“There are plenty of opportunities throughout the life cycle of offshore wind farms, especially during the installation phase and within operation and maintenance,” says Morten Vaage, Senior Manager Business Operations at Deloitte Norway.
At a seminar in Kristiansand this week, Vaage talked about the major challenges that the offshore wind industry is facing.
- Limited availability of installation vessels. Vessels have high day rates and short weather windows.
- Long lead time for port development. New ports for offshore wind installations requires huge investments and is generally considered to be a state responsibility.
- Bottlenecks in component production. Could lead to delays that cause Norwegian projects to be postponed.
- Failure to upgrade the power grid. Prevents efficient connection of renewable energy, which slows down projects.
“The industry must make technological advancements throughout the value chain, such as innovative solutions for installation and maintenance, improved designs for floating wind, digitalization, and increased standardization. Investments in port facilities are required, especially in areas close to the wind farms. There is plenty of work ahead,” says Vaage.
Given the major challenges he describes for the industry, Vaage does not believe Norway will meet its own ambitious targets for offshore wind.
“I don’t think we have a full grasp of the onshore infrastructure that is required to succeed. It is also suboptimal to have three regions fighting for the lead position. National efforts should be more coordinated,” says Vaage – adding a final piece of advice:
“It will pay to cooperate with competitors.”
The seminar was organized by Fremtidens havvind, GCE NODE and Deloitte.
