Port Esbjerg in Denmark has initiated an alliance with other European ports for offshore wind in Northern Europe with the aim of resolving potential capacity issues.
Representatives of the ports agreed on the new partnership at a meeting in Hamburg, Germany.
The other ports in the alliance with Esbjerg are Belgium’s Port Oostende, Groningen Seaports/Eemshaven, in the Netherlands, Niedersachsen Port/Cuxhaven, in Germany, France’s Nantes-Saint Nazaire Port and Humber in the UK.
With the Esbjerg Declaration, the targets for offshore wind in Europe have been raised significantly.
Germany, Denmark, Belgium, and the Netherlands have defined a combined target of delivering at least 65GW offshore wind by 2030.
This puts pressure on European ports, because it may not be possible to have all offshore wind farms installed in time due to current port capacity shortage.
Specifically, the plan is for representatives of the five ports to meet twice annually to discuss and share insights and knowledge.
For example, they could work together to solve the issue of capacity shortage, so if a port only has capacity for half a project, one of the other ports may have capacity for the other half.
This would allow for the offshore wind farm to be installed on time instead of being delayed until a port has capacity for the entire project.
Port Esbjerg has already applied this method with success in an alliance with Groningen Seaports/Eemshaven in the Netherlands, from which 18 offshore wind farms have been shipped.
“We are now joining forces to find the best solutions for offshore wind port optimisation.
“Together, we hope to be considered as serious partners in the efforts to achieve the targets defined for European offshore wind,” said Erik Bertholet, Business Manager Logistics and Offshore Wind, Groningen Seaports/Eemshaven.
As opposed to the other countries, France has only recently installed its first offshore wind turbines.
“We’re new to the offshore wind industry, and we’re very proud that we’ve recently completed the first ever offshore wind farm in France. So, we’re looking forward to drawing on the experience of the other ports and to contributing knowledge based on our focus on floating offshore wind farms.
“We also hope that the partnership will contribute to finding solutions to the bottlenecks we’re all facing,” said Olivier Tretout, CEO of Nantes Saint-Nazaire Port.
The inaugurating partnership meeting of the ports will be held at the Port of Esbjerg later this year.