Offshore wind investment

Nordic infrastructure fund Infranode has partnered with the municipally owned Port of Esbjerg to invest in infrastructure facilities for storage, preassembly and manufacturing of components for the offshore wind industry.

“We’ve found a strong, long-term partner with substantial insights in energy, port infrastructure and sustainability,” said Flemming N. Enevoldsen, Port Esbjerg’s chairman. “With this new partnership, the city of Esbjerg, Port Esbjerg and Denmark will be even better prepared to seize opportunities to create green growth and new jobs in the massive expansion of offshore wind power in the North Sea as we approach 2030.”

Investments will be made available gradually as manufacturers of wind turbine components and offshore wind service providers expand their businesses.

There are currently prospective projects of up to 100GW being installed in the North Sea by 2030 – a 5-fold increase compared to today. This will require wind turbines of larger sizes than the ones in operation today. In this context, the new facilities in the Port of Esbjerg are anticipated to contribute to sustainable development by reducing the costs of transportation between production sites and installation sites.

Esbjerg is already a major port in Europe in terms of handling and shipping out wind power. The port played a key role in the rise of Denmark’s offshore wind industry, which took off over a decade ago with the installation of the world’s first large-scale offshore wind farm, Horns Rev I.