14
NUMMER 11 I 21 JUNI
Dutch offshore wind industry storms into the picture
The Dutch offshore wind industry is gathering steam. Thanks to a stable, long-term government policy, turnover and jobs are on the increase. The objective is to have a turnover of at least 6 billion Euros by 2020 and to have created jobs for at least 12,500 skilled workers. To maintain our leading position in the industry, the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs has created a location within the Borssele wind farm where two innovative turbines will be demonstrated.
EDUARD VOORN
Sometime around the end of April, ninety prominent professors wrote an open letter addressed to the Dutch government in The Hague. The message must have been music to the ears of offshore wind-farm builders. ‘We are urgently appealing to the new cabinet to invest substantially in the new economy. During the coming decades, some two hundred billion Euros are needed to build a smart new infrastructure. Considerable investments are required to scale up renewable energy generation, such as offshore wind’. The professors believe that the SDE+ directive, an important source of finance for wind farms, should be doubled to boost the support of private investments in the generation of renewable energy. Actually, builders of wind farms don’t have much to complain about. Five wind regions have been indicated in the Energy Agreement, which features a clear agenda for government and market parties. Two of these have been tendered out already; the others should be finalised before 2020. The agreement describes how the wind energy generated offshore is to be raised from 1,000 MW to 4,500 MW by 2023. In addition, the SDE+ has created a separate category called Wind op Zee (Offshore Wind), with its own budget and application procedure. As a result, turnover and job opportunities will rise substantially over the coming years. Market experts believe that it will be smooth sailing all the way. The main challenge is to find sufficient numbers of adequately trained people.
Wind turbines From the TKI Wind op Zee (Top consortium for Knowledge and Innovation Offshore Wind, see separate text box), which intends to boost the development of offshore wind farms, Bob Meijer keeps close tabs on the develop- ments in this sector. As programme director,
he regularly outlines these developments. He figures that, within the foreseeable future, offshore wind farms can be built without the support of any subsidies at all. “Already, the costs – €/kWh or €/MWh – per tender are diminishing. It started in Denmark with the biddings for Horns Rev III (2015). Further price reductions involved Borssele I + II (2016) and the Danish Nearshore (2016) and Kriegers Flak (2016)”. For Horns Rev III, the bid was 103 Euros per MWh, Borssele I and II resulted in 73 Euros/ MWh and for Borssele III and IV, a winning bid of 55 Euros/MWh was placed. And the lowest tender bid was that of Vattenfall for Kriegers Flak, which was €49.90/MWh. But offshore wind is not cheap, as is demonstrated by the extent of the investments in the latter wind farm. To build between 60 and 75 turbines – with a total capacity of 600 MW – a sum of money amounting to 1.3 billion Euros is needed. Which is still 1.5 billion Euros less than the Gemini wind farm – 600 MW – which was festively inaugurated on 8 May 2017. According to Meijer of TKI Wind op Zee this trend will continue. “It is the result of the fact that trade & industry and knowledge institutions are working very hard indeed to cut back those costs. But don’t underestimate the role played by the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs (EZ), who introduced a unique tendering system. All preparatory research, including soil conditions and wind climate, as well as the necessary permits were arranged for by the Ministry of EZ. In addition, the tender included a connection with the TenneT grid. This way, companies from the entire supply chain were able to submit competitive bids. As a result of the economic developments, interest levels are still low, resulting in lower financing costs”. Under the umbrella of the Energy Agreement, there are still three tenders to go before the end of 2019. Its successor, the Energy Agenda, states that an annual increase of 1 GW per year from offshore wind could occur each year up until 2030. The Energy Agenda assumes that as from 2026 offshore wind turbines can be built without any subsidy at all. Meijer: “In theory, it is possible to build offshore wind turbines without any subsidy at all. The most recent German tenders have demonstrated this, although the German system is not quite the same as the Dutch one”.
Champions League What is the current position of Dutch wind energy production? It’s a popular mis- conception that the market for offshore wind
turbines is dominated by Danish and German companies. An outline sketched by research agency Roland Berger indicates that, although gondolas and blades may be manufactured abroad, Dutch companies are definitely leading in the areas of energy grids, engineering, purchasing, construction, and maintenance to installations. We also develop foundations and provide ships, cranes and other equipment to the industry. And this concerns not only major multinationals, but also – more markedly – small and medium-sized companies and startups. Meijer has observed that, even where rotor blades and gondola equipment are concerned, there are a great many components that have been developed and manufactured in the Netherlands. “We certainly take up a leading position in those areas, though this may not always be visible. There is plenty of perspec- tive for all parts of the chain. Turnover and job opportunities are growing at breakneck speed at the moment. I believe we can easily turn over 6 billion Euros by 2020. That’s quite a realistic figure”.
Shortage of skilled workers To combine the strengths of trade & industry, knowledge institutions and universities, TKI Wind op Zee has set up the programme GROW (Growth through Research, development & demonstration in Offshore Wind). Participants in GROW are going to invest around 50 million Euros in R&D over the next 5 years; this sum will be complemented by a similar amount of public means. The objective is to realise developments that will make the latest generation of wind farms more economical, while reliability and stability of the energy system are not compromised. Market growth is assured for the next decade and finding sufficient numbers of employees is presenting the greatest challenge. Although the moment is favourable now that the oil and gas industries are on the decline. Aſter having followed additional training, skilled workers from those sectors will be able to find jobs in the wind-energy industry. Still,
we need more talent. That is why TKI Wind op Zee, together with the Dutch wind-energy association NWEA, set up the programme CAREER. “The shortage of skilled personnel will increase if we do not coordinate education, schooling and training facilities”, Meijer stated. “Where the windfarms that are presently being built are concerned, we are already facing the problem of finding enough people for maintenance. We will have to work a lot harder to recruit, select and train people for the offshore wind sector”.
Innovation plot To maintain the Netherlands’ leading position on the wind-energy market, a so-called innovation plot was created within the Energy Agreement Borssele V. It is the answer to the shortage of demonstration facilities to help set up groundbreaking innovations. That is why TKI Wind op Zee initiated this plot, which comprises two wind turbines with a combined capacity of 20MW. The plot offers the opportu- nity to demonstrate innovative technologies, including turbines, rotor blades, new founda- tion concepts such as floating or gravity- based foundations, and installation innova- tions such as new piling methods. A fine example of new piling technology is presented by the startup Fistuca from Delſt. It concerns the driving of piles using water. “Our role is to bring parties together who are able to realise such a demonstration project”, Bob Meijer explained. “The tender is not about money but about the level of innovation. Other important factors included the contribution to the Dutch economy and the reinforcement of our knowledge position. On the innovation plot, technologies will not be demonstrated until their development has reached a rather advanced stage. Somewhere near the end of the product-development process. Substantial investments are involved. Investors want to know for sure that the technology they invested in is meeting all requirements. Sometimes, it is essential to be able to demonstrate these offshore”.
What does TKI Wind op Zee do? TKI Wind op Zee (Top consortium for Knowledge and Innovation Offshore Wind) is a part of the Dutch Topsector Policy for energy. The programme of TKI Wind op Zee is aimed at cost reduction of offshore wind energy, increasing the contribution of the Dutch offshore wind industry to the implementation of offshore wind in the Netherlands, and the reinforcement of their competitive position on the international export market. TKI Wind op Zee directs research and innovation activities and the implementation of offshore wind technology for trade & industry (including small and medium-sized companies) in the Netherlands. In addition, TKI Wind op Zee guarantees rapid distribution and deployment of the knowledge, technologies, and working methods that have been developed.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28
