From 22 to 25 September, the international wind energy industry met in Hamburg. The Custom Wind Solution team spent four intense days at the fair, talking with operators, manufacturers and service partners. Three themes came up in almost every conversation.
Ageing fleets, smarter maintenance
A growing share of Europe’s installed wind turbines is entering the second half of its design life. For operators, this raises very practical questions: how to extend turbine lifetime safely, how to detect developing faults earlier, and how to plan major component exchanges before an unexpected failure forces their hand.
The conference programme reflected the same concern, with dedicated sessions on maintenance, lifetime extension and repowering. Our conversations showed that operators expect plannable, data-driven maintenance, and they are looking for service partners with deep knowledge of older turbine types as well.
New markets building fast
The sessions on Türkiye and Africa’s wind corridor showed how quickly capacity is growing in these regions. Alongside the pace of installation, attention is turning to operations: keeping newly built wind farms available over the long term takes an experienced service base, which in many places is only now being built up locally.
For us, this was a confirmation. CWS has been working on international projects for years, and the discussions in Hamburg suggest that demand for proven European service experience in these markets will keep growing.
Skilled people remain the bottleneck
The third recurring theme was the workforce. Qualified, properly certified technicians, available when and where they are needed, are among the scarcest resources in the industry today. Operators and manufacturers alike told us that maintenance campaigns and major component exchanges often depend on whether the right people are available.
Where CWS works every day
These three areas are exactly where Custom Wind Solution works every day. With more than 16 years in the wind industry, as a Siemens Gamesa qualified supplier we support operators as an independent multibrand service provider, from scheduled maintenance to major component exchanges.
We came home from Hamburg with a full notebook and many conversations under way. Thank you to everyone who took the time to meet us. We will be continuing these discussions in the weeks ahead.