Dear Readers, two months of operation of the BalticWind.EU platform are behind us. We are very pleased that more and more readers are coming every day. Despite the holiday season, the industry is not slowing down and in July there was a lot of interesting information about the offshore wind energy sector in the Baltic Sea.
In July, there was some information about the next stages of development of offshore wind farm projects in the Baltic Sea. The issues related to the challenges of the sector’s development, such as the impact on fisheries, the environment and cooperation with the security and defense sector, also seem to be more and more important. Environmental organizations are not opposed to the development of offshore wind energy, but in their opinion excessive and ill-considered development of farms may affect sensitive marine ecosystems. Members of the European Parliament adopted a resolution calling for cooperation between fishermen and developers of offshore wind farms. Fishermen should participate in planning and designing the development of wind turbines in the Baltic Sea and other European waters.
Comments and interviews with decision-makers and industry representatives appeared on the pages of BalticWind.EU. We had the pleasure to interview or receive comments exclusively for BalticWind.EU from Daiva Garbaliauskaitė, Deputy Minister of Energy of Lithuania, Stefan Thimm, Managing Director of BWO, Andris Vanags, representative of the Latvian Wind Energy Association, William Beuckelaers, creator of the OffshoreWind4Kids project, Aistis Radavicius, independent expert on renewable energy sources, MEPs Morten Petersen and Peter van Dalen.
There is also information about contracts and subsequent stages of development of offshore wind farms in the Baltic Sea. Most of the information came from the Polish market, where some companies are completing the first stages of geophysical surveys, while others are establishing cooperation with certification bodies. A lot is happening around German projects (Baltic Eagle, Arcadis Ost 1) and in the Baltic States – the first tenders for assessments and feasibility stages are launched (for example Elwind). A new industry alliance has also been established – Offshore Wind Foundations Allians. The activity of investors from Sweden increased.
In July, we also launched the Polish version of the platform – about 30 percent of our readers come from Poland. We are currently working on new language versions, and a German version will also be launched in the fall.
