On the last day of the WindEurope Conference & Exhibition in Amsterdam, which brought together over 8000 delegates from 400 firms in 50 countries, representatives of the Bilbao Exhibition Centre took up the baton as the hosts of the next edition in April 2019. The relevant cooperation agreement between the Bilbao Exhibition Centre and the European Wind Energy Association was signed by Xabier Basañez as General Manager of the BEC and Giles Dickson as CEO of the Association.

They both stressed that the Basque Country has a substantial wind energy industry, with major firms that invoice over €7 billion and provide 15,000 jobs, and both were optimistic about the prospects for the 2019 event.

Arantxa Tapia, the Basque Government Minister Economic Development & Infrastructures, was also present at WindEurope, where she had the chance to see at first hand the cutting-edge technology solutions offered by the Basque firms exhibiting on the Basque Country-Wind Energy stand, promoted by the Ente Vasco de la Energía [“Basque Energy Board”]. Member firms of the Basque Energy Cluster were displaying in-house technological developments and showcasing the capabilities of a broad network of ancillary firms for the operation, management and upkeep of wind farms on land and offshore.

In October WindEurope invited leading customers, firms and organisations to visit Bilbao Exhibition Centre to take a first look at the venue. Several meetings were held at which management staff from the organisation and from the BEC provided detailed information on the facilities and their capacity and a draft layout plan for the event, and gave them a tour through various areas.