Risks and Chances for Young Industry at Offshore Conference OBMC

Risks and Chances for Young Industry at Offshore Conference OBMC

Dr. Robert Habeck, Schleswig-Holstein’s Minister for Energy Transition, stated clearly at the beginning of the Offshore Conference OBMC, “We want offshore wind farms for Schleswig-Holstein. The wind blows steadily offshore, so they are an important component of the energy transition. And they offer good opportunities for our ports and economy.”

In the panel discussion which followed, Hermann Albers, president of the German Wind Energy Association, Jörg Kuhbier, Chairman of the German Offshore Wind Energy Foundation, Dr. Klaus Rave, Chairman of the Global Wind Energy Council and Pieter Wasmuth, Chief Representative of Hamburg and Northern Germany of Vattenfall GmbH, spoke about perspectives and technical opportunities to gain market share for SMEs and achieve lower project costs.

But who pays when the wind farm is completed but the cables to the mainland do not work? The Offshore Wind Energy Foundation is pushing for a fast statutory solution. CEO Jörg Kuhbier listed the measures which his organisation would like to see enshrined in the law to avoid such disruptions or failures. “It is imperative that we have a binding offshore grid plan to which both grid operators and wind farm operators must agree. The power supply systems must be intermeshed. Realisation schedules ensure cost-saving agreements among all parties involved. Effective grid management ensures that the power supply lines are used economically and to capacity. All this benefits the users and reduces liability risk by far more than half,” Kuhbier argued.

The remaining blocks on the first conference day dealt with offshore grid expansion in Europe, new approaches in logistics and installation, and safety concepts. Dr. Matthias Hüppauff, windcomm’s Project Coordinator said, “We are pursuing two goals with the OBMC. Firstly, we want to demonstrate in which countries offshore is developing better, so as to learn from these examples. Secondly, we want to provide a local event where we can bring companies from our region together with international partners. Because offshore only works with international cooperation.

The conference continues tomorrow with a focus on Asia and presentations by a business delegation from South Korea. The final point on Tuesday’s programme is a workshop of the Maritime Cluster North Germany which will be dealing, among other things, with qualifications and human resources for the offshore industry.

[mappress]
Press Release, November 6, 2012