Wind Energy

Foreword
by Jan Rispens
You don’t have to be particularly bold to claim that the offshore wind energy industry will come
through the international banking and financial crisis relatively unscathed. European projects
have reached a volume which is expanding under its own momentum and this will not be stopped
by a temporary lull. Admittedly, projects that depend on banks for their financing have encountered
difficulties. This has changed the face of the industry and led to the overwhelming
majority of upcoming wind farms being transferred into the ownership of large energy suppliers
over the past year. Yet this is of little significance to wind turbine manufacturers and
their suppliers – from gearbox engineering to cabling. It actually gives them a secure basis for
long-term planning, and new contracts for a large number of turbines have been concluded.
On the whole, underlying conditions have indeed been favourable for offshore wind energy – 2009
is the year of the major climate change conference in Copenhagen. Given the increasingly clear
warnings coming from climatologists, Europeans are more determined than ever to reduce their
greenhouse gas emissions. They know they can’t reach their targets without exploiting offshore
wind power. If we look at the political targets for expanding offshore wind power, we see that the
political will still far exceeds manufacturers’ planned capacities. Experts confirm that feed-in tariffs
in Europe and other currently beneficial conditions can generate returns of between 9 and 14 percent
on invested capital. Some 160 offshore wind farms have been built or are being planned around
the European continent, and this figure alone shows that investors are moving with the times.
This is why planners, manufacturers and operators are in an ongoing process of making new
contracts, starting construction, and commissioning wind farms. This holds true for enterprises
in Bremen, Bremerhaven, Cuxhaven, Emden, Rostock and other port cities as well. We are pleased
and proud that a large share of this development is in the hands of researchers and businesses
which are members of the Wind Energy Agency Bremerhaven/Bremen (WAB) network.
Jan Rispens,
Managing Director WAB
OffshOre #2 | The Magazine
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