Offshore wind hub

Port Esbjerg is busy building more pre-assembly sites for offshore wind with the port already involved in 55 projects catering for the future needs of the industry.

“We believe that establishing our own pre-assembly sites and making them available to be leased by our clients, will prepare our port for the future. It is an example of how we wish to provide optimal flexibility for our clients and partners,” said Dennis Jul Pedersen, CEO of Port Esbjerg.

Growth surge

Mr Pederson said that offshore wind activities are expected to surge significantly in activity over the next decade and this puts a strain on the installation ports of Europe. 

The future windfarms will be beyond 1 GW in capacity and the efficiency of installation needs to continue improving. This means that only the most efficient installation ports will have the capacity to store all the major components for an offshore complete.

“Port Esbjerg plays a key role as an installation port serving these markets and understand the various needs from the developers and equipment manufacturers,” he said.

Mr Pederson said that future pre-assembly sites in Port Esbjerg will cater to the new and larger turbine installation vessels and the bigger components that need to be assembled directly on the quayside while at the same time giving space for supporting activities and lay-down areas.

For many years now Esbjerg has had a good working arrangement with Siemens Gamesa.

“Over many years, Siemens Gamesa and Port Esbjerg have had a very professional and fruitful collaboration on the pre-assembly of wind turbines for offshore wind farms,” said  Anders Midskov, port operations manager for Siemens Gamesa in Esbjerg.

“For the port’s future infrastructure, we appreciate that the port has involved us early on to get our input for the ideal future setup, and it has had a significant positive impact for Siemens Gamesa’s operations at the port.”

Siemens Gamesa intends to pre-assemble and install 1.8 GW of offshore wind capacity over the next two years.