More offshore wind projects need to be launched so that supply chains can justify making the necessary investments. This would create better financial conditions to overcome increased costs and not least surging interest rates, says Grzegorz Gorski, COO of wind farm developer Ocean Winds, at the Wind Europe conference in Copenhagen.

”We need more projects and acceleration in tenders. There have to multi-site possibilities, not just possibilities with six or ten candidates for a single project, something that would most likely keep the price higher.”

”So we need more tenders – it would benefit all, because then we can commit to our supply chain, which can then make investments,” Gorski says.

In relation to the increase in costs, he also highlights the impact from the elevated interest rate level which represents a large expense when securing multiannual financing for major offshore wind projects.

”It’s not only costs that affect us – the impact from interest rates is bigger than higher costs,” states the COO.

But here, more and bigger projects could be a help, as these would have a positive impact on cost levels.

”A very simple rule of thumb is that each time you double the size of a project – and all other factors remain in place – then the price on wind energy (measured as levelized cost of energy, LCOE) will go down by 10-15 percent,” Gorski says.

Ocean Winds was created in 2019 through a joint venture between utilities EDP Renewables and Engie which combined their offshore wind activities and project pipelines for the purpose.

From the outset, the company thus had 1.5GW under construction and 4GW under development, and the aim is to reach 5-7GW in operation or under construction and 5-10GW under advanced development in 2025.