The Husum WindEnergy 2014 will be celebrating its 25th anniversary in Husum, says event organisers Messe Husum & Congress, who are confident that the next Husum “will build upon the increasing success experienced in recent years”. With 60,000 square metres of exhibition space, the trade fair is expecting around 40,000 visitors and 1,200 exhibitors, growing by around 30% from the previous edition.
The news comes off the back of speculations that Husum would be moving from its long-standing home to Hannover. Messe Husum & Congress have critised the method used by VDMA Power Systems, a trade association that has claimed the trade fair would be better off in Hamburg and is irritated by the way VDMA has gone ahead. “VDMA has acted as though it speaks for the whole wind industry, something we must emphatically reject. There has been no public contest which Hamburg has won over Husum. We have massive backing from a large number of exhibitors, and have already received over 450 registrations for 2014. Husum WindEnergy 2014 will be held in Husum. The industry does not need more events in Germany, it needs fewer, stronger trade fairs with definitive character,” commented Peter Becker, Managing Director of Messe Husum & Congress.
Criticism of VDMA’s site analysis
Becker particularly criticised the selection criteria on which it based its location study, where the emphasis is solely on the infrastructural issues required for holding a wind trade fair. “VDMA’s catalogue of selection criteria does not take into account the exhibitors’ objectives in showcasing at a trade fair. The most important objectives for businesses at a trade fair are to win new customers, cultivate existing customers, and do successful deals. Husum is an excellent venue in this regard, very much thanks to its very special atmosphere. If the infrastructure is so important for the success of a trade fair, why did Hamburg’s attempts to hold a wind fair in 2002, 2004, and 2006 all fail? Becker also contradicted the blanket accusation that there are not enough hotel beds in the area around Husum. “There are a total of 16,000 hotel and B&B beds available within a half-hour’s drive of the fair. With the traffic in the Hamburg rush-hour it can take you a good hour to get from A to B – it’s just the perception that’s different”.
Becker has also announced improvements for the coming year which will include the provision of more parking spaces and access roads. A hotel booking system will show how much accommodation is still free, and the shuttle service will be enhanced. Another feature in Husum’s favour is that here visitors will really be in what can be described as Germany’s biggest wind adventure park. There are about 2,600 wind turbines in the vicinity of the exhibition ground, which can be viewed in operation.
“We can deal with headwinds, and are quite prepared to compete with Hamburg. We will be celebrating our 25th anniversary in 2014 – and in Husum of course!” assured Becker.
Forging a wind alliance
Meanwhile, Messe Husum & Congress has announced that it is expanding cooperation with fellow event organisers, Deutsche Messe AG, and establishing a wind alliance, to provide “a unique single source communication package as a shop window for an industry with international appeal”. The new wind alliance will also be used to develop other international markets.
"Our existing, successful partnership will thus receive a new quality – for exhibitors and visitors alike. The two fairs complement one another in an ideal manner. This is why we are expanding our cooperation and establishing a network hand in hand with the industry. We want implement a set of measures in order to increase public awareness of the key issues that are important for the international wind industry," said Dr. Wolfram von Fritsch, Chairman of the Board of Deutsche Messe AG, which is responsible for the Hannover Messe family of technology trade fairs.
The two trade fairs have closely and successfully worked together on the international wind energy market over the last decade. In terms of exhibitors and exhibition space, the renewable energy part of Hannover Mess has increased tenfold in the last six years alone, whereby wind energy has been the driving force behind this.
The scope of this new alliance will include the initiation of research projects, and the setting up of an international wind award. Husum and Hannover will also combine their marketing activities. Deutsche Messe AG has representatives in over 100 countries worldwide, and the industry will also profit from a new wind network. "We believe that through this alliance we can bring in our own separate strengths and combine them to best effect, thus offering the industry trade fairs with a better defined profile", so Peter Becker, Managing Director of Messe Husum.
As organisers of the world’s two most important wind trade fairs, in alternate years Husum and Hannover provide the industry with an international showcase appreciated and esteemed by wind turbine manufacturers. In even numbered years the whole industry meets at Husum WindEnergy, the leading international wind industry trade fair. This fair covers all aspects of the industry, onshore and offshore, and including services, repowering, planning and project management, through to financing.
In the odd numbered years Deutsche Messe AG holds the Wind trade fair as part of the Hannover Messe, showcasing systems, services and components for the wind industry in an industrial context.
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