The Windpower 2006 Conference and Exhibition will take place from 4 to 7 June in Pittsburgh, PA, USA. The theme of this year ‘Energizing the future: bring wind energy more prominently into the mainstream’ is chosen to help the industry to address the big picture issues and to make plans for the advancement of the wind energy industry.

This third edition of the international wind energy industry takes place in Hamburg from 16 to 19 May 2006. The 2004 edition attracted some 10,000 visitors from 54 nations. The fair will be held in the first three completed halls (totalling 23,000 square metres) of the New Hamburg Trade Fair, which promises a good and easy-to-survey floor layout.

After EWEC 2004 in London, the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) has decided to organise the event annually, instead of every 18 months as in the past. The idea behind this decision is that the event will be held every other year in countries where the wind energy business is less developed to give these countries the opportunity to stimulate further expansion of the technology. From 27 February to 2 March 2006 EWEC 2006 will be organised in Athens, Greece.

In the 2006 conference a wide range of issues will be presented and discussed, from resource assessment and innovative turbine design to market and policy developments, drawing on experience from all over the world. There will be over 500 oral and poster presenters in 40 separate business, technical and workshop sessions. Over 150 companies will be presenting their latest products and services. Windtech International invited the exhibiting companies to tell us what they will have on display during the show, especially their new products. The results can be found on page 20 of the January/February issue.