European offshore renewable industry leaders call for urgent action to address challenges at North Sea Summit

European offshore renewable industry leaders call for urgent action to address challenges at North Sea Summit

(IN BRIEF) The North Sea Summit brought together national and European politicians and the European offshore renewable industry to discuss ways to strengthen the European offshore sector’s leading position and contribute to a more sustainable energy system. Attendees signed a declaration expressing their support for political agreements and the need to address several pain points that could hinder the sector’s growth, including a lack of investment decisions before 2022, bottlenecks in infrastructure production, limited availability of installation vessels, and a need to invest in staff training to fill 250,000 job openings by 2030.

(PRESS RELEASE) OSTEND, 25-Apr-2023 — /EuropaWire/ — The second edition of the North Sea Summit in Ostend brought together national and European politicians and the crème de la crème of the European offshore renewable industry. Chris Peeters (CEO of Elia Group) and Stefan Kapferer (CEO of 50Hertz) were among their number. Summit attendees took part in a number of roundtable discussions and signed a declaration prepared by the offshore renewable industry in the run-up to the event. By working together, accelerating its activities and focusing on innovation, the European offshore sector can strengthen its leading position across the world and more quickly contribute to the establishment of a more sustainable, affordable and independent energy system.

The signatories of the Offshore Renewable Industry Declaration express their support for the political agreements reached at this year’s North Sea Summit in Ostend. However, the declaration lists a series of pain points that must be urgently addressed to enable the economic and technical feasibility of the expected scaling up of offshore renewable development.

For example, it is worrying that no investment decision was taken regarding any offshore wind farm in Europe before 2022. Strong investment signals such as clear auction criteria, simplified procurement procedures and favourable financing mechanisms are therefore needed.

Large-scale investments in ports and transmission infrastructure are also needed. Bottlenecks in the production of foundations, cables, transformers and switchgear must be eliminated as along with the limited availability of installation and other vessels.

Scaling up the offshore renewable sector also requires investment in staff training and making the sector attractive to new potential staff. The number of employees in Europe’s offshore wind sector needs to grow from 80,000 employees today to 250,000 by 2030. It is already difficult to find the right staff to fill current openings today.

The full statement can be found overleaf. More information about today’s political agreements can be found here: www.northseasummit23.be

Media Contact:

Volker Gustedt
Pressesprecher/Press Officer
Phone: +49 (0) 30 51 50 2878
Mail: volker.gustedt@50hertz.com

SOURCE: 50Hertz