Companies across the oil and gas value chain stand to benefit significantly from the further development of offshore wind industry, WindEurope CEO Giles Dickson said in his speech at the annual Offshore Northern Seas (ONS) event in Stavanger, Norway.
In his speech, Dickson described how some oil and gas companies are already playing an active role in offshore wind in areas such as cables, vessels, foundations, substations engineering and subsea surveys.
Dickson stressed that the opportunities will continue to grow strongly with today’s 11.5GW installed base set to rise to 23.5GW in 2020 and, if governments do the right thing, over 60GW in 2030.
He explained how offshore wind in Europe accounted for nearly half of current clean energy investments in Europe, attracting EUR 14 billion in new investments in the first half of 2016, and 14% of total global clean energy investments.
Europe continues to lead the world with over 90% of global capacity. It is also leading the way in expertise with Block Island – the U.S.’ first offshore wind project – “made in Europe.” Dickson explained that it is in the interests of the oil and gas sectors to harness this success.
The oil and gas supply chain showed real interest in the opportunities offshore wind offers, according to WindEurope.
There was significant interest also in the potential of “power-to-platform” applications to use floating offshore wind power to provide water injection for oil and gas production.