The Netherlands: Interesting Challenges in Offshore Wind Energy Sector

Offshore Energy Exhibition & Conference brings you a series of columns in which prominent industry representatives share their views on key developments in the offshore oil, gas and energy markets. This column is written by Johan van Wijland, Managing Director of Van Oord Offshore Wind Projects.

In times of economic hardship it is always nice to bring some good news. This is what the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) must have thought by publishing their latest report titled “Green Growth”. The report states that the wind energy industry is a driver for economic growth, contributing € 32.43 billion (bn) to the EU’s GDP in 2010. €8.8 bn worth of products and services were exported by the European wind industry and the tax payments from companies in the wind energy sector amounted to €3.59 bn in 2010. In 2010 the avoided fuel costs (for coal, oil, gas, biomass, waste) from wind power production was €5.71 bn and employment in the wind energy sector amounts to 238,154 FTE.

This is great news and indeed the wind energy sector is very promising. Especially the offshore market is developing very rapidly in countries like Germany and the UK. Also countries like France and Spain are developing concrete plans for building new offshore wind farms.

This is good news for many Dutch maritime companies involved in the construction of offshore wind farms. The Netherlands might have lost the race in manufacturing wind turbines, but plays a major role in the construction and installation of offshore wind farms in Europe. For Van Oord, being one of the leading Maritime EPC Contractors for offshore wind projects , this offers a valuable contribution towards Van Oord’s other activities in the field of dredging and marine contracting.

However, looking a bit closer to the offshore wind sector, some concerns are revealed for the coming years. First of all, the offshore wind market is a subsidy driven market. The gap between the fossil fuel based commodity price for electricity and offshore wind must be narrowed. Costs must come down in the coming years, otherwise it is definitely not a sustainable market. Improvements in technology, supply chain, installation logistics and offshore wind farm operations are crucial. This is also the focus of FLOW, the large innovation programme that has been started one year ago and in which Dutch companies together with the Dutch government are investing €46 M in research and development in order to bring down the costs.

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Offshore WIND staff, May 10, 2012