Denmark is a ‘windy nation’ as it has successfully managed to grab the opportunity and develop the world-leading wind energy supply chain – both in the onshore and offshore sectors.
Audrey and I joined a 4-day business tour around Denmark – visiting some of the key offshore wind supply chain and test facilities, with an opportunity to network with colleagues involved in the industry from all over the world. Major developers, steel fabricators, wind turbine manufacturers, installation and operation and maintenance service providers, cutting edge test facilities for components and full-scale wind turbines and an impressive ports infrastructure – Denmark has it all. The tour offered the delegates a glimpse of what the country has to offer to the global industry across the wide spectrum of products and services for an offshore wind farm. The packed schedule included visits to a substructures fabricator, onshore test centre for full-scale next generation wind turbines, a regional trade body, lighting protection services provider, blade test facility, major turbine pre-assembly yard, turbine installer, offshore cables installer, a test facility for major turbine components, condition monitoring supplier and two major European wind developers. The highlight of the tour was a boat trip to an operational offshore wind farm off Copenhagen coast – DONG Energy’s 40 MW Middelgrunden Offshore Wind Farm.
The tour was a truly eye-opening experience – there seems to be a real feeling of pride, commitment and a joined-up approach in the wind industry in Denmark and this must be one of the reasons for their success. Constant innovation to drive costs down – is another. There is a lot to learn from our Danish counterparts, but as the projects move further offshore, Scotland has a real opportunity to build on our existing strengths and expertise in deep water engineering, and develop strong capability to supply the offshore wind industry in Scotland and globally.