Longer term perspectives for wind in Europe

High-level & plenaries

When: Tuesday, 25 September 2018, 15:30 - 16:30
Where: Room: Brussels

Session description

Wind energy has long been a European success story, but Europe’s leadership has been challenged in recent years. The wind industry has become global, with technology from the US and China increasingly competing with European turbines. In the wake of the financial crisis, several European onshore wind markets have known slowdowns, when they have not stopped growing altogether, often due to political turnarounds, while markets outside Europe took off. Yet European countries have collectively committed to ambitious objectives of decarbonising their economies, and reaffirmed that renewable energies should play a significant role in the process. Through technology breakthroughs, on- and offshore wind power were able to cut costs significantly and are now among the cheapest forms of new power generation, ahead of fossil fuels and nuclear. Should these conditions be a sufficient ground for optimism? This session brings together senior industry leaders to look at the financial, political and technological trends at work today and discuss the longer term perspectives for wind in Europe.

Session chair

Michael Liebreich

Founder & Senior Contributor, Bloomberg New Energy Finance

Panel Discussion

Anne-Catherine de Tourtier

Managing Director, Nordex Region Mediterranean

Christina Sørensen

Senior Partner, Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners

Pauline Le Bertre

CEO, FEE - France Energie Eolienne

Rachel Ruffle

Managing Director UK and Ireland, RES Ltd

Natalie Jackson

SVP & Head of Financial Solutions, Vestas