26 September 2022
Offshore Wind Ports Platform meets in Niedersachsen Ports Cuxhaven
The WindEurope’s Offshore Wind Ports Platform met at Niedersachsen Ports Cuxhaven today to discuss opportunities and challenges European ports are facing for the development of offshore renewable energy. They also visited the Port’s infrastructure, including the Siemens Gamesa nacelle factory, operational since mid-2017. Niedersachsen Ports Cuxhaven is the newest member of the Ports Platform.
Ports are continuously adapting their infrastructure to cater for ever larger components, bigger vessels, and an increased number of activities. Niedersachsen Ports Cuxhaven has developed into a leading port for handling offshore wind turbines on the North Sea coast. In Cuxhaven, generators of offshore wind turbines are produced, shipped from there, and installed at sea. The constant growth of the offshore wind industry is having an impact in the port’s capacities.
Offshore wind ports are a vital part of the supply and logistics chain that is needed for the installation, assembly, operation and maintenance of offshore wind farms. But right now there is a significant lack of suitable port infrastructure. To resolve this Europe needs to invest €8.5bn in its ports now just to deliver the offshore wind expansion planned for 2030. Offshore wind ports are key to the development of both floating and bottom-fixed offshore wind. In order to anticipate their future workflows ports need to know how much wind energy will be built with clear Government targets leading to a steady pipelines of projects.
Europe is embarking on a huge expansion of offshore wind. We need to build 160 GW of offshore wind energy by the end of 2030, but this cannot be delivered without huge investments in port infrastructure.
