Power in focus at Hannover

Hannover Messe is more than likely the biggest industrial exhibition in the world. Almost a quarter of a million visitors turned up last year to view the latest technologies on show by 6,500 exhibitors and to listen to over 150 speakers in the technical sessions. Companies and visitors from all over the world head to the “biggest village in Saxony” at the end of April each year, and this year’s exhibition is expected to be no less popular.

Although the show is predominantly focussed on industrial technologies and the coming fourth industrial revolution, more attention is being paid to the external disciplines that will facilitate that technology leap. At the event’s preview Dr. Jochen Köckler, Chairman of the Managing Board at Deutsche Messe, focussed on the needs of Industry 4.0 and stated that if the next industrial revolution was to reach its full potential, there would need to be innovation in both logistics and power to support it. To demonstrate advances in logistics technology, the CeMAT exhibition will now run in parallel with the main show. The power angle will be highlighted in Energy, an exhibition to focus on integrated energy systems and mobility.

The demand for power in industrial applications makes them one of the world’s largest energy users, and with electrical vehicles and renewable energy sources being added to the mix, infrastructure demands are changing. The energy grid needs to be more flexible and less centralised to adapt to those changing needs. Using energy more efficiently also fits in well with Industry 4.0’s philosophy of less waste and better use of resources.

The Energy exhibition has many different aspects and covers the whole power industry, from generation, management and storage to distribution, and from small remote installations right up to large scale power generation. The themes covered this year include energy decentralisation, energy management, transportation systems, grid technology, energy technology for buildings, hydrogen, fuel cells and batteries, renewables, and virtual power plants.

Mexico is this year’s country sponsor of the fair, and the country’s ambassador to Germany, Rogelio Granguillhome Morfin provided a bit more detail about Mexico’s interest in the exhibition and what the country could offer to attendees. He highlighted the country’s economy and how it has transformed itself into a prime manufacturing location through innovation, a stable economy and educated workforce, as well as the markets that the country has access to through trade agreements. Since the sponsorship deal was signed, the number of Mexican companies taking part in the exhibition has risen from 2 to 150.

The overall theme of the fair is partnerships, and with so many challenges facing manufacturing it is very topical, as it is likely that no single company can provide a full solution. Manufacturing is at the centre of some of the most interesting innovation at the present time, and for anyone with a related interest, this year’s fair should be unmissable

PSD