With almost every tenth company present at last week’s global wind summit that took place in Hamburg being a Danish one, Denmark cemented its crown as the global hub for wind energy.

The word on everyone’s lips in the German city of Hamburg last week was wind energy. This is the  third time the city has played host to the global wind summit, which consists of two parallel events; a conference organised by Wind Europe and an exhibition that takes place in 12 halls. Both aspects span the entire on and offshore value chain.

Taking place on Tuesday 25th September to Friday September 28th, the summit gathered ministers, policy-makers, companies, regional cooperations, non-governmental organisations and visitors from over 100 countries. The summit took a forward looking view, with the emphasis on how technological and market innovations are transforming the sector, as well as the accompanying challenges and opportunities.

Of the 1,467 companies that exhibited at Wind Energy Hamburg, 136 hailed from Denmark. This represents the largest group of Danish companies present at the exhibition to date and the bulk of them (102) were to be found in the Pavilion of Denmark, which occupied an entire exhibition hall at the summit. The pavilion was organised by the Danish Wind Export Association (DWEA), which supports the commercial development of Danish wind exports and coordinates all joint activities for the Danish wind industry.

“Denmark is the cradle of wind energy and since the very beginning, Danish companies have been trailblazing the intelligent green transition through innovative solutions, products and knowhow on both onshore and offshore wind. There is no question that the Danish wind industry is breaking new ground these years. Not only in regard to lowering cost of wind energy, but also developing new grid-friendly solutions, which enables us to utilise wind energy in more sectors, e.g. in the heating and transport sectors, moving toward a fully decarbonized energy system in Denmark by 2050. Denmark is indeed a frontrunner in both products and system integration, and we are happy to lead the way sharing our experience and knowhow with the rest of the world,” says Jan Serup Hylleberg, CEO of Danish Wind Industry Association.

Commenting on his visit, Danish Minister for Energy, Utilities and Climate, Lars Christian Lilleholt stated: “Denmark holds a unique position thanks to the North Sea which holds true potential to become the Silicon Valley of offshore wind power. But we cannot do it alone. I arrived to Hamburg with the clear message of the importance of cooperation if we wish to expand offshore wind power in the North Sea. I am therefore very proud that Denmark currently holds the presidency of the North Sea Energy Cooperation which focusses on improving conditions for facilitating and maintaining offshore wind power in the North Sea”.