OWIM Conference: Renewables, Innovation and Cooperation

On October 16, the Offshore Wind Installation and Maintenance (OWIM) Conference was held simultaneously with Offshore Energy Exhibition & Conference in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

All attendees had an opportunity to learn more about various topics from the offshore wind industry and hear different opinions from experts in this field. In general, the OWIM Conference was quite interactive and some sessions have sparked very interesting discussions.

Theo de Lange, Business Develepoment Manager from Van Oord, who opened the conference and chaired the opening session, talked about innovation. Mr. de Lange said that it is not only about technical innovation, but also about improvements in project managing and cost reduction.

Innovation was also the topic of Ampelmann’s Jan van der Tempel. Under the title “That’s just too innovative…” he talked about innovative approaches in grouting and hammering piles in terms of certification and approval of projects. “Industry makes the rules, and not the certifiers,” he stressed.

Innovation and the importance of cooperation were often mentioned throughout the whole conference day, especially in the context of cost reduction.

Sander Lensink from the ECN presented on the topic of new offshore wind tenders and permitting procedures. He approached the European renewables targets from Dutch standpoint, saying that the Netherlands has its first offshore wind tender scheduled for 2015. “And that’s too late,” Mr. Lensink said.

Governments are seeking guarantees for production, and the more production guarantees they seek, the higher the actual tender bids become, Mr. Lensink explained.

As for the prices of offshore wind, he said that the price increase will fade away with time, because offshore wind energy is still too innovative when compared to onshore. He also said that stories about the increase offshore wind prices are not true.

Political and society support depends on technological development and cost reduction. Post-2020 policy is needed for the perspective for innovation, and innovation is needed for cost reduction.

Offshore WIND Staff, October 24, 2013; Image: navingo