WindEurope Bulletin
WindEurope Bulletin July 2023
6 July 2023
CEO Foreword
Dear WindEurope Member,
Last month the EU finally signed off on its new Renewable Energy Directive after months of negotiations. The Emergency Measures on permitting agreed last year will now become permanent. That means enforcing the principle that the expansion of wind is in the overriding public interest, applying a binding 2-year deadline to all permits and a population-based approach to biodiversity protection – and requiring all EU countries to digitalise their permitting procedures. These new rules are an important step forward and will help unlock the 80 GW of wind farms currently in the permitting pipeline across Europe. EU countries have until the middle of 2024 to implement them. Some are already doing so, e.g. Germany – and there it’s led to an increase in permitting rates for onshore wind and to us winning appeals against permits that we’d previously have lost.
EU countries are now also updating their 2030 National Energy and Climate Plans (NECPs), partly on the back of the new Renewables Directive. The latter has a new renewables electricity target of 42.5% by 2030, which requires us to build out EU wind capacity from 205 GW at the start of this year to 420 GW by 2030. That’s 28.5 GW pa – we built 16 GW in the EU last year. We’re pushing Governments to raise the wind targets that were in their original NECPs to help deliver this. They’re producing the first drafts now and have to finalise them by June 2024.
A key part of building more wind is ensuring the right investment signals. The EU is trying to agree new rules on electricity markets which should restore order after 2 years of (often unhelpful) National Government interventions. EU Member States are still trying to decide what new rules they want. Spain is now chairing these discussions as the new EU Presidency, and their elections later this month will have a major bearing on how they handle things. The European Parliament are closer to defining their own position – and have now provisionally agreed not to call for a continuation of revenue caps for generators, but some National Governments are still pressing for this.
Now what is the EU doing for our supply chain? The Net Zero Industry Act (NZIA) is still under discussion – and still needs beefing up. We need to see more public money available to scale up our green supply chains. If we don’t, Europe’s energy transition will be completely outsourced to Chinese manufacturers – at a huge cost to our jobs, standards, and energy security. If we want a Green Deal that’s made in Europe, we need to build on what we do best. The NZIA is our chance to make this happen – but we can’t let it fall short. I’ve laid out all these points in this video here – shot at a cutting-edge turbine manufacturing facility in Le Havre last month.
The discussions on the NZIA probably won’t finish before the start of next year. Again we’re seeing debates about the scope of technology and particularly on auction design and non-price criteria – with many MEPs questioning the need for them at all. These criteria are absolutely key if we want to reward European green manufacturers and see our energy transition made in Europe. The Commission’s original proposal was very big on non-price criteria – we have to make sure it doesn’t get watered down before being implemented.
Finally a roundup of some good news from Member States – particularly France and Germany. The French Government’s ambitions for offshore wind seem to be on the rise. They’re planning a new auction for 2025 or 2026 with potentially up to 10 GW of new offshore wind. Meanwhile Germany has made good progress on onshore deployment – with auctions awarding 3 GW so far this year, double the rate from a few years ago. Let’s see what happens on their ongoing 7 GW offshore auction with the dynamic negative bidding.
Our events … the Renewable Hydrogen Coalition’s Summit is on 12 October here in Brussels. There’ll be leading CEOs and policymakers looking at how to bridge the cost-gap between renewable hydrogen and existing technology, and how to ramp up European supply chains. You can register here. And this year’s RE-Source Event is in Amsterdam on 26-27 October. It’s the ideal place to learn more about PPAs and green corporate sourcing. And to meet buyers from all sectors looking to decarbonise. You can check out the programme here. And click here to register.
Can I take this opportunity to thank you once again for all your input to WindEurope and continued support for our activity. I wish you a restful and rewarding summer break.
Kind regards,
Giles Dickson
WindEurope Intelligence Platform
NEW – Check out our newly revamped Interactive Data & Maps section
We have just released a revamp of our Interactive Data & Maps section of the WindEurope Intelligence Platform. The landing page now provides a one-page summary of all the most relevant data by country and region with links to the online tool if you want to take a deeper dive into the data.
This section will continue to evolve as we redevelop all our online tools in-house to improve the useability.
Members Successes
Immense monopiles transported through port area (Eemshaven)
The Port of Eemshaven is currently the base for the construction of several offshore wind farms: Hollandse Kust Noord (Netherlands), Gode Wind 3 and Borkum Riffgrund 3 (both in Germany). Work on the two German wind farms involves transporting and installing monopiles and secondary steel. The monopiles for wind farm Gode Wind 3 will be installed first. As it stands, 24 monopiles out of a total of 107 have arrived in Beatrixhaven and the process of loading the monopiles onto an installation vessel – Les Alizés of the Jan de Nul group – in Julianahaven will begin shortly.
