Dr. Dreyer,
Majesties,
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

Speaking for the cause of sustainable, reliable energy supplies in and for Europe, I thank you, Mr Jensen, for this informative report about what was discussed at today’s seminar. And, on behalf of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, I should like to offer our warm welcome to our guests. The city’s residents are as delighted as I am that so very high-ranking visitors have come to this meeting about a shared concern, thus underscoring its importance.

I am convinced that the energy industry and energy policies are model challenges that call, first of all, for good neighbourly relations and cooperation between our three countries. Moreover, we are called to prove that, as Europe draws closer together, it is capable of developing good solutions for issues that people should not have to resolve on their own. This topic, perhaps more so than others, is too wideranging to tackle alone, and too many common interests are at stake.

We can rely on good, neighbourly cooperation between the Netherlands, Denmark and Germany; this is very reassuring for us in Hamburg. I do not doubt that neighbourliness extends to the issue of power supplies, although I shall neither ignore nor downplay the fact that our national players are also competitors when it comes to harnessing wind power offshore.

But for me this industry, being a growth market, illustrates the German saying that competition is good for business.

The energy turnaround” describes Germany’s new course of cutting loose from nuclear power and generating far more electricity from renewable sources; this policy provides considerable impetus to research and development, stimulates the market for increasingly better products and solutions and, in the longer term, offers the possibility of expanding offshore activities further away from the coast as far as this seems to make sense.

Here in Germany ordinary citizens with an interest in wind power know that Denmark was one of the global pioneers in the field when it built the Horns Rev” offshore wind farm back in 2002. The Netherlands have acquired a precious store of experience in creating underwater foundations for offshore facilities, which now benefits investors, developers and, at the end of the chain, the consumers of electricity in industry and private households.

Germany’s role will be to take more overall responsibility for European energy systems; it is very much in our own interest, because the country has turned itself into a testing ground for experiments that must succeed: grid expansion in order to counter the volatility of supply; new storage technologies; and the international flows of electricity. The NordLink and SuedLink are mutually important for the expansion of both European and German grids.

As it proceeds with the energy turnaround” Germany is already well linked with its neighbours. For example TenneT TSO, being a grid operator, is a crucial investor. DONG Energy is not only involved in projects to harness the wind at Borkum Riffgrund” and Gode Wind”, but also has a base here in Hamburg. The right place, in my view. Our Renewable Energies Hamburg” cluster already collaborates very closely with Dutch and Danish networks.

Ladies and Gentlemen,
A great many valid expectations are attached to offshore” wind energy. It can be reliably forecast, guarantees many hours of full load, promises more than 8,000 operating hours a year and an annual feed-in of close to 340 days, thus forming an important basis for reliable power supplies in Germany and elsewhere. Such a huge opportunity makes it our duty to take the next steps.

Costs can only be cut by steady expansion of capacity and a reliable regulatory framework for investors; Germany’s revised Renewable Energies Act spells further progress in this respect. We are, in fact, talking industrilization of windpower´s projected growth offshore.  

For any form of renewable energy the tendering process is particularly challenging; this, above all, applies to offshore” wind power projects, due to the long time spans involved. Technically specific tenders are required, because no-one wants to see things come to a halt in 2020. I have confidence that the Federal Ministry for Economics will successfully conclude its work on the design of tenders; they are being assisted by the industry, and Germany’s states, including Hamburg.

Ladies and Gentlemen,
In our four languages, including English or seven if we count Frisian, Lower German and Sønderjysk as well the word for wind” is more or less the same. And offshore” is international to the core. So let’s write a multi-lingual success story about supplying energy to Europe.

Thank you very much.

Es gilt das gesprochene Wort.