Busy conference week

This week, NorSea and Parkwind have participated in various events in Norway where offshore wind has been a central topic.

On Tuesday, John Stangeland, CEO of one of our partners, NorSea, attended the Offshore Wind Conference in Oslo, organized by Norwegian Offshore Wind. His presentation took place during a session where various base and port companies presented their plans for facilitating the offshore wind industry.

Education and competence

On Wednesday and Thursday, OTD23 was held in Stavanger, where Kristof Verlinden, O&M Manager at Parkwind, took part in a panel discussion. The workshop was initiated by Energy Innovation and focused on competence challenges for vocationally trained personnel in the installation, operation, and maintenance of offshore wind installations.

Some key points from Verlinden’s presentation:

• Norway is better equipped than Belgium was when they started with offshore wind.
• Sharing their experiences, successes, and lessons learned is crucial for success.
• Parkwind is involved in consortiums for both the SNII and Utsira Nord projects in Norway.
• We hope many of the talented individuals attending this workshop can join us soon if we secure the contract.
• Safety should be a fundamental starting point, and I’m glad to see it emphasized. Training is crucial.
• When you work offshore, you are a small team, and collaboration is essential. You must be prepared for everything, from safety to looking out for your colleagues.
• Operators and maintenance managers can sometimes narrow down tasks too much. We are trying to challenge this and leverage the broad competence of our technicians.

Need for acceptance

On Thursday, Stangeland participated in the Offshore Wind Conference as part of OTD Energy 2023. The discussion revolved around the essential role of ports and bases in the offshore wind industry.

“You must be close to suppliers, close to airports, close to roads, and infrastructure,” Stangeland believes.

Stangeland also emphasized the importance of forming close bonds with local communities and creating jobs that have significant ripple effects in these same communities.

He presented some important points for Norway:

• Reduced costs and competitive Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE)
• Global leadership in Floating Offshore Wind (FOW)
• Export opportunities
• Community acceptance and political support

The key to success is to develop large industrial ports and establish industrial serial production in Norway, concludes the CEO.