Vaasa EnergyWeek Exceeded Its Target
The first Vaasa EnergyWeek, held from 19th to 22nd March, will not be the last of its kind, because both the participants and organisers were extremely happy with what the event had to offer. The three events that were held during the same week – the national Energy and Environment...
The first Vaasa EnergyWeek, held from 19th to 22nd March, will not be the last of its kind, because both the participants and organisers were extremely happy with what the event had to offer. The three events that were held during the same week – the national Energy and Environment Seminar, the Vaasa Wind Exchange event and Vaasa Energy Institute’s Renewable Efficient Energy II Conference – assembled between them almost 1,400 satisfied visitors from the Vaasa region, elsewhere in Finland and abroad.
“Each individual event broke its attendance record, and we exceeded our attendance targets by almost 40 percent. This is clear proof that organising these events on the same week was a good decision,” says Robert Olander, the main organiser of the week and the Marketing Director of EnergyVaasa.
Different Events, Different Viewpoints
Energy was the key issue in all the events of the Vaasa EnergyWeek, but each of them viewed it from slightly different standpoints. Monday’s Energy and Environment Seminar stressed energy efficiency, which, according to one of the day’s keynote speakers, Director-General Esa Härmälä from the Ministry of Employment and the Economy, has been given the least attention in discussions about the EU’s energy strategy for 2020. Härmälä predicts that this decade will be characterised by an immersion in matters concerning energy efficiency and that a heavy consumer of energy like Finland will benefit from improved energy efficiency. Härmälä was pleased that Finnish energy technology industry – lead by the Vaasa region – has already developed several 
solutions to improve energy efficiency and that these solutions can also be exported.
Ville Niinistö, who gave the Energy and Environment Seminar’s opening presentation, said he is always happy to come to Vaasa, the leading centre of energy technology, where the energy issues of the near future are understood and seen as a whole. Here there is plenty of know-how in decentralised energy production and smart grids, as well as in improved energy efficiency. Niinistö finds it extremely positive that both the industry and the scientific community in Vaasa are involved in developing new energy solutions.
The Vaasa Wind Exchange event on Tuesday drummed up people and businesses interested in this form of energy production. Both Restaurant Central and O’Malley’s pub, the former functioning as a showroom and the latter as a venue for bulletins, got quite congested now and again during the week. “But the main point is that the different parties got to meet each other and that the utilisation of wind power is proceeding also here in Ostrobothnia,” says Olander.
Colourful Meeting of Companies at the Scientific Conference
Vaasa Energy Institute’s Renewable Efficient Energy II Conference, held on Wednesday and Thursday, offered a rich data packet of presentations in five different sectors: wind power, smart grids, bioenergy, energy self-sufficiency and geothermal energy. Copious numbers of company representatives attended the conference, both as introducers of the subjects and as members of the audience.
“By arranging this scientific conference in the same week as the events that were mainly directed at companies, we were able to have more company representatives attending it. This will further promote the cooperation of businesses and the scientific community,” says Vaasa Energy Institute’s Director Erkki Hiltunen, smiling contentedly.
A Good Combination
Although all three EnergyWeek events were quite different in character, timing them so that they took place in the same week created a synergy. Many of the guests took part in more than one event because they were conveniently spaced.
“Tuesday’s wind power event and the conference on renewable energy, focusing specifically o
n wind power, were conveniently placed on consecutive days, which I personally found a good reason to attend both,” says Anni Mikkonen, the Executive Director of the Finnish Wind Power Association.
“I was pleased to find that so many people are interested in wind power. Vaasa Wind Exchange gathered together a much greater number of exhibitors and visitors than last year, when the event was organised for the first time. I think next year the organisers will have to find another venue, because the facilities were as crowded as they can get,” Mikkonen continues.
Inspired by this year’s success, the organisers have already begun to plan Vaasa EnergyWeek 2013. This year’s feedback will be utilised to make next year’s event even better.
If you didn’t have a chance to come to the events of the Vaasa EnergyWeek this year, you can find the seminar material and some of the presentations at www.energyweek.fi. You can also enrol on the mailing list there to ensure that you are among the first to receive information about next year’s event.
Between 19th and 22nd March 2012, some 1,400 visitors interested in the energy industry assembled in Vaasa to attend the Vaasa EnergyWeek. The Vaasa region is the home of EnergyVaasa, the most important centre of energy technology in the Nordic Countries. EnergyVaasa organised Vaasa EnergyWeek in cooperation with its partners Pohjanmaan Expo, the Ostrobothnia Chamber of Commerce, the Regional Council of Ostrobothnia, Technology Centre Oy Merinova Ab and its Energy Technology Cluster Program (OSKE), Vaasa Energy Institute (VEI), Vaasa Region Development Company VASEK and the Centres for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment for Ostrobothnia and South Ostrobothnia. The main sponsors of the EnergyWeek were ABB, Wärtsilä and EPV Energy Ltd.
Text: Johanna Haveri, Viestintä Oy Prowomedia
Photos: Pekka Mäkynen