Following reports in Norwegian media about wind energy technology developer Seawind filing for bankruptcy, Offshore WIND spoke with the company’s director for the Netherlands, Kees van de Kerk, who pointed out that only the company in Norway is affected by this and that Seawind is now working on resolving the situation to enable moving forward with the demonstration project .
What led the two-bladed wind turbine developer to file for bankruptcy is the request to have certain amount of equity to be able to set up the demonstration project in Norway, and Seawind could not meet this requirement since all of the investments made into the project have been spent and/or earmarked for its development.
Van de Kerk further added that all the company’s employees are up-to-date with the current issues and have agreed to put in all their effort into bringing the 6.2MW demonstrator project in Norway to realisation.
Tomorrow, 23 January, the company is having a meeting with Enova , an entity of Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy in charge of the development of new energy solutions and technology, Kees van de Kerk said, adding that more information will be available in due course. He stressed that this does not necessarily mean the project in Norway will not be set up, since all parties involved are in discussion at this point.
When asked about the effect the bankruptcy of the Norwegian company will have on Seawind’s project(s) in the Aegean Sea , planned in partnership with WRE Hellas , Van de Kerk stated that this cooperation will not be affected. There could only be some delay due to the Enova decision, since the Greek project would need to wait for a demonstration set-up to run first.
Still, the development in Greece may also be structured in a way that it first runs a demonstration project comprising only one turbine, followed by expansion after certification is in place.
Offshore WIND is keeping an eye on the developments regarding Seawind and its project in Norway, so stay tuned for further updates.
Offshore WIND Staff