricity price trends, old and new markets such as Germany, Netherlands, Taiwan and the US, and innovations of the future.
Giles Dickson, CEO of Wind Europe, on the current state of the European offshore market:
“The costs of offshore wind energy have fallen dramatically in the last 18 months. The industry had committed itself to reaching EUR 100/MWh before 2020. It’s only 2017, and we are already well below that level. Projects recently put out for tender in the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark and Britain have achieved prices that are around 50% lower than what would have been the norm only two years ago. Much of these cost cuts are driven by larger-sized turbines. Significant order volumes for new offshore projects will be necessary to sustain the economies of scale required to reduce costs even more. To maintain these cost reductions, Europe must build at least 4 GW per year. Germany, being one of the key markets, should build more than the 730 MW envisioned for each year.”
Professor Kurt Rohrig, Fraunhofer IWES, on the political conditions for the offshore industry:
“The German government’s climate targets will require a vigorous expansion of renewable energy generation, especially offshore wind. We can only achieve our CO2 reduction targets if all sectors – power, heat and traffic – use primarily renewable energy. Since photovoltaic systems and onshore wind turbines have to fit into a limited amount of land, conflicts may become more and more prevalent if onshore wind energy expands dramatically.
Renewable power is volatile and so requires more flexibility to be fed into the energy system. Increasing the proportion generated by offshore wind turbines will reduce residual load volatility, which will reduce the demand and costs of providing flexibility. The expansion corridors must be increased significantly in order to capitalize on the benefits of offshore wind energy and let it take up its proper role in the energy system.”
Torben Hvid Larsen, CTO MHI Vestas, on the offshore technologies of the future:
We have seen a remarkable power price decrease for offshore wind at this year’s tender round in Germany as well as recently on other European Markets. As a leading offshore wind turbine manufacturer, MHI Vestas is therefore committed to provide an innovative, cost-efficient and large diameter offshore turbine with 9.5 MW power rating in the coming years to enable continued price reduction in the market. I am extremely pleased to address the German offshore wind business community with a keynote highlighting our approach to technology and innovation at the ‘Hamburg Offshore Wind 2018’ conference.“ Programme and registration at: www.hamburgoffshorewind.com.
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