Shipyards, suppliers, shipping companies and ports do not have a really good year behind them. The expansion of offshore wind energy will bring a turnaround. But this can take time.
According to the official announcement, by the year 2025 wind energy at sea is to cover about 15 percent of German electricity demand today. Goals of 10 GW of wind power by 2020, and 25 GW by 2030 are very ambitious.
In North and Baltic, there are currently 27 approved wind farms, and only four are being built.
Foundations in 50 meters depth
The ships have to install foundations in water depth of up to 50 meters and assemble the wind turbine in harsh weather conditions. There are only few installation vessels. The global demand for wind turbine installation ships is estimated up to 300 to 400 pieces.
Billion in sales beckon
The total order intake in the industry in the first three quarters was just under 2.4 billion euros. This is still far from the level before the financial crisis and shipping. According to the KPMG study offshore wind expansion will reach 18 billion euros by 2020, 6.5 billion euros for classic shipyard activities and up to 11.5 billion euros for offshore wind turbine structures. This will secure 6.000 jobs in the German shipbuilding industry.
Wind energy as a “safe harbor”
Also, the ports are preparing for the energy transition. The port industry has capacity to develop offshore wind farm logistics. They require storage and production areas for wind power plants, utilities, new quay walls, and above all powerful transport links. The expansion will not only benefit the two major German ports Hamburg and Bremerhaven , but also more sites like Brunsbüttel, Nordenham, Brake, Lübeck and Stralsund.
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Offshore WIND staff, December 23, 2011; Image: alpha-ventus