The Port of Esbjerg chief executive has welcomed efforts to increase North Sea offshore wind capacity tenfold but said that ports face an issue of finding space to accommodate expansion.
Port Esbjerg CEO Dennis Jul Pedersen said: “Obviously, we are tremendously proud that Port Esbjerg will host this historic summit, with such strong announcements about the ambitions for European offshore wind in the North Sea.
During the summit, attended by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark and Germany declared a goal of increasing offshore wind capacity in the North Sea to at least 150GW by 2050.
Jul Pedersen said: “It is essential that the ambitious goals are paired with a concrete plan for, how to upgrade the port infrastructure of Europe, while giving the industry the necessary flexibility in tenders and more efficient project processing allowing the industry to meet the growing demand as effectively as possible.”
He said based on the proposed increase Port Esbjerg will have a “lot to do in the coming years”.
He said that even though the port and the rest of the value chain has been preparing for the growing demand of offshore wind, the ambitious goals still require much more infrastructure all over Europe.
“We simply need more space. In Esbjerg, we are expanding the port area, but it takes time to build the necessary infrastructure.”
He added: “With the energy islands we are reaching an even bigger scale in terms of energy production, so it could potentially have a big effect on European energy supply.
“The Danish energy islands will be a leading example of modern production of sustainable energy, so it makes sense that Europe is looking to Denmark to find solutions.”