Developer eyeing Mingyang for North Sea wind says Europe faces struggle without China
Executive from Luxcara claims 'peak years' around end of the decade will be a stretch for European supply chain to cope with
The European wind power supply chain will struggle to cope with a massive ramp-up in demand without help from China, claimed a senior executive from a developer lining up Chinese turbines for one of its German offshore wind projects.
Holger Matthiesen, project director at asset manager Luxcara, which is moving into offshore wind development, told the WindEnergy Hamburg conference that while Europe has plenty of “world class players” in its wind supply chain, the industry will “face challenges in the peak years” as markets across the continent race to hit targets around the end of the decade.
Luxcara has since been successful in obtaining rights to a second German project, a 1.5GW site.
Matthiesen told the panel on the prospects for German offshore wind that the developer is “up for the challenge” at the North Sea sites, which some in the industry have claimed were less attractive prospects for development. “We do not shy away from more complex situations,” he said.
Speaking on the same panel, Till Schwarzlose, senior vice president for German development at RWE Offshore, said that his instinct as a developer is to source “always as close as the project as possible – and that would be in Europe”.
However, he noted that on one recent occasion the developer had used a Chinese supplier not because of price but “because capacity was not available” in the European sector.
RWE is currently developing the 1.6GW Nordseecluster off Germany and last year named China’s Dajin as foundation supplier to the project, which will use Vestas wind turbines.
Vestas’ vice president for offshore sales Peter Kaergard Jensen told the WindEnergy Hamburg panel that the Denmark-based OEM is quite capable of scaling to meet demand, especially in offshore wind with its relatively longer project lead times.
However, to do that he said the supply chain needs stability, visibility and “viable volume” that allows it to plan investments.
“We think we have a sustainable supply chain in Europe and we are extending it.
“We have a lot of experience of building up in Europe. There will be competition, that’s ok, it’s just important that’s its [on a level playing field’],” Jensen said.
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