All-Energy – all-ready

In a matter of weeks some 450 exhibiting companies from nearly 20 countries are set to arrive at Glasgow’s Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre (SECC) for All-Energy 2015 – the UK’s largest renewable energy exhibition and conference, being held Wednesday 6- Thursday 7 May

Up to 7,000 people from as many as 50 countries will travel to the show to spend time in the exhibition, making new contacts and sourcing new suppliers; and taking part in lively debates, discussions and knowledge-sharing in 110 hours of conference sessions and ‘quick-fire’ seminar presentations.

There is free online registration for all elements of the show - the exhibition, conference, seminars and Giant Networking Evening at Glasgow Science Centre. Registration opened in mid-February and on the first day alone over 500 people from home and overseas registered. Since then a steady stream of registrations has continued.

As those who have attended All-Energy for its first fourteen shows in Aberdeen know, it covers all forms of renewable energy, encompassing the opportunities and challenges facing the sectors. The event also embraces other key component parts including the grid, skills, finance and funding, and the ‘holy grail’ of energy storage. The decision to stage the show in Glasgow has been greeted enthusiastically by exhibitors, speakers and those registering to visit.

Glasgow is experiencing an extraordinary transition, from being the very centre of the global Industrial Revolution to its emergence as a world-leading low carbon smart city. 2015 marks the 250th anniversary of James Watts’ ‘eureka’ moment when he conceived of the separate condenser to the steam engine as he walked on Glasgow Green, and changed the entire course of world history. To mark this transition Glasgow is holding a Green Year with the strapline ‘From Steam to Green’. What better time for All-Energy to come to the city?

RENEWABLE ROLE

Offshore renewables are set to play a key role in the annual event both within the exhibition, with its sector specific trails (including offshore wind; offshore maintenance; and wave and tidal) that will help visitors to easily select exhibits of particular interest, and in the conference.

When the show was first held in Aberdeen in 2001 it featured solely “the wet and windy” - on- and offshore wind, and wave and tidal, but feedback from exhibitors and visitors in those early days was “let the market decide” and since then the doors have been wide open for all forms of renewable and sustainable energy. This year ‘Sustainable Cities’ has been added to the conference agenda, is featuring in the exhibition hall, and is one of the 15 subject-specific trails.

Offshore wind will be high on the agenda in the opening morning plenary session chaired by Keith Anderson, CEO of ScottishPower Renewables with Benj Sykes, Head of Asset Management at DONG Energy Wind Power amongst the speakers. Other speakers include: Scotland’s Energy Minister- Fergus Ewing MSP, Professor Sir Jim McDonald- Principal and Vice Chancellor of the University of Strathclyde, Ian Marchant- former CEO of SSE, and Cllr Gordon Matheson CBE- Leader of Glasgow City Council.

Then, as the nine parallel sessions begin, six offshore wind experts look at the current state of the offshore wind industry (speaking the day before the General Election should make this particularly interesting).

Offshore wind fills nine conference sessions (over 12½ hours) in its exciting ‘silent’ theatre, with sessions on innovation/ cost cutting, operational management, floating turbines, Marine Scotland’s role, environmental planning and development, and installation/ operations and heatlh/ safety. There are lunchtime ‘quick fire’ technology presentations and offshore wind (East Anglia 1 and Neart na Gaoithe) figure in the ‘Meet the Buyers’ Share Fair.

The wave and tidal sectors will also play important roles with six dedicated conference sessions filling 9¼ hours, and two full days of ‘quick fire’ presentations in the wave and tidal showfloor seminar theatre. Some 60+ speakers will look at the ‘big picture’, the way forward, the global scene, technology, cost reduction and innovation, finance and funding (audience questions are key). A session entitled ‘The Great Debate’ on big versus small tidal technology promises to bring the stream to an exciting close.

RELEVANT ASSOCIATED EVENTS

UK Trade & Investment Energy Specialists from important overseas markets will be attending All-Energy and giving their local knowledge and expertise to UK companies. UKTI will facilitate a number of FREE one-to–one meetings with these overseas energy specialists, along with visiting company delegations in some cases, at the UKTI stand. Countries represented so far include: Algeria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Germany, Mexico, Morocco, Nigeria, Peru, Poland, Russia, Turkey, and Vietnam.

The afternoon before the show opens (5 May) sees two relevant workshops taking place. Following two years of intensive work, the DTOcean (Design Tools for Ocean Energy Arrays) project takes the alpha-version of its design tool on the road for a test drive with its most important user projects: pioneering project developers, utilities, OEMs, technology developers and supply chain actors.

Meanwhile, SMRU Marine’s workshop aims to get input into the first results of a project on a review of current and future ‘Low visibility real-time monitoring techniques for monitoring marine animals during seismic surveys’. Further information on, and registration for, all three associated events can be found on the All-Energy website.