North Sea Commission Renewable Energy Subgroup attends ‘new energy Husum’ and International seminar on wood energy, October 2004.

This year’s new energy Husum conference and exhibition hosted a special meeting of the North Sea Commission’s Renewable Energy Subgroup to discuss current developments in wind energy and promoting the use of wood as bio fuel.

Twelve expert participants from Germany, Norway, Sweden, England and Scotland attended the event.

At the meeting Mr Wilfried Voigt, the statesecretary for energy of Schleswig-Holstein, presented the federal state government’s strategy for renewable energies. He stressed in particular the large potential of biomass in the region. It was predicted that, in the future, 30 % of the energy consumption in Schleswig-Holstein could be covered by bio mass energy sources.

Dr. Sibylle Hoenscheidt, of the network agency windcomm, hosted the meeting and described the variety of wind power activities in Schleswig-Holstein. Projects that were of particular interest to the group included the planned offshore research platform NEPTUN in the Dan Tysk area, the Pushing Offshore Wind Energy Region (POWER) Interreg-project, and the development of training modules for offshore service technicians at the education center for renewable energies in Husum.

The North Sea Commission Renewable Energy Subgroup meeting was also linked with the international seminar "Wood as bio energy in the North Sea Region" organised by the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Employment and Transport of the State of Schleswig-Holstein. 24 participants from Germany, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, England, Scotland as well as the Netherlands heard about the Interreg IIIB project Northsea Bioenergy. This project covers four topics: optimisation of fermentation gas production, the production of biomass, promoting the variety of bio fuels, and the development of the bio energy market. The focus of the discussion was the use of wood as an energy source. The delegates presented information on the respective situation in their homeland regions and countries, and discussed common activities.

"The main target of this project is the creation of greater information and awareness on this subject” said Wolfgang Schulz of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Employment and Transport of the State of Schleswig-Holstein in Kiel. “ It will also highlight Schleswig-Holstein’s role in the information campaign ‘Bioenergy for the future’".

The North Sea Commission’s Renewable Energy Subgroup meets three to four times a year. The group are considering meeting again in Germany during the HUSUMwind conference and exhibition in September 2005.