Investments in the Offshore Wind Industry - A Strategic Dialog and German-American Expert Panel, 7th of April 2011, Hannover, Germany

Hannover - March 1, 2011 (Investorideas.com renewable energy/green newswire) During the "North American Offshore Wind Conference" in New Jersey in October of 2010, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar officially approved the first U.S. offshore project: Cape Wind in Massachussetts. While it took 10 years of contentious wrangling, the eventual approval was a major breakthrough for the U.S. offshore wind industry. It was not surprising that soon after the announcement, several other U.S. states announced that they were planning offshore projects as well – with the support of the energy administration and President Obama. In parallel, the offshore industry organized itself and announced its expectations in U.S. energy policy.

In February of 2011, the "National Offshore Wind Strategy" was announced. The objective of this program is to accelerate the approval process for further offshore projects in Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, and Virginia, as was announced jointly by the U.S.Department of Energy and the U.S. Department of the Interior. In support of this Strategic Work Plan, U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu announced the release of three solicitations, representing up to $50.5 million over 5 years, to develop breakthrough offshore wind energy technology and to reduce specific market barriers to its deployment. Under the National Offshore Wind Strategy, the Department of Energy is pursuing a scenario that includes deployment of 10 gigawatts of offshore wind generating capacity by 2020 and 54 gigawatts by 2030.
These are ambitious political objectives, and there are many risks and uncertainties: The U.S. needs solutions for not just approval processes, but also the development of an offshore cluster, logistics, as well as maintenance and service of the large offshore turbines. And then there is grid connectivity, feed-in tariffs and, of course, financing.
To find solutions, U.S. stakeholders look to Europe, and in particular Germany, for advice. Germany is many years ahead of the U.S. offshore industry: Offshore wind parks already exist in the North and Baltic Sea. The U.S. can benefit from the success stories of the German offshore industry and learn from its strong clusters which combine manufacturers, suppliers, logistics, maintenance and service as well as research centers.
NGlobal welcomes you to the expert forum on Thursday, April 7, 2011, from 10:00 - 13.00 at the Hannover Fair in Hall 13 (Global Business & Markets).
The event is organized by the GADORE Center USA.
You can access the event program through the links below:
http://www.hannovermesse.de/en/about-the-trade-show/programme/tradeshows-lineup/wind/program-of-wind
http://www.hannovermesse.de/en/global-business-and-markets
For online registration, go to: https://congress.messe.de/osc/go?shop=vg028924gb
Please register at your earliest convenience, as space is limited. Registration is free of charge.