Germany's WindPowerCluster advances to second round of research ministry contest

(ADPnews) - Jun 23, 2011 - The WindPowerCluster of northwestern Germany announced on Thursday it was selected by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research to continue to the second round of its cluster competition.

Having convinced the jury with its proposals, WindPowerCluster has moved closer to realising the potential of the region and becoming a significant player in the offshore wind market, the cluster said.

The cluster consists of wind energy research centre ForWind, the Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy and Energy System Technology (IWES), the Wind Energy Agency Bremerhaven/Bremen (WAB) and Germanwind GmbH -- a wholly owned subsidiary of WAB. The cluster aims to assist the construction and operation of offshore wind parks and to help develop more efficient production and installation processes. The ultimate goal is to promote the generation of wind power in the North and Baltic Seas and to open up new markets outside Germany.

WindPowerCluster's participation in the ministry's contest has been financially supported by Lower Saxony and Bremen. If it wins, the cluster expects to be able to support Germany's goal to have 10 GW of installed offshore wind capacity by 2020.

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