", an organization that promotes the use of wind power in Europe.wind EuropeThe annual event of the European Wind Energy Association (EEEA) was held in Copenhagen, Denmark in 2025. Misaki and Tauchi from ReraTech participated. They will report on the event's state and the industry's latest trends from their respective field perspectives. The first part will focus on the political and economic aspects, and the second part will focus on the technical aspects.
table of contents
1. Trend XNUMX: Acceleration of offshore wind power driven by policies and systems
2. Trend XNUMX: Focus on the collaboration between hydrogen production and wind power
3. Importance of transparent business operations
4. Europe's Maturity in Environmental Awareness and Social Planning
As in previous years, the WindEurope exhibition hall was held in the entire Bella Center. Compared to the Japanese exhibition "WIND EXPO," it felt about 10 times larger in scale and with XNUMX times the number of exhibitors, and the number of visitors was also considerable.
Among the topics that took place at the conference and exhibition, the following two topics, which are introduced in this report, attracted particular attention.
Trend 1: Policies and systems drive the acceleration of offshore wind power
During the three-day conference, government officials and industry representatives from around the world took to the stage to discuss policy and institutional challenges facing the expansion of offshore wind power.
The European Union (EU) has set a target of more than 2030 GW of offshore wind power generation by 60, but it has been emphasized that there are many issues that require government response to achieve this, such as delays in approvals and permits, bottlenecks in connecting to the power grid, and delays in infrastructure development.
In light of these developments, I was reminded that Japan too needs to accelerate the development of systems and administrative responses.
Trend 2: Focus on the collaboration between hydrogen production and wind power
During the poster session, there were several exhibits relating to hydrogen production using electricity generated from offshore wind power, which gave us a glimpse of the "next energy strategy" that considers power generation, storage, and energy conversion in an integrated manner.
In Europe, this field is already one step away from large-scale commercialization. This makes sense in terms of the location conditions for offshore wind power and water usage, and I feel that by focusing on future technological development and research in Japan, we may be able to acquire technology that can be used globally.
The Importance of Transparent Business Operations
Along with the sessions, the main content of "WindEurope" was the variety of exhibits by a wide range of companies and organizations. Unique booths were lined up at the Bella Center, the largest exhibition center in Scandinavia.
What was particularly impressive wasDanish power company OrstedThis is the booth of . They made public the examples of failures in past projects, and stated that "Sharing failures, rather than hiding them, will be the foundation for the future development of offshore wind power." This attitude reminded us of the importance of transparent business management for Japan, which will continue to advance offshore wind power projects in the future.
In addition, Vestas, RWE, HITACHI Energy, DNVThe large booths featuring exhibits such as these offered immersive presentations and wireless headphones were distributed to attendees, showing that the experience design of the exhibition as a whole was extremely sophisticated.
Europe's Maturity in Environmental Awareness and Social Planning
I also learned a lot not only from the content but also from the operation of the exhibition venue. I was particularly impressed by the many environmentally friendly measures I saw at the exhibition venue.
For lunch, a plant-based menu was served using locally produced and organic ingredients, and greenhouse gas emissions were reduced by reducing the use of dairy products and meat. Surplus ingredients were donated to charity, and waste was used as biogas. It was impressive to see that the entire food system was designed to be sustainable.
Additionally, the carpet at the venue was recycled into auto parts, and many of the plastic products had been replaced with biodegradable materials, proving that practical environmental considerations are being implemented.
I was also surprised by the rationality of the country of Denmark itself. The subway has no ticket gates, is self-operated, and there are no station staff to be seen. At the airport, baggage check-in and boarding procedures are all completed by the passengers themselves. It seems that the ingenuity to maintain service even with a limited population is incorporated into everyday life.
Even in the field of wind power, there was a lot of interest in the social aspects, such as measures against bird strikes, conservation of marine ecosystems, and consensus building with fishing industry personnel. Rather than simply exhibiting technology, there was a strong awareness of building sustainable relationships with a variety of stakeholders, which I felt should be adopted in Japan as well.
At WindEurope 2025, we could see for ourselves how wind power has become an infrastructure that connects every sector of society. In the second part of this article, we will look at the technological trends and research trends that have been developed on this social infrastructure, and provide a detailed report on what has been discussed on the front lines in Europe.
(Continued to the second part)
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