Editorial April 2019

Last week, the “Hamburg Offshore Wind Conference 2019 (HOW 2019)” was again organised by DNV GL and Renewable Energy Hamburg for the third time as cooperation partners. Once again, it was fully booked, with around 200 participants, and attracted a great deal of interest in the industry. It already became clear during the political podium discussion at the start of the conference that Germany, once a pioneer in offshore wind energy, is starting to lag behind. There is currently a lack of similar commitment from the federal government to that seen in other European countries, which want to expand offshore wind energy faster and more intensively, since cost levels have now decreased very significantly. All members of the discussion panel agreed that there is no clear overall concept of the energy turnaround that can be accepted by society as a medium- and long-term model.

The common view held by the industry was repeatedly stressed at the conference, that it is necessary in order to secure production in the industry in Germany and to achieve further cost degression that the expansion target for offshore wind should be increased from 15 to 20 GW. Only in this way can the expansion target of 65% renewables by 2030 be achieved.

At the HOW 2019, innovative projects were awarded with the Offshore Innovation Award for the first time. The industry has not only impressive, highly specialised innovative detailed solutions, but also innovative concepts for systems overall. Via electronic voting, the general public voted the Spanish company Esteyco the winner with its “Elisa” system concept.

The system with its concrete base and a tower made of prefabricated, telescopic concrete elements and a wind turbine mounted on top will be towed to its site from a port as a floating complete system and set down without using cranes. We congratulate Esteyco for realising its concept and are already looking forward to the 2020 Offshore Innovation Award!