Two is company
The boom in renewable energy sources is giving a dynamic boost to German wind power exhibitions. But it is hard to envisage as many as three platforms surviving in the long term.
Yes, Germany's boom sectors are still alive and kicking. The German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety forecasts a turnover of EUR 40 billion for renewables by 2020. Wind power, in particular, seems to have captured the imagination of the German exhibition bosses. There are no less than three large events that deal specifically with wind: Husumwind, WindEnergy in Hamburg and Energy that takes place during the Hanover Fair. The competition surrounding this topic is understandable. The German WindEnergy Assocation (BWE) quotes a turnover of EUR 7.1 billion in the wind power sector - if these figures are to be believed, that's more than half the total market for renewable energy. The first exhibition company to launch into wind power was Messe Husum: As early as 1987 it opened its doors to a new industrial sector in the making. "The development of Husumwind went hand in hand with the economic development of the German wind power industry that has taken a great innovative leap forward in the last 15 years", says manager Hanno Fecke. Since then, the small North Frisian town with its 15,000 inhabitants has had to face up to the long queues of cars generated by the large numbers of visitors who converge on Husum every two years. Nor can the fair participants expect the usual capacities offered by a large town or city when it comes to accommodation for the 520 exhibitors and 16,000 paying visitors.
Fecke must be praised for the considerable steps he has taken to ease the situation. For example, a database at www.husumwind.com with around 1,000 boarding houses and hotels. He has also requested landlords in northern and central Schleswig-Holstein (the Land in which Husum is located) to register free beds. In 2003 together with the new fair pavilion he had a new car park built for 800 cars to help ease the traffic chaos. This will now be available to the 100 exhibitors showing at the third New Energy Husum at the end of March 2006. Here, the emphasis will be on biomass and solar energy.
Husum is particularly proud of its new partner: together with the Hanover trade fair professionals they are taking on the international market. The launch of Husumwind China is currently being planned. The first Husumwind in Shanghai was poised to go ahead last year but reports say that the event has been postponed because it would have coincided with other events on the same topic. Generally speaking, "our presence in China is only the beginning", says Sepp D. Heckmann, President of Deutsche Messe AG in Hanover: "We can use the Energy and Husumwind brands to develop new markets in South America, too".
Whereas this aspect of the collaboration is still a long way off, integration of Husumwind into Energy is already taking shape. In Hall 13 of the Hanover Fair a separate exhibition area will be dedicated to wind power. Here a "Renewable Energy Forum" will offer presentations and discussions on the subject. Fecke: "This is giving us access to new target groups because wind power is being presented in the wider context of the overall power market."
This collaboration has enabled Fecke to keep the new competitor WindEnergy off his back. The Hamburg exhibition was launched three years ago to give exhibitors access to international business. "It was established on the initiative of the industry which was looking for an international location with a good infrastructure", says Peter Bergleiter, project manager of WindEnergy. No wonder he is so proud of the good figures for foreign visitorsto WindEnergy: three years ago only 1800 visitors came from abroad to the location on the Elbe; last year this figure was up to 2,600 out of a total of 10,000 visitors. The results for exhibitors are even better: last year 330 companies came, 129 of them from outside Germany.
The actual number of manufacturers of wind turbine generator systems showing at all the wind power fairs can be counted on two fingers. "The vast majority of exhibitors are suppliers, project planners and financers", says Bergleiter. But most of these only come if the big original manufacturers are also on board. The industry giants Enercon from Aurich in north Germany and Vestas from Denmark may be conspicuous by their absence, "but all the other manufacturers will be there", says Bergleiter. But the talks go on. However, even without the industry's big names, WindEnergy's project manager is confident that around 400 exhibitors will be returning next year.
Only Energy could beat Hamburg's efforts. With 750 exhibitors and 78,700 visitors it is nearly as large as the two north German wind shows put together. However, it has a much larger product portfolio and offers a joint forum for manufacturers of power engineering, energy services, power stations and industrial plants, fuel cells, hydrogen, solar energy, wind and bio energy. Added to that, Energy is experiencing the reduction in exhibitor numbers that is typical of multi-sector shows: in 2002 over 900 companies were still exhibiting.
Ulrich Rothgerber, departmental head of Energy at the Hanover Fair, however still believes in the synergies generated by integrating Energy into Germany's largest industrial show: "we cover the entire value added of solutions presented at Energy". And remember, too, that "international visitors, strong media attention and the intense political interest in the Hanover Fair" also enhance Energy's ranking. Germany's boom sectors are still alive and kicking. But whether three fairs can all survive in the business is hard to envisage. After all, there comes a time when even emerging markets have to consolidate. Then we might hear the trade fair experts saying: two's company, three's a crowd. Markus Ridder
m+a report Nr.7 / 2005 vom 27.10.2005
m+a report vom 27. Oktober 2005