WORKING AT HEIGHTS - Wind Energy Network

EEEGR SNS ConferenceDelegatesflock to hearinside track onenergyHopes for new business generatedby the offshore windfarm boom anda new North Sea ‘gas rush’ attracteda record-breaking 500-plus delegatesto the SNS2013 Conference at NorfolkShowground, Norwich, recently.The turn-out and extensive mediacoverage delighted Simon Gray, ChiefExecutive of organisers EEEGR (East ofEngland Energy group), who said theregion’s energy trades group had become‘a local base with a global face.’Driving down costsBut the big talking point from speakersat the conference, supported by theEuropean Regional Development Fund(ERDF), was the desperate need forsupply chain support through costeffectiveness,ingenuity and innovation tomeet government targets and keep downenergy prices.Biggest energy eventAround 400 people were at the first dayof the Sea of Opportunity conference,with 290 at a gala dinner and more than500 attending the second day, making itthe biggest energy event of its kind everstaged in the region.OpportunitiesSpeakers from across Europe outlinedopportunities created both by theresurgence in the natural gas industryin the Southern North Sea and plans formassive offshore windfarms.But Torgeir Ramstad, Managing Directorof Fred.Olsen Ltd, echoed the views ofmost when he warned: “The key factor iscost and if we do not address that, theopportunities may never happen.”Uncertainty in the UK already meant thatGermany would move ahead in the race toproduce energy from windpower.Mr Ramstad said that with biggerwindfarm sites and larger turbines indeeper water, further from shore, costshad to be kept down through innovation,technology and efficiency.84www.windenergynetwork.co.uk