This year HUSUM WindEnergy, with its accompanying trade symposia, took place from 9 to 13 September. This was the first edition where Husum Messe and Hamburg Messe joined forces after competing for several years with separate shows. More than 700 exhibitors from about 35 countries, among them all major global turbine manufacturers as well as suppliers and providers from all industry sectors, presented themselves at the exhibition. The event attracted almost 30,000 attendees from 40 nations. Over 23,000 of the visitors came from outside Germany.

The floor covered more than 22,500 square metres, set in one hall and three large tents in the tradition of HUSUM WindEnergy. The Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) was the exclusive international partner of the congress for the third time but the emphasis of the event is still on the exhibition part.

International Audience
The show is also becoming more and more international, although the majority of the visitors came from Europe. The difference from other events during the year is that the more technical people also visit this show. As a result, many exhibitors focus more on the technology. We picked up several interesting new technological developments at the show and will publish articles about them in future issues.

Windcareer Job Fair
The Saturday was, for the second time, reserved for the one-day ‘Windcareer' job fair. This was once again the career hub for those entering the wind energy industry, as tradespeople, engineers and managers. The job fair attracted over 3,500 visitors, with large numbers travelling to Husum from all over Germany, as well as from Northern and Central Europe.

From the Exhibition Floor
The allocation of exhibition space for the big turbine manufacturers was different from other years. Traditionally most manufactures were situated in Hall 1, the only exhibition building in Husum, which was crowded with visitors the whole event. This year these companies were spread throughout the hall and tents to distribute the crowd more evenly.

Moog was for the first time exhibiting in Husum. Moog is a designer, manufacturer and integrator of precision control components and systems and has a strong background in aviation. Recently the company acquired 40% ownership of the privately held LTi REEnergy wind business. The company expects to acquire the remaining 60% in twelve months subject to conventional conditions of closing. LTI REEenergy offers blade pitch control systems while Moog offers a range of electro-hydraulic technologies. By joining forces they are the only player offering both electro-mechanical and electro-hydraulic blade pitch control for the wind energy business.

SSB Service announced during the show that it had obtained a GL certification for its maintenance system. For independent WTGS service providers certification to industry standard DIN EN ISO 9001 is vital. Nevertheless, the company is taking a further decisive step by also having its processes, working methods and work instructions audited and certified by an independent firm. SSB Service provides a proactive full service package for mainly GE turbines. The service covers the entire chain from remote monitoring and maintenance to the supply of spare parts, fault detection and optimisation of systems. Currently the company mostly works in Germany and Spain but it is also looking at the possibility of expanding in the USA, the place where most GE turbines are installed.

American Superconductor Corporation (AMSC) has announced the launch of its proprietary PowerModule PM3000W power converter, a fully programmable, flexible and modular power converter developed specifically for wind power applications. This scalable solution is designed for a wide range of wind turbines with power ratings from 750kW up to 6MW. AMSC developed the PM3000W converter based on its core capabilities in power electronics hardware and software, the design and licensing of wind turbines, knowledge gained in the deployment of its PowerModule PM1000 converters in wind turbines, and the company's experience connecting wind farms to power grids utilising its proprietary D-VAR(R) solution. Wind-specific PM3000W converters incorporate algorithms and external communication protocols to enable universal generator connectivity.

GE Drivetrain Technology, a division of GE Transportation, unveiled a new wind drivetrain concept called IntegraDrive. The IntegraDrive integrates GE Drivetrain Technologies' planetary gearing and medium speed generator technologies into one system. The product is an integrated geared generator that is lighter and more compact than conventional three-stage gearbox-generator systems with fewer gears and bearings. The IntegraDrive is not an of the shelf product but needs to be designed and manufactured in close cooperation with the client. Currently the GE unit only supplies drive trains to GE Energy but it aims to expand its business to other turbine manufacturers as well.

By far the biggest booth at HUSUM WindEnergy was the REpower booth. The company unveiled its new onshore wind turbine of the 3MW class, the REpower 3.XM, and exhibited a full-scale replica of the nacelle. During the design stage, care was taken to ensure that the product could be transported and assembled using the same equipment as is the case for systems from the 2MW class. The prototype of the REpower 3.XM is to be assembled in a Husum wind farm, Südermarsch, in the near future. Manufacturing will commence shortly in Bremerhaven, where REpower will initially commence serial production of the offshore turbines REpower 5M and 6M. In the long term, the plan is to build a new factory for the REpower 3.XM in Osterrönfeld, in the Rendsburg-Eckernförde district of Schleswig-Holstein.

Of course there were more new developments at the show than we can put in this review. Many manufacturers are continuing to focus on increasing their production capacity to fulfil the enormous demand and newcomers are entering the market to get a slice of the pie as well. If you want to find out for yourselves what is going on in the industry I suggest you attend the next show.

HUSUM WindEnergy 2010
The next edition of the event will be held in 2010 from 7 till 11 September. Some people expected that this would be in Hamburg after the merge of the two events, but again the 2010 edition will be in Husum. The conference sessions will then be held in the newly built conference centre. It is also expected that the number of halls will be increased from 4 to 6. Despite the lack of good infrastructure (insufficient hotels, exhibition buildings instead of tents, etc.) Husum WindEnergy is one of the most important shows for the industry. Any new/other show would not get away with this, but Husum seems to do so, perhaps because of its longstanding tradition. See you in 2010.