I’m a firm believer that the future, whatever it will bring, is created here and now. And I’m often reminded of this perspective when thinking about the offshore wind industry – particularly with regard to the current situations in Germany and the UK.

The German market has had its share of delays waiting for legislative, infrastructure ownership and other issues to be worked out. But it is definitely on the move – and A2SEA has plenty on its plate with Borkum Riffgrund 1 (the feature of this edition of A2SEA News) and Gode Wind to follow.

Without a doubt, the UK, where Round 3 has been awaited with a great deal of interest, has suffered its setbacks, too. These difficulties – some of which relate to smaller concessions that have proved difficult to cost-effectively implement – have been discussed in some circles as evidence that Round 3 somehow risks falling flat. Today, however, we can see a few of the larger projects beginning to move into their initial development phases. Approval processes are showing healthy progress, and we can expect the first installations beginning toward the end of 2017 or early in 2018.

Of course, we would all like to be able to see a clearer picture of the future, particularly when it comes to understanding the many project opportunities in the two regions and their full potential. But as I see it, there’s a distinctly positive future ahead.

Projects for which we have been preparing for several years are now well underway. During those years, our company and the wider industry have taken many steps forward in virtually all aspects of offshore wind energy. We’ve matured technologies, methods and safety to bring the levelised cost of energy further down than might have been the case had wind farm plans moved more quickly. These advances are in place for coming projects to bank on,
helping to deliver viable sustainable energy through offshore wind.

Whatever the future will bring, for now, after all the years of preparation, we’re firmly focused on skillfully executing the projects we have in place, working to demonstrate that these are good and viable, and that we can keep costs down to ensure agreement with the long-term pricing strategies of the future.

If we look after the present, much of the future will take care of itself.

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