WIND EUROPE CONFERENCE 2024!
Industry InsightsThe LSP Renewables Team had a brilliant time at Wind Europe, 2024. It was excellent to catch up with Industry connections and be apart of discussions on how we can get closer to our shared goal of positively contributing to the renewable energy industry and safeguarding the long-term future of our planet
Here’s an overview of some of the key takeaways from the event:
The Irish Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications Eamon Ryan has said the country is primed to become a renewables powerhouse.
Minister Ryan said: “Ireland is already a wind energy success story. We get 35% of our electricity from onshore wind farms, which is more than anywhere else in Europe. We are world leaders in integrating renewables onto our electricity grid, which often sees 75% of total electricity demand come from wind farms. For over 20 years we have built a thriving national onshore wind industry, but now we are looking to our seas. Ireland has one of the best offshore wind resources in the world and we are moving towards the delivery of offshore wind energy at a rapid pace.
We have already set out a clear pathway to achieving our 2030 offshore wind targets and our new Future Framework for Offshore Renewable Energy, set to be published next month, identifies the key actions Ireland will take to deliver 20GW of offshore wind by 2040 and at least 37GW by 2050."
The Basque Energy Cluster and Norwegian Offshore Wind (NOW) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to strengthen collaboration between the supply chains in Norway and the Basque Country.
The agreement was signed at Wind Europe Annual Event 2024 in Bilbao this week.
Basque Energy Cluster and NOW both focus on developing supply chains in the sector. These two offshore wind nations have different strengths that will create valuable synergies, said the partners.
“With the fast-emerging offshore wind markets in both Spain and Norway, a partnership between our two organisations will create great opportunities for the industry,” said NOW manager Arvid Nesse.
“The leadership and technological capabilities of Norwegian companies, especially regarding floating solutions, qualify them as powerful and reliable partners."
Spain has impressive ambitions for developing offshore wind, especially floating. The government has set a target of 3GW of installed offshore wind by 2030. The Marine Spatial Plans (POEMS) have outlined 5000 square kilometres suitable for offshore wind.
Belgian grid operator Elia Group and Danish wind giant Orsted have unveiled a joint paper which aims to help Europe overcome the barriers impeding the development of ‘hybrid projects’ and deliver integrated offshore transmission projects.
The paper proposes novel approaches to offshore development, including the adoption of regional planning at sea basin level - e.g. the North Sea or the Baltic Sea - and the establishment of Offshore Investment Banks for Europe’s sea basins.
Elia Group and Orsted said they want to help Europe to harness the full renewables potential of its seas and more effectively distribute the green electricity produced among its countries.
National Grid Ventures President Katie Jackson has called for greater EU-UK regulatory alignment to pave the way for more electricity interconnectors.
She told WindEurope 2024 about the need to ease post-Brexit “headwinds and frictions” as energy minister Andrew Brodie heads to Brussels for a key bilateral meeting on future cross-border energy trading arrangements.
Jackson said that six direct end-to-end interconnectors had been built in the last 30 years but that transmission system owners needed politicians to give “clear regulatory certainty” if any more were to go ahead.
She added: “We need to alleviate frictions on how we coordinate planning and revenue sharing between EU members states and third countries like the UK. If we don’t then consumers will miss out on maximising the value of all that investment and maximising the value of the North Sea wind resource. We see it as a shared challenge and we need a shared political approach, not the EU and the UK being separate. We must not forget that we are already connected and need to be more connected in future.”
Investments in wind energy in Europe more than doubled in 2023 compared to 2022, driven by record financing of offshore wind projects.
According to WindEurope an easing of inflationary pressures, greater certainty in electricity markets, and improved tariff indexation by governments created a more favourable investment climate last year.
Despite a tightening of financing conditions, Europe invested a record €48bn in wind energy last year representing 21.2GW of financed capacity.
New investments in offshore wind alone amounted to €30bn, a stark contrast to 2022 when almost no offshore wind farms were financed.
RWE and Nordex have signed a contract for the supply of turbines with a total capacity of 800MW.
Over the next two and a half years, RWE will purchase around 120 machines from Nordex for its European markets.
The parties have agreed not to disclose any financial details.
RWE will mainly use the N163 model with a flexible rated output of up to 6.8MW.
The contract also include the N175 (up to 6.8MW) and N149 (up to 5.9MW) units, which can be deployed in RWE’s core markets in Europe if required.
In addition, both companies have signed a multi-year service agreement covering the maintenance and servicing of the wind farms.
Spain’s Ecological Transition Minister Teresa Ribera has signed a charter identifying actions to accelerate the expansion of wind energy in the country and to maximise its social and economic benefits.
The Spanish Wind Charter was also signed by president of the Spanish Wind Energy Association Juan Diego Díaz.
The Charter sets out six lines of action for the development of the wind energy sector and specifies the tools to carry out these lines of action.
These include more visibility and robustness in wind energy planning; improved wind energy auction design, giving greater weight to account non-price criteria; and better coordination between wind energy companies.
The Charter also includes action to increase the predictability and the promotion of long-term agreements; monitoring of international trade practices to avoid unfair competition; and reinforcing Spain’s wind energy manufacturing capacities.
