Germany: Wind Power Growth Driver for TÜV SÜD

International service corporation TÜV SÜD is continuing its dynamic growth: its consolidated revenue will grow by a minimum of 8 per cent in 2012, to over EUR 1.8 billion (2011: EUR 1.68 billion). TÜV SÜD also expects a further rise in income (EBIT) (2011: EUR 160 million). The number of employees clearly reflects this positive trend, increasing by 1,500 to over 18,600 this year.

Around 45 per cent of TÜV SÜD’s employees work abroad, boosting the company’s status as a global player. TÜV SÜD is currently stepping up its international expansion in Asia Pacific, South Africa and Brazil, to name but a few examples. Its growth drivers are services related to “energy supplies of the future”, “mobility in metropolitan areas”, and “safe food”.

“2012 proved to be an excellent year for TÜV SÜD that was marked by strong growth, and I am convinced that we will continue to expand at this rate in 2013,” said Dr Axel Stepken, Chairman of the Board of Management of TÜV SÜD AG, at the company’s annual financial results conference in Munich. “We aim to reach the 2-billion-euro mark for revenue in 2013!”

Stepken emphasized that his company is a job engine unequalled in Germany: “Since 2005, TÜV SÜD has created at least 1,000 new jobs every year – only very few companies can claim the same!” The only exception was 2009, the year of the financial crisis, but even in this difficult situation TÜV SÜD continued to create jobs, hiring 300 new employees.

Ensuring future energy supply – taking wind power as an example

Building up sustainable energy supply is one of the most pressing issues at present. TÜV SÜD is offering a growing range of services targeted at improving energy efficiency and massively expanding its service portfolio in the field of renewables, particularly wind power. In summer 2012 TÜV SÜD acquired UK-based Project Management Support Services Limited (PMSS). PMSS offers comprehensive consultancy to wind farm operators, manufacturers and investors, with a strong focus on offshore projects.

Today, two years after the start of the Offshore Wind Services unit in Hamburg, TÜV SÜD has become an established player on this market. For example, the wind experts are testing 30 offshore wind turbines on behalf of Siemens for the Riffgat project based in the North Sea. Karsten Xander, Member of the Board of Management of TÜV SÜD, underlines: “By acquiring PMSS we have now reached the critical mass we need to carry out international offshore projects in locations such as the USA.”

Wind power is a crucial energy source for the future, both offshore and onshore. TÜV SÜD has delivered proof of this for Germany in several instances, such as the wind atlas prepared on behalf of the German state of Baden-Wuerttemberg and the map of wind resource potential for the German state of Hesse. Analyses and assessments carried out by TÜV SÜD’s wind professionals have proved that technological improvement and increasing hub heights of wind turbines of up to 140 metres and over make forested areas on minor mountain ranges increasingly attractive locations for harnessing wind power.

Chairman of the Board of Management Dr Axel Stepken emphasizes: “Our services and consolidated engineering expertise help to conserve resources and improve efficiency ‒ just one of the reasons why I am convinced that TÜV SÜD will continue its upwards trajectory with undiminished dynamism in the next years. After all, these issues are becoming increasingly important throughout the world!”

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Press release, December 6, 2012; Image: TÜV SÜD