Federal Minister Gabriel,

Minister President Albig,

Vice President of Hamburgische Bürgerschaft Möller,

Mr Aufderheide,

Mr Johnson,

Excellencies,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

A very warm welcome to you all at this Senate Reception here in Hamburg at the start of the international WindEnergy 2014 trade fair. We shall be performing the ribbon cutting ceremony - a lovely English phrase I’ve just learnt - tomorrow morning at the halls.

Everybody enjoyed the show acts we have just seen. But I suspect that you, Mr Johnson, probably found the film a bit boring. No tornadoes, not a hint of severe weather, only gentle breezes and lots of high tech.

Did that give a realistic picture of North Germany? Yes, certainly, as far as the high tech goes. But not always as far as wind speeds are concerned. They can fluctuate erratically between storm and calm. And if that weren’t so, Schleswig-Holstein and Hamburg would only be half as lovely as they are.

Engineers, manufacturers and operators are getting better all the time at solving the difficulties that sometimes arise when we try to capture the wind and turn it into electricity. The international WindEnergy Hamburg fair will showcase the latest ideas and improvements.

Wind energy will play an increasingly important role in supplying power and contríbuting to climate protection - we’ve known that for some time and we are sure it is the way forward. We know there are problems with distributing and selling wind power, but these are economic and political rather than technical difficulties, and we are determined to do something about those. 

Indeed, just a few months ago, the Federal and state governments did reach an agreement - which is how it must be when Germany faces important issues - about how to improve the overall environment for this smart form of power generation which still needs some support if it is to be developed into one of the major pillars of Germany’s electricity supply.

We now have sensible regulations and can better guarantee two things: firstly a reliable investment climate that will permit expansion to go ahead, and secondly, we have also slowed the dynamics of price increases in the Renewable Energy Act, simply called EEG in Germany.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I shall say no more at this stage, because the speakers still to come will go into greater detail. But before I turn to another favourite topic, namely Hamburg, I would like to say one more thing.

Last year in Germany the proportion of power generated from renewables rose to the record level of 23.4 per cent. Wind power accounted for about eight per cent, but its share is definitely rising. However, wind power alone will not close all of the gap left if Germany shuts down the last nuclear power plant in 2022. But that doesn’t matter, we have other options: biomass, solar power and hydroelectric power that crosses borders, too. And of course, the classic fóssil fuels, old-fashioned perhaps but still, for a long time to come, indispensable for power generation in modern gas and coal fired plants. To those who want to guarantee all the power an industrial country needs from renewables alone, who say that otherwise a climate catastrophe looms, I’d just like to plea, get real”.

And yet, offshore wind power is capable of meeting baseload demand. It does have next-to-zero emissions. Offshore and onshore wind power can make us less dependent on imports and nuclear power, provided they can share the best transmission grid in the world. I didn’t want to leave out all mention of this task. There is no time to lose in completing it. Because the energy turnaround will only be a success if the new transmission lines are ready in time. Grid capacities are now hardly able to cope with the high input of renewable energy.

The energy turnaround is not only one good reason for us to meet here. But also, during the process of revising the Renewable Energy Act it was, and is, good enough reason for Hamburg to strongly advocate a dependable framework for wind energy operations, both on land, wherever it makes sense and is not disruptive, and even more so offshore. We shall continue to do so, together with the other states in Northern Germany, to ensure that many would-be operators of offshore wind farms are given a dependable framework for planning and erecting the turbines.

Ladies and Gentlemen, back to Hamburg; we call ourselves the capital of wind power - fully aware that we can fulfil this role only by being firmly anchored in our metropolitan region and by cooperating closely with our North German neighbours. Renewable energy is a question of skills, continuous work and high tech. And, in conjunction with the other coastal states, we do have the skills: Schleswig-Holstein is the home of wind power pioneers and Lower Saxony produces a quarter of Germany’s onshore energy. The country’s big offshore installations in the North Sea and Baltic are supplied from the ports on the coasts of our Northern states. And in the midst of it all, this Hanseatic city, which takes the task of acting as regional skills centre seriously. 

That Hamburg is a key international location and service centre for the wind power industry is evident from the list of exhibitors at this trade fair. Not only are the leading manufacturers for equipment and wind farms to be found in the metropolitan region, but also the small to mid-sized companies that deal with project development, installation and maintenance.

A central, national service provider is also located in Hamburg: the Federal Office for Shipping and Hydrography. This Federal agency’s unique service P  offers everything one needs to know about offshore conditions: it provides the basic data for wind farms and offshore electricity grids in the economic region between the North and Baltic Seas.

The Senate of Hamburg promotes centres of excellence. One such is the Competence Centre Erneuerbare Energien und Energieeffizienz (engl. CC4E or competence centre for renewable energies and energy efficiency). In setting up the CC4E the University of Applied Sciences, the leading university for renewable energies, has established an interdisciplinary wind energy research facility. We laid the foundation stone for an Energy Campus at the CC4E in January. It will be a technology centre with a wind farm, wind laboratory and smart grid lab. A 6.8-million-euro project funded by Hamburg and the EU, European Regional Development Fund. It will boost the transfer of technology within the wind power sector and also provide information to the general public. 

Since 2011 the cluster agency named Renewable Energies Hamburg” has linked together the various players in the metropolitan region’s wind-power sector. These now number 190 companies from large firms to small businesses and there is co-operation with the logistics, aviation and maritime industry clusters.

Hamburg also concentrates a wealth of know-how about hydrogen and fuel cell technology. We will offer the world´s highest-performance demonstration project for power to gas processes using PEM electrolysis, we are backing H2-mobility and have just started a state initiative to bolster the industry. It is therefore no accident that another important event, the H2Expo, is taking place here at the same time as the WindEnergy fair.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The energy turnaround is the biggest challenge facing Germany since re-unification. So far, wind energy has gathered most momentum. Over the past 15 years the industry has contributed a lot of experience in the field, some of it gained long before the start of this century, and it has a very positive image.

Economically, onshore wind power has almost reached the stage where it can stand on its own feet. The new generation of turbines converts wind more efficiently. It is possible to halve the number of turbines, integrate group scattered installations and still create three times the output. This process of repowering is not only better from the viewpoint of landscape conservation and local residents, but also helps lower costs. We must gradually wean ourselves off reliance on public subsidies. The aim is that the next round of repowering should make the turbines genuinely competitive.

This applies equally and particularly to the expansion of offshore generation. These wind turbines generate power almost non-stop, which is very important in terms of reliable supplies of energy.

Improved logistics infrastructure, larger turbines and more efficient manufacturing methods can lead to considerably lower installation costs, including the price for offshore farms, in coming years. Offshore wind energy is now on the point of undergoing its first major round of standardization.

But I don’t really need to tell you that, ladies and gentlemen, do I? The wind and the sea have always been the most important resources the North offers. Through the ages, the dangers of flooding and storms, as well as the many different ways of harnessing wind and water, have been a source of inspiration to the region’s residents. 

Wind mills were mankind’s first power tools. Today’s generation of wind mills is aiming high. And so are we! 

Today - but officially tomorrow - we join in opening the international WindEnergy Hamburg 2014 fair. Because here in North Germany we have just what is needed to complete the energy turnaround: a comprehensive skills base, a clear political will and plenty of wind.

I hope we shall all enjoy a very productive trade fair. And of course, we’ll ‘See you in Husum!’ next year, at our sister trade fair from 15 to 18 September: this fair is held every other year (in odd-number years) and focuses more specifically on Germany and the region.

Thank you very much.

Es gilt das gesprochene Wort.