Patron

Message of Greeting

by Peter Altmaier, Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy, for the Windforce 2020 Conference in Bremerhaven on 3-4 September 2020

The Covid-19 pandemic is confronting us with great challenges. This is particularly true of small and medium-sized enterprises, which also characterise your sector. I want to assure you that I attach the highest priority to ensuring that companies and employees can plan ahead in this difficult situation.

I am convinced that we have succeeded in doing this in the field of offshore wind energy: the Federal Government recently presented the draft revision of the Offshore Wind Energy Act, which raises the expansion target for offshore wind energy to 20 gigawatts by 2030 and anchors a new long-term target of 40 gigawatts by 2040. In this way, we are creating long-term prospects for the entire value chain and putting ourselves in a strong position to make good use of the considerable potential for development – for example, in terms of the contribution that offshore wind energy will be able to make in future to the production of green hydrogen.

Our new, higher target underlines Germany’s intention to remain one of the world’s leading markets in a highly dynamic international business environment: in view of the great potential of offshore wind energy and the sharp fall in the technology costs, this sector will play an increasingly important role in meeting energy and climate targets, both in Europe and beyond.

On this note, I wish you stimulating discussions and a successful event.