Europe has begun to realise the huge potential of the offshore wind energy industry for the local economy and Bremen (Germany) is one of the cities leading the way. The event brought private and public representatives from the North Sea Region (NSR) Programme and offshore wind communities together to exchange, debate and network in order to foster new innovative cooperation.

The event was divided into two thematic sessions. In the first module, participants were informed about the investment opportunities in offshore wind farms for municipal utilities, with reports from those who have experience with these models. In the second, there was a focus on the many opportunities associated with offshore wind energy open to coastal communities and the port industry. The event concluded with a study visit to interesting sites in the Bremen port area, where the new development potential of offshore wind energy is being successfully exploited.

The conference was organised by Deutsche WindGuard, on behalf of the POWER cluster project partners: The Senator for Environment, Construction, Transport and European Affairs in Bremen and the German Offshore Wind Energy Foundation.

The POWER cluster project is a direct successor of the successful NSR Interreg IIIB’s programme POWER project. It is centred on the development of a strong Offshore Wind Industry (OWI) cluster in the NSR. Since late summer 2008, eighteen partners from six countries – Germany, UK, Denmark, The Netherlands, Norway and Sweden – are promoting the further development of offshore wind energy in Northern Europe in general and in the participating regions especially. Core project activities include creating a strong stakeholder and business-to-business network to facilitate knowledge transfer, thus bringing together complementary expertise to create more innovation in the sector.