The European Wind Energy Association, Wind Europe, announced that the next annual wind industry meeting will be held in Bilbao, Spain. It is an excellent opportunity for representatives of the Baltic Sea wind industry to meet and exchange experiences.
WindEurope Annual Event 2022 will be held on 5-7 April 2022 in a stationary mode, after one year of online events. The event will be a conference combined with an educational program. During the event, the latest achievements in the field of onshore and offshore wind energy will be presented. The previous edition of the event was also held in Bilbao in 2019. 300 exhibitors and 8,500 experts from Europe and beyond joined the event.
The event was announced during a press conference. Participants unanimously emphasized that the event takes place at a decisive moment in achieving European climate goals. Wind energy is expected to play an important role. The EU plans for wind energy to provide around 50 percent of electricity. This is related to an increase in installed capacity from 180 GW to 1,300 GW in 2050.
Giles Dickson, head of Wind Europe emphasized that the Basque Country and Spain are an excellent example of the economic value of wind. Bilbao is the seat of two leading companies – Iberdroli and Siemens Gamesa. In Spain, over 27,000 people are employed in the wind energy sector, and each year about 2 GW of capacity is generated in this sector. Currently, Spain is the second country in Europe in terms of installed wind capacity. In 2020, this capacity was 27 GW, which provided 60 TWh of energy, which is 22 percent of electricity. Spain’s goal is 50 GW until 2030.
Arantxa Tapia, the Basque Government’s Minister for Economic Development and Infrastructure, said the promotion of wind energy is essential and fundamental to achieving society’s goals. The Basque Country has also committed to work in this area. José Ignacio Hormaeche, general manager of the Basque energy cluster, noted that the Basque Country is one of the most important industrial wind hubs in Europe.
WindEurope Annual Event 2022 is a great opportunity for representatives of the wind industry from the Baltic Sea countries to meet live in a Spanish city. The Baltic region will play a significant role in the development of offshore wind energy – its potential is estimated at 93 GW. Editors of BalticWind.eu. will certainly be following closely the news from the conference!
