dialog@WindEnergy - high-powered supporting programme on current top issues of the industry

The WindEnergy - International Trade Fair, the leading information exchange and contact platform for the international wind industry, will be held from 16 to 19 May 2006. Alongside the product innovations from some 330 exhibitors from 26 nations, expected at the 3rd WindEnergy at the Hamburg Fair site, visitors can attend the high-powered supporting conference programme "dialog@WindEnergy". It comprises three concurrent forums, where the experts provide information on the latest key issues of the industry, on conditions in the most relevant growth markets, and product innovations and new service provisions. The programme will start with real highlights, in the form of panel discussions with top international managers from the industry.

After the opening of WindEnergy 2006 on 16 May, the CEOs of leading companies will participate in a panel discussion in the Topics Forum (Hall A1) on "Visions for the wind industry" (14:00 hours). Acceptances for participation have been received from Eddie O'Connor (Airtricity), Thomas Richterich (Nordex), Prof. Dr. Fritz Vahrenholt (REpower Systems) and Matts Lundgren (Hansen Transmissions). This will be followed by the CTO Expert Panel on "Windenergy becomes technical mainstream" (15:30 hours), where panellists will include the Technical Directors of Iberdrola, Gamesa Eólica and Voith Turbo. These two distinguished panels will be chaired by Prof. Arthouros Zervos, President of the EWEA, and Thorsten Herdan, Managing Director of VDMA Power Systems. The Topics Forum will also cover the major issues of "Offshore" and "Finance and Insurance" in numerous technical presentations and panel discussions. The "Offshore Day" (17 May), under the management of DEWI, will include presentation of results from the FINO research project in the North Sea, and experience with international offshore wind energy projects, and the state of the art in engineering development. The "Finance and Insurance Day" on 18 May will include special focus on these issues with reference to wind farms. These include projects in the USA and in the Asia-Pacific region, and experience from the offshore wind farm of the Danish power company Dong. A discussion with industry representatives on the labour market situation in wind energy will be held under the heading of career@windenergy in the "Topics Forum" on 19 May (10.30 hours).

The wind energy market is becoming more and more global, and development of new markets requires very specific know-how. The National Forum (Hall A3) provides information on local conditions from representatives of the most important target markets, on all four days of the fair. There will be more than 25 country presentations, with experts from the public authorities, wind energy associations, and other competent institutions, discussing the legal, political and other developments, which vary from one country to another. The agenda of the National Forum includes the current growth markets such as the USA, Canada, India and China, and for the first time also emerging future markets such as Argentina, Portugal and Australia.

The Exhibitor Forum (Hall A2) has attracted a great deal of interest on the part of exhibitors, who can use it to present their products and services for this boom sector to the trade visitors from all over the world. A large number of turbine manufacturers, equipment suppliers and project developers will make use of this opportunity to present their product innovations and services to a wide audience of trade visitors, with subjects such as the multi-megawatt turbine generation, innovations in condition monitoring and service, and certification of wind turbines. This Forum gives trade visitors an excellent opportunity to find out the latest in the industry.

A special seminar on "Wind energy in Asia's growth markets" will be held at the WindEnergy 2006 on 18 May, organised by the German Asia-Pacific Business Association (OAV) together with the German Energy Agency (dena), the German Wind Energy Association (BWE) and the German Engineering Federation (VDMA). Company representatives and experts on the industry and on the specific countries will provide information on market opportunities and risks in Japan, South Korea, India and China. They will explain some of the specifics of the political framework conditions, of export and of the manufacture and operation of wind turbines in these countries. There will also be a meeting of the Board of Trustees of the German Offshore Foundation at the international trade fair. The Foundation was set up to realise an offshore proving ground (12 turbines of the 5 MW class from German manufacturers).