This will involve moving these immense structures through the port area one by one from the BOW storage site at Beatrixhaven to the loading facility at the Wagenborg Terminal in Julianahaven. Due to the size of the transports, additional lanes have been created in bends and some road sections have been widened. Q3 Heavy Lift BV will carry out these transports over land with so-called SPMTs (multi-wheel vehicles). Recently the first pile (100 metres long, with a weight of 1,500 tonnes and a diameter of 9.5 metres) was transported to Julianahaven in this way – taking approximately 5.5 hours.
Naturally these transports affect access for various businesses in Eemshaven. The movements will largely take place at night, between 18:00 and 06:00, to keep disruption to a minimum. Roads will be closed and traffic managers will be deployed to guide traffic and the emergency services where necessary. The transports will continue for the rest of the year.
Eemshaven is a member of WindEurope’s Offshore Ports Platform. This platform aims to facilitate the exchange of best practice and know-how, and for ports to come together to tackle the opportunities and challenges facing them as offshore wind expands.
Share your successes with us!
Is your brand bringing new, ground-breaking solutions to the wind industry? Have you recently launched a major project in your field? Do you have positive business news to share?
Then make sure to get in touch with us here at WindEurope – we’ll be happy to promote your success story as part of our monthly Bulletin! This is a chance to share your accomplishments with thousands of others from right across the wind energy value chain – a major visibility boost.
Please be aware that this service is only available to members from the categories C3 and above. Publication of stories is on a first come, first served basis.
Get in touch with our Membership team now to send in your news!
Become an Abstract Reviewer!
WindEurope’s Annual Event is taking place in Bilbao on 20-22 March 2024. And as a WindEurope member, you are in a unique position to shape the conference’s technical and scientific programme – as an abstract reviewer!
Through our Review Committee, you’ll be tasked with scoring abstracts in your field of expertise. The review period will run from 12 September – 12 October. In return, you’ll:
- Get early access to the latest developments and results;
- Help shape the programme content;
- Boost you and your company’s visibility; and
- Receive a discount on your Conference & Exhibition pass.
You have until 1 September to apply – so don’t delay!
Events
RE-Source 2023 – Europe’s biggest renewable corporate sourcing gathering – register now!
New to green energy procurement? Eager to learn more about the PPA scene? Or looking to meet buyers from across a wide range of sectors?
RE-Source is heading back to Amsterdam from 26-27 October this year – now in an even a bigger venue. This is a chance to learn more about green energy procurement and to engage in exclusive B2B matchmaking.
The programme is live as well. You can expect two days of sessions looking at the regulatory situation around Europe, renewable energy procurement, electrification, green hydrogen and more. With plenty of networking in between and a special party to wrap up the first day, organised by ACT.
The PPA scene is taking off all over Europe – so make sure to get on board! We’ll see you in Amsterdam.
WindEurope EoLIS2023
Wind energy is growing left, right and centre. Multiple GW of new wind farms are being deployed across Europe year on year. But what do we do with the old ones? And how can we plan their life-cycle efficiently from the design phase onwards?
Join us in Rotterdam from 22-23 November as we come together for EoLIS, WindEurope’s End-of-Life Issues and Strategies Seminar. Together with 200+ experts, we’ll look at the options for aging turbines, questions about sustainability, and ways to strengthen turbine design from start to end of life. More info to come on this soon! Stay tuned.
WindEurope Annual Event 2024
WindEurope’s Annual Event is heading to Bilbao next year! From 20-22 March 2024, the entire industry value chain will join us at the Bilbao Exhibition Centre for a three-day conference and exhibition. The focus: getting us on track to meet our wind energy ambitions and making sure Europe’s turbines are made in Europe! Make sure to save the date now if you haven’t.
But now the power is in your hands! We have opened a call for abstracts to help shape the conference – and to help drive the growth of wind in the years ahead!
Specifically we’re looking for:
- Concrete examples of implemented operational solutions – experience, feedback, real-world date etc.
- Innovative research, concepts and ideas to bring the industry forward.
- Abstracts falling under one of the technical themes of the conference – see here.
- No commercial content.
- A diverse response – we’d like to encourage as many abstracts from women in the industry as possible.
You have until 8 September to send in your ideas! Members can also review abstracts to help set the tone of the conference! Apply to become an abstract reviewer here before 1 September!
Other events
Renewable Hydrogen Summit 2023
Renewable hydrogen has the potential to deliver comprehensive decarbonisation in Europe and to transform hard-to-electrify sectors. But to set this in motion, we need to bridge the cost gap. Hydrogen must be able to compete with existing technologies. And we need to beef up our supply chain here in Europe too.
Join us on 12 October 2023 at the Radisson Collection Hotel Grand Place in Brussels as we take this plan further. CEOs from leading European companies and top EU policymakers will be there – for high-level discussions on how to shape the energy landscape of tomorrow. Check out the programme here.
Don’t miss this chance to put your stamp on the future energy system!
Giles & Pierre – Progress on permitting rules, confusion on market design
The new EU rules on renewables permitting are finally agreed. But the EU have failed to reach an agreement on the new market design rules – and it’s unclear when they will.
More on this, and on Europe’s green industrial policy and on key national developments, in this latest edition of Giles & Pierre.
