Business
Projects
First monopile and offshore substation successfully installed at Îles d’Yeu et Noirmoutier!
This has been a very intense month for the Îles d’Yeu et Noirmoutier project, with the first monopile foundation and the offshore substation successfully installed at sea by our supplier DEME.
Arriving in the Port of La Rochelle, where monopiles are stored, on 26 May, the vessel set sail for the project area loaded with 2 monopile foundations and 2 transition pieces. In total, there will be 61 foundations, with installation continuing until early 2025.
After travelling to the installation area, the laying of the first foundation began, following a series of carefully planned steps to ensure safe and efficient equipment installation. For our non-technical colleagues, here’s a summary of what happened!
- Raising the vessel, Innovation: a manoeuvre which stabilises the vessel by lifting it above the surface of the water.
- Deployment of the installation jig, plus drilling and installation of the monopile.
- Installation of the transition piece.
These monopiles measure 7 m in diameter, with lengths varying from 45 to 68 m, to adapt to the different depths of our project’s area.
And that wasn’t all!! The offshore substation was also successfully installed on the jacket foundation!
The offshore substation, designed by local supplier Chantiers de l’Atlantique, weighs around 2,500 tonnes and measures 39 metres long, 25.5 metres wide and 18 metres high.
Day by day, we’re getting closer to the operation phase!!
Congrats to the teams for this outstanding work! Making all of us #ProudtobeOW!
OW’s new collaboration: MoU signed with Australian’s Monash University!
This month, we revealed a very special partnership with Monash University, through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)!
This partnership aims to foster local job opportunities, build a sustainable supply chain and develop innovative strategies, driving us to protect Australia’s biodiversity within the context of our newly awarded High Sea Wind project’s development.
We have selected Monash University for their cutting-edge research capabilities to minimise impacts on marine species and their advanced environmental-assessment methodologies.
The collaboration is also focused on driving economic growth and creating job opportunities within Australia’s offshore-wind sector, emphasising workforce-development initiatives to ensure a skilled workforce.
Rafael Munilla Muñoz, our Chief Business Development Officer, has highlighted the combined expertise of OW and Monash in contributing to Australia’s sustainable energy transition. This partnership underscores a shared commitment to environmental stewardship and sustainable industry development through research and collaboration, between industry and academia.
"2024 Ulsan Floating Offshore Wind Power Forum" concluded successfully!
This month, our KFWind team organised the “2024 Ulsan Floating Offshore Wind Power Forum”, as part of the Ulsan Floating Offshore Wind Power Development Council (“Ulsan Offshore Council”), of which KF Wind forms part along with the other 4 floating developers. The Ulsan Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Ulsan Techno Park were also involved in the organisation of this key forum, with sponsorship by Ulsan Metropolitan City, which aimed to foster collaboration to propel Ulsan as a central hub for the domestic offshore-wind industry.
The forum aimed to explore the administrative and technological developments of floating-offshore-wind energy, as well as promoting the industrial growth and job creation that this energy development would bring to the region.
The event was attended by more than 500 participants, including senior officials from the National Assembly, MoTIE, KEPCO, various fishermen’s organisations and the local community. The opening speech was given by the President of the Ulsan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Lee Yoon-cheol, followed by a congratulatory speech by Mayor Kim Doo-gyem.
Also in attendance was the Spanish Ambassador to Korea, who highlighted Spain’s commitment to Korea’s energy transition, in which the Ulsan floating projects will play a key role.
The event continued with a forum in which the different developers presented their projects, with Austin Park, our Project Director ofKF Wind, presenting the great collaboration between the 5 Ulsan developers, the authorities and stakeholders, which has allowed significant progress to be made in the permitting, interconnection and environmental-impact assessment of our project in recent months.
Our KF Wind project, with an expected capacity of 1.2 GW, is successfully advancing in its development phase, with a committed and talented team based in Ulsan and Korea, working to unlock all of Korea’s potential!!
Picture of the month
Does that turbine sound familiar to you?
Meet Pedro Afonso and learn about his story with OW below!
OW’s Global Presence
Throughout June, our team has actively engaged in numerous events and galas in the sector!
