Wind Energy Update: New Supply Chain Strategies Emerge for Farshore, Deepwater Wind Farm

The European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) says 9.3 gigawatt (GW) of new wind power capacity was installed in the EU during 2010 with offshore wind power installations growing 51 per cent from 582MW in 2009 to 883MW last year. With further projects in the pipeline from the UK, Germany, the Netherlands and most recently France, Europe will continue to be the largest offshore wind energy-producing region in the world for years to come.

Utility-led projects are the lynchpin of the offshore wind power industry’s continuing progress. Justin Wilkes, Director of Policy at EWEA noted: “Projects led by utilities are less affected thanks to their ability to fund investments from their balance sheets.”

However, utility scale developers at the forefront will be seeking out only companies capable of providing and meeting the necessary challenges imposed on the industry today.

RWE Innogy, Vattenfall Wind Power, DONG, Mainstream Renewable Power, REpower, Alstom Wind, GE Energy, GAMESA, and many more leading offshore wind industry companies will meet this march in London to discuss, debate and appraise the latest offshore supply chain strategies to reduce costs, optimize efficiency, and improve overall ROI.

This offshore critical conference has already drawn over 120 wind energy professionals from across the industry and continues to grow day by day.

The direct focus of the event will be on building a confident and robust offshore wind power supply chain for timely and cost effective project delivery. The agenda focuses on providing best practice steps to procurement strategies, effective contract management, recruiting and training a fully compliable workforce, and ensuring a reliable supply of major components that will guarantee construction excellence and a positive growth of offshore wind farms for years to come.

A select range of utilities, developers, manufacturers, contractors, port owners, vessel suppliers, R&D experts, consultants and service providers are gearing up to debate and discuss these key topics at the offshore wind energy supply chain conference.

www.windenergyupdate.com/offshorewindsupplychain/