The UK remains the world’s biggest single market with a 5,061MW total installed offshore wind capacity. The vigorous development of offshore wind energy will also be a featured topic at WindEnergy Hamburg 2016. The world’s leading expo for wind energy, held from 27 to 30 September at the Hamburg Messe fair site, will see more than 1,200 companies showcasing their innovative products and services, representing all sectors of the value chain. The importance of the UK wind market for the whole industry will be reflected excellently at WindEnergy Hamburg: The UK will be present with two national pavilions, an English pavilion in hall B1 upper floor housing 13 exhibitors, and the pavilion of Scottish Development international in hall B2 with 30 exhibitors.
The UK has according the European Environment Agency the largest technical potential for offshore wind power (TWh) in Europe, and Scotland has according Scottish Development International 25% of Europe’s wind and tidal resources, and 40% of the UK’s fixed offshore wind potential.” The Scottish Government has granted offshore planning consent for over 4GW of new projects offering opportunities for local and international companies. The UK has also many excellent regions for onshore wind with the windiest parts in western and northern Scotland, but stringent height restrictions offer substantial additional challenges to suppliers.
The UK’s onshore and offshore combined capacity had reached 13,602.5 MW by the end of 2015, and these are generally very productive megawatts due to the UK being a very windy nation. The cumulative wind capacity qualifies the country according to WindEurope for a third ranking position in Europe behind Germany (44.9GW) and Spain (23GW). Last year, new onshore and offshore installations amounted to 975MW, a fourth ranking in Europe behind Germany, Poland and France. The UK connected four new offshore wind farms (556.1MW).
Building a strong competitive offshore wind supply chain has become a UK-government key objective, and several public and non-governmental organisations present at WindEnergy Hamburg 2016 will outline this theme to expo visitors. Trade organisation RenewableUK and government body UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) – both organizers of the national pavilion at WindEnergy Hamburg – support UK and foreign businesses in setting up and building their businesses, for exploring investment opportunities, and import/export support.