This month, OW proudly sponsored the Global Offshore Wind 2024 conference organized by RenewableUK in Manchester. The event offered insightful discussions and valuable networking opportunities with key stakeholders. Our colleague, Lynsey Shovlin, participated in the panel “B4: Supercharging the UK’s Offshore Wind Skills Landscape,” and Núria Abad Oliva presented OW’s paper on “The Use of Low Order Deflagration to Mitigate UXO Clearance Noise,” highlighting the Moray West case and effective solutions for reducing UXO noise impact.
In Poland, our team has been very active! The PSEW2024 conference, organized by the Polish Wind Energy Association, attracted more than 2,500 participants, where OW, as a content partner, shared its best practices in offshore wind development.
Kacper Kostrzewa, Project Director of BC-Wind, discussed the BC-Wind project’s advanced development stage and the importance of local content. Aleksandra Jampolska, Senior Stakeholder Manager of BC-Wind, emphasized the need for skilled workers and highlighted OW’s educational initiatives, advocating for stronger cooperation between business and government. The conference facilitated intense business discussions, experience sharing, and new contacts, advancing offshore wind energy development in Poland.
Our Polish team also participated in the Ports Poland 2030 conference, discussing the development of Polish ports in collaboration with offshore wind farm construction. Kacper Kostrzewa, Project Director of BC-Wind, highlighted the selection of the port in Władysławowo as the service base for the BC-Wind project, with construction planned to commence in 2025. Aleksandra Jampolska, Senior Stakeholder Manager of BC-Wind, emphasized the port’s role in benefiting the local economy and creating job opportunities, particularly for fishermen transitioning to roles in crew transport and turbine servicing.
Crossing the pond, from June 4-6, OW North America sponsored Capitol Hill Ocean Week, hosted by the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation in Washington, DC. This event brought together officials, business executives, and environmental leaders to protect oceans. During the conference, OW North America Head of Permitting, Jennifer Flood, spoke on building transparent and inclusive processes for responsible offshore wind development.
Later in the month, OW North America team members attended the Reuters Offshore Wind USA 2024 conference in Boston. This business-focused event convened top policymakers, regulators, and industry leaders. Our OW North America CEO, Michael Brown, spoke on a Keynote Panel about lessons learned and best practices for scaling offshore wind projects in the U.S. Jennifer Flood also had the opportunity to speak about the permitting process, and Bluepoint Wind’s Head of Regulatory & Government Affairs, Eric Henry, participated in a discussion on addressing misinformation about offshore wind.
What’s new in offshore?
Learn more about the Net Zero Industry Act!!
The Net-Zero Industry Act (NZIA) is an initiative stemming from the Green Deal Industrial Plan which aims to scale up the manufacturing of clean technologies in the EU. The NZIA was finally adopted on May 27th, 2024, as a binding legislative act, which must be applied in its entirety across the EU member states.
The NZIA introduces measures to streamline permitting and to provide financial support to net zero manufacturing projects for RES in the EU, measures to accelerate CO2 capture, to enhance skills and innovation, and importantly, the Act introduces mandatory public procurement requirements and RES auction design measures.
Article 26 of the NZIA mandates contracting authorities to evaluate at least 30 % of the volume auctioned per year per Member State based on the following:
At pre-qualification stage:
- Responsible business conduct;
- Cyber security and data security; and
- Ability to deliver the project fully and on time
As a pre-qualification criteria or award criteria, RES auctions must also include a contribution to resilience and sustainability:
- Resilience: participants must consider the proportion of net-zero technology sourced from a third country that supplies more than 50% of these within the Union (bids that propose the use of equipment for which a non-EU country of origin provides at least 50% of EU supply are to be disadvantaged)
- Sustainability: auctions should contribute to one of the following:
- Environmental sustainability going beyond the minimum requirements in applicable law;
- Innovation by providing entirely new solutions or improving comparable state-of-the-art solutions;
- The energy system integration.
When applied as award criteria, the resilience and sustainability criteria will be given a minimum weight of 5% and a combined weight of between 15% and 30%, with the ability of members states to give the sustainability criteria a higher weighting. Member States will also be able to introduce additional sustainability criteria as they please. However, as a caveat, contracting authorities are not required to consider any of the measures above if doing so would result in disproportionate cost (over 15% higher).
In addition, the Act mandates that by December 2027, the Commission and Member States shall carry out an assessment of the efficiency of the resilience and sustainability criteria in RES deployment.
