Rise in capital voted as the critical risk by the offshore wind community
March 19, 2012 - By Teodora Todorova
Access to finance was selected as the “most urgent risk that the offshore wind industry faces at the moment’’ by 50% of the responders in a specifically designed poll conducted by Wind Energy Update last week.
In second place, voters advised the risks associated with project commercialisation and interface management were also of critical importance (both with 17% of the votes), followed by working in a remote environment and insurance cost (with 8% each). The responders – all dedicated industry professionals – participated in the poll on Thursday and Friday last week.
Capital as the number one concern for the offshore wind community does not come as a surprise given the current economic situation in Europe. It is no secret that energy giants such as E.ON and DONG have plans to fund their next offshore wind projects with the sale of minority equity stakes of their operational wind farms to private investors. This alternative model to gain funds demonstrates that even the offshore wind market leaders face liquidity issues and need to work on effective reduction strategies.
The issue with the rise in capital has become even more serious now that DECC announced plans to cut the financial support available to offshore wind generation projects from 2015.
To provide the industry with knowledge on how to address this and other critical industry challenges, Wind Energy Update is proud to host the first offshore wind risk summit in Hamburg this June. The summit’s agenda, which served as a base for the above mentioned poll, covers all the high priority market topics such as: successful project commercialisation, shortage of the supply chain products and services, insurance cost, interface management and many more.
Wind Energy Update have invited world class speakers such as the Head of Short Term Energy Management from Statkraft; the Director of Commercial Projects from Vattenfall Windkraft; the Head of EHS Offshore, New Markets and Technology from Siemens; the Head of risk from Narec Capital and many more to discuss their exclusive experience in the field of risk.
For full information please download the complete program here; http://www.windenergyupdate.com/risk/conference-agenda.php
Teodora Todorva
Wind Energy Update