Europe urged to dig deep for port and vessel investments amid target warning
'Lack of timely investment in ports and vessels' highlighted as one of the most pressing challenges for European offshore wind
Europe will have to invest another €6.4bn ($7.4bn) in port facilities and new vessels if it wants to achieve its offshore wind energy goals, according to industry association WindEurope.
Although €6.7bn has been invested in port infrastructure and vessels over the last three years, the European Union aims to increase bloc-wide offshore wind capacity to 84GW by 2030 from about 36.6GW, the Brussels-based body noted.
This will mean investing another €6.4bn in ports and vessels, WindEurope stated, describing "a lack of timely investment in vessel manufacturing and port infrastructure as one the most pressing challenges today".
For Europe to meet its 2030 energy security targets, it must install at least 10GW of offshore wind each year, stretching current supply chain capacity to the limit, WindEurope stated.
WindEurope broke down its assessment of investments over the last three years to €4.4bn for ports infrastructure and €2.3bn for vessels.
The industry association said ports need another €2.4bn investment to keep Europe on track with post-2030 offshore deployment.
The statement referenced the EU Commission's current efforts to finalise an EU-wide ports strategy and said the initiative should cover three key areas:
- mobilisation of funding, using facilities such as the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) or by reinforcing the role of the European Investment Bank (EIB);
- streamlining permitting, including steps to apply overriding public interest mechanisms for energy-related port investments;
- EU-level planning for port capacities and offshore wind to help create synergies, identify investment needs, and ensure balanced port development across regions.
For vessels, WindEurope said the region's current fleet of around 80 units for a plethora of purposes fell significantly short of what the European offshore wind sector needs.
"Given the innovation in wind turbine technology, Europe will have to invest additional €4bn to handle the upcoming generation of 15+ MW turbines," WindEurope stated.
The industry body called on the EU to make offshore wind vessels a central area of focus for a new Maritime Industrial Strategy by providing "a clear investment roadmap for the expansion of ports and shipyards, and streamlining permitting processes for modernising and building new facilities".
WindEurope said the strategy should enable the decarbonisation of maritime operations by supporting the shift to clean fuels like electricity, ammonia and hydrogen.
"It should help scale up these solutions across the supply chain. And it should provide funding for retrofitting vessels and building new zero-emission ships," it said.
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