Four chapters on how ees Europe evolved from a small exhibition alongside Intersolar Europe to become Europe’s largest and most international exhibition for batteries and energy storage systems. Chapter 1 explains why ees Europe was actually borne 33 years ago.
For more than 10 years, we have been committed to advancing the storage of renewable energy. A major milestone was the decision to hold electrical energy storage (ees) as the international exhibition for batteries and energy storage systems for the first time in June 2014 as an independent event alongside Intersolar Europe, the world’s leading exhibition for the solar industry. But long before that, Solar Promotion GmbH as the organizer, together with its partner Freiburg Wirtschaft Touristik und Messe GmbH & Co. KG (FWTM), laid a stable foundation for the rapid success of ees Europe.
The Chernobyl reactor accident in 1986 raises the question of the future of energy supply. The vision: an environmentally friendly and safe solar future. For this reason, student Markus Elsässer, today CEO of Solar Promotion GmbH, together with fellow campaigners, organizes a local exhibition in Pforzheim in 1991: Solar ‘91.
"Even then, we were driven by the vision of a solar future and a more environmentally friendly energy supply,” says Markus Elsässer. Just five solar companies present their products in 1991.
By the turn of the millennium, the CongressCentrum Pforzheim has become too small. The exhibition moves to Freiburg, becomes more international and changes its name to Intersolar. A second organizer, FWTM, joins Solar Promotion GmbH. Intersolar grows steadily from year to year, and the exhibition center in Freiburg is soon bursting at the seams, even though an additional exhibition hall (today’s Sick Arena) has been built. At the last Intersolar in Freiburg in 2007, several additional lightweight halls have to be erected. The infrastructure of the city of Freiburg is pushed to its limits by the rush of visitors. More than 600 manufacturers, suppliers, dealers and service providers from 35 countries present the latest trends and developments from the solar thermal, photovoltaic and solar building sectors.