'The Copenhagen Offshore Wind event turns European'

Due to the success of the Copenhagen Offshore Wind event (COW05)[1] organised at the end of 2005, the conference is being developed into a biannual series of major European events dedicated to offshore wind energy in Europe. At the end of 2007 Germany will host the next event, which will then rotate between markets with significant offshore potential. At a time where Europe needs an energy shift to ensure the security of supply and tackle climate change, these European Offshore Wind events aim to facilitate the deployment of offshore wind energy across Europe.

Offshore production offers a range of opportunities for Europe not only to bring concrete answers to the current energy challenges but also in terms of industry development, technology exports and employment.
'If we want to reap its full benefits and maintain EU leadership, Europe needs to develop, without any more delays, a European action plan for offshore wind. This first European Offshore Conference aims at promoting such an action plan and the necessary implementation of the Copenhagen strategy[2]', said Arthouros Zervos, President of the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA).
While passing on the torch to EWEA for the organisation of the next conference and exhibition, Bjarne Lundager Jensen, Director of the Danish Wind Industry Association (DWIA) said: 'The overwhelming success of Copenhagen Offshore Wind 2005, and the results of the related policy process, shows that profiling offshore wind is a common European issue. We offer our assistance to help the future conferences achieve the same quality and outputs as in 2005.'
The German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety has already welcomed the decision to hold the 2007 event in Germany, with the Director General, Dr. Urban Rid saying: 'the conference provides an excellent opportunity to disseminate the recommendations of the planned EU Policy Workshop on Offshore Wind Power Deployment in February 2007 to a wider audience. It could also give strong momentum to the starting German offshore development.

The German Wind energy sector underlined the positive impact that this offshore event will have on the German market: 'Germany has a potential offshore market up to 50 billion Euro of investments but compared to our northern European neighbors there is no big offshore project running yet. We think that the European Offshore Wind event to be held in Berlin late 2007 will further promote the offshore wind energy business worldwide and especially in Germany', said Thorsten Herdan, Managing Director, VDMA Power Systems.

Hermann Albers, Vice president from BWE shares this opinion: 'Offshore wind energy has indeed enormous long term potential in Germany. With more than 20,000 MW capacity to be installed in the long run, offshore and onshore wind energy will then contribute to electricity generation in Germany in similar shares. The German offshore test site will be a first step to develop this technology here. We further call for a national 3,000 MW offshore technology programme to bring, at a minimum level, this capacity by 2015. From "European Offshore Wind 2007" we expect important political signals to further push the development in Germany and Europe.'