New Energy Husum: Wide range of products and great visitor response

GERMANY: The leading renewables trade fair New Energy Husum closed, after a great four days. With around 300 exhibitors and circa 15,000 visitors, it has once again proven itself to be one of the most important trade fairs in the renewable energy sector.

The range of exhibitors and products, and the visitor response, were greater than ever. “I am delighted by the great interest shown by trade visitors and the general public at this year’s New Energy Husum,” said exhibitor Ole Hering, MD of NorthTec Maschinenbau GmbH. And the number of lectures was also greater than ever before.

“The general public is far more interested  in and aware of renewable energy, and this was confirmed by the great interest in our lectures and seminars. Questions asked of exhibitors were more detailed, and the discussions much more active,” said Thomas Seifried, New Energy Husum project manager.

The international World Summit for Small Wind was better attended than ever before, and it was enhanced by additional sessions on the planning, erection and operation of small wind turbines, and about the building laws pertaining to SWTs.

From battery storage to insulation systems
While solar businesses were focussing on self-consumption products, energy management and maintenance, the small wind turbine manufacturers were showing both horizontal and vertical axis turbines and their components.

“Many visitors to the fair were interested in ways of generating their own heating and power,” said exhibitor Michael Erdmann from BeBa Energie GmbH & Co. KG. “New Energy Husum shows us where the journey is going.”

The special passive house showcased insulation systems for floors and walls, buffer storage systems and planning software. As well as storing excess energy in batteries, there was also an electrolysis model that transforms excess wind and solar power into hydrogen, which can then be turned back into power in biogas plants.

This future-fit theme was also the subject of a dedicated congress for the first time in Husum, and one that was completely sold out. The audience learned for example how heating grids can store power from renewable sources, and that natural gas cannot play any role in the heating sector by 2050 if the German government is to achieve its climate goals.

Entertaining events and prominent visitors
Delegations from the Greens, CDU, SPD and a CCI group from Paraguay came to the fair to learn. State MPs from all the parliamentary parties came for talks with exhibition boss Peter Becker, including Ingbert Liebing, Bundestag MP (CDU), and from the state capital in Kiel came the permanent secretaries Dr Ingrid Nestle (Greens) and Ralph Müller-Beck (SPD), as well as the chairman of the CDU state parliamentary party Johannes Callsen.

The entertaining peripheral events included a photo call with the incumbent Crocus Queen, Sandra Weber, and the second New Energy Slam, which was won by Benjamin Thaidigsmann from the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems in Freiburg with his talk on “Electrons, Holes and the Sun”.

The “Renewable Energy Career Days” were also very well received. Exhibitors presented their training and job opportunities at their exhibition strands. The additional advice offers, talks and the job exchange attracted all those interested in having a career in the renewable energy sector.

“We are very pleased with the extremely great variety of renewable energy sources exhibited here, and the associated solutions for energy storage and electrically powered transport,” said Peter Becker. “We are convinced that this will be the main source of mobility for the future.”