Renewables in Focus: 110,000 Trade Fair Visitors
Interview with Markus Elsässer, Managing Director of Solar Promotion GmbH
What do Europe's largest trade fair alliance for the energy industry – The smarter E Europe –, the Future Power Grids conference, and Intersolar Mexico have in common? The answer is quite simple: All three events and many other international events are organized by the Solar Promotion Group based in Pforzheim, Baden-Württemberg. The group includes Solar Promotion GmbH, Solar Promotion International GmbH, and Conexio-PSE GmbH.
About every two weeks, an event takes place under the leadership of the Solar Promotion Group. The corporate group has long since not only focused on solar energy but covers a wide spectrum, the common theme of which is sustainability. Thus, the range of topics extends from renewable energy, energy storage, and green hydrogen to electromobility, Smart Renewables, and Smart Grids, up to climate-neutral companies, heat, and solar thermal energy.
Decentralized Structures
"We look at issues and trends, and for us, it is very important that we recognize these trends early," explains Managing Director Markus Elsässer. "Just a few years ago, we were told that battery storage was too expensive and there would be no significant demand until around 2030.
Right now, we are experiencing a phase where battery storage is revolutionizing the energy market. We organized ees Europe, the first trade fair on the subject, back in 2014. Today, it has around 800 exhibitors in Munich. We experienced a similar situation a while ago with solar energy." Another exciting topic for Solar Promotion is the current shift from centrally organized energy economy with large power plants to smaller, decentralized structures. "In Germany, we currently have four million solar power systems that generate and feed electricity decentrally," emphasizes Markus Elsässer. "Often, the systems are already installed with storage systems. To ensure a secure and cost-effective round-the-clock supply of renewable energies in the long run, digitalization and flexibility of energy systems are necessary, for example, through the aggregation of decentralized electricity producers and consumers."
Chernobyl as a Catalyst
The impulse for the founding of Solar Promotion came for Markus Elsässer in 1986 due to the reactor disaster in Chernobyl. As a student, he was deeply affected, became interested in alternatives to nuclear power, and studied mechanical engineering after graduating from high school. While still studying, he organized a conference on renewable energies with fellow students, which was attended by 300 interested parties and five exhibitors. "This positive response actually led to the founding of the company, and we developed into a trade fair and conference organizer," explains the managing director. "With this, we wanted to advance the topic of renewable energies."
Internationalization
In the first years, Markus Elsässer organized fairs and events parallel to his studies. "Things really started for us in 2000 with the Renewable Energy Act, which brought about the industrialization of the sector," recalls the managing director. "In Germany, we were already well connected. That's why we started an internationalization strategy at that time because we believed that the market would become more international beyond Germany as well." The biannual Solar fair was promptly renamed Intersolar, and further events were launched abroad: in 2008 the first fair took place in San Francisco, in 2009 in India, and in 2014 in Brazil. "Today we are also present with fairs in Mexico and Dubai as well as with smaller events in other countries," emphasizes Markus Elsässer.
First Trade Fair Alliance
In addition to geographical expansion, Solar Promotion also broadened its thematic scope. From 2011, 2012, topics such as power grids and energy storage were on the agenda. "We were concerned about how to integrate fluctuating forms of power generation into a system in such a way that renewable energies can be provided cost-effectively around the clock," describes the managing director. Together with research institutes, the company organized special exhibitions. Today, Solar Promotion organizes Europe's largest battery and energy storage trade fair, ees Europe. In 2018, with EM-Power Europe, another fair on energy management and connected energy solutions was added. Since the same year, Power2Drive Europe has been dealing with the use of the transport sector to stabilize the power grid. "In Munich, we also established a trade fair alliance consisting of Intersolar Europe, ees Europe, Power2Drive Europe, and EM-Power Europe," says Markus Elsässer. "These are four simultaneous specialist trade fairs that we also offer outside Europe, for example in São Paulo. In Munich, we occupy the entire exhibition center and had around 110,000 visitors from 176 countries this year."
Reliable 24/7 Supply
Solar Promotion is now present with independent foreign representations in 14 countries. They support sales and look after customers. Additionally, the company cooperates wherever larger events are held, with local partners. The entire conception, marketing, and sales are organized from the company headquarters in Pforzheim. Markus Elsässer is the sole shareholder of the Solar Promotion Group, which he runs with about 80 employees together with Bernd Porzelius and Dr. Florian Wessendorf. "We have come a long way with renewable energy," says Markus Elsässer happily. "In the coming years, we want to contribute to the reliable 24/7 supply and continue to interlink the various segments of the industry. At our recent event in Munich, we had 130 start-ups alone presenting."