The Wind Energy Basque Country stand will showcase the capabilities of Basque companies at AWEA WINDPOWER, the leading wind power event in the US, which takes place this year from 7 to 10 May in Chicago. The aim is to support the positioning of Basque wind power companies as suppliers of high value-added systems, components and services to the burgeoning US market.

The Basque wind power sector will be at AWEA WINDPOWER 2018 Conference & Exhibition, the leading wind power exhibition in the US, which is being held in Chicago between 7 and 10 May. The Basque Energy Cluster has its own stand presenting the brand Wind Energy Basque Country, which includes more than 70 Basque wind power companies and institutions. Basque wind power companies have a turnover of almost 7.5 billion euros globally and generate more than 3,000 jobs in the Basque Country.

Ten companies will be present at the AWEA WINDPOWER exhibition: ARTECHE, LAULAGUN BEARINGS, GLUAL, HWS CONCRETE TOWERS, KIMUA GROUP (presenting an innovative tool development to dismantle damaged turbine blades), HINE, INGETEAM, NEM SOLUTIONS, ALERION TECHNOLOGIES and SIEMENS GAMESA Renewable Energy. Representatives of the SPRI, the Basque business development agency, will also be attending the event.

500 exhibiting companies will be at the event, as well as 8,000 visitors from 40 countries. Wind power is an important and well-established industry in the US (89 GW installed capacity in 41 states), and 30 GW are expected to be installed by 2020, making the most of an incentive, the federal renewable electricity Production Tax Credit (PTC) From that year onwards, efficiency and cost reduction must be the driving force for the development of new wind farms. This is why AWEA WINDPOWER 2018 offers interesting opportunities to companies operating in this sector, because they will be able to discover first-hand the characteristics of the US market, form alliances and take part in wind power projects that will be developed over the next few years.