For the first time, the NZIA also recognizes the importance of indexation, mandating states to introduce appropriate price indexation mechanisms to maximise the execution rate of projects, with this requirement applying to all RES auctions.
As the next step, the European Commission and the Member States will detail the NZIA’s implementation in several texts of secondary legislation to be adopted by March 2025, which will further specify the criteria requirements and how different measures are expected to be valued in the auctions in practice. OW is collaborating with our sponsors and Wind Europe to ensure that the implementing legislation aligns with the capabilities of the supply chain and incorporates lessons learned from national auctions.
People
The second edition of Lead nOW has started!
Following the recognition of a need to strengthen leadership culture within OW in 2023, the Learning & Development (L&D) team created a full training program designed for all middle management leaders in the company: Lead nOW Training Program. This initiative focuses on enhancing leadership and management skills across the organization.
Lead nOW has been key in cultivating a solid work and leadership culture within OW. By participating in this program, managers are equipped with essential tools and knowledge for effective daily management. This face-to-face program is tailored to address the challenges managers face and to foster a supportive leadership culture.
In 2023, its inaugural year, the Lead nOW program successfully delivered six training sessions across various countries: Spain, UK, France and the US. This year, four sessions are planned, targeting all newly appointed managers within OW; sessions have already started in Spain and the UK, and the remaining two sessions will take place in the coming months. For the completed sessions, the program has received a very positive rating of 8/10 which reflects the success of the L&D team in providing valuable content and creating a unified leadership environment at OW.
Lead nOW continues to play a pivotal role in enhancing the leadership capabilities of OW’s managers, ensuring they are well-prepared to meet the demands of their roles and contribute to a cohesive organizational culture. The ongoing commitment to leadership development underscores OW’s dedication to fostering effective management and leadership within the company.
InnOWation
INNOW 2024 it's finally here!
This month, our Innovation & Entrepreneurship Team launched the INNOW 2024 programme!
Following the success of last year’s edition, this year, 15 selected individuals will have the opportunity to develop innovative ideas aimed at finding solutions to these five specific OW challenges:
- How might we leverage our existing offshore wind infrastructure to develop new business opportunities for us?
- How might we make sure governments trust and choose our proposals way above those of our competitors?
How might we enhance and boost knowledge sharing across OW? - How might we increase local content without increasing costs?
- How might we optimize operations and maintenance processes to improve both efficiency and safety simultaneously?
The call for volunteers just closed this week, and our I&E team is now selecting the 15 volunteers who will be part of this exciting innovation journey. They will form 5 teams that will take part in a 14-week Acceleration Phase, from September to December.
During the programme, our OW colleagues will learn the innovation process and methodology and develop solutions for the chosen challenges. They will also periodically catch up with OW’s Innovation Committee to discuss the progress of ideas throughout the innovation journey.
But why is it so important to promote and develop innovation internally within our company? According to Daniel Santa Cruz, our Innovation and Entrepreneurship Director:
“Intrapreneurship provides for a limitless source of competitive advantage, as it encourages not only the generation of ideas but their execution, with a mindset of exploration innovative approaches to problems. It also serves to promote a culture of innovation within OW, which allows OW to keep adapting, and sometimes creating, the future.”
Thank you to all who signed up; we are eager to meet the 15 volunteers!
Learn more about INNOW 2024 here
Communications
New OW Ambassador! International Kite Surfer Pedro Afonso
This month we launched a very special partnership: we introduced you to Pedro Afonso, our new OW ambassador!
As you might have seen, Pedro Afonso is a Portuguese national kitesurfing champion in the Formula Kite category, where he has been celebrated on international podiums, taking home several prizes on his journey.
We all know that the wind and the ocean unite us, but the reality is that our bond with Pedro goes waaay deeper, as he comes from Viana do Castelo, home to our WindFloat Atlantic project!!
When we discovered this, we just couldn’t ignore this great coincidence! We started talking with him and realised that there was only one possible way of launching this great sponsorship: taking him to WindFloat Atlantic … but not with our CTV … with his kite and the power of the wind!! And he said yes! We accompanied him 18 km offshore, and the rest is history…
Haven’t seen him in action yet?? Don’t miss it! Do we have any kite-surfers in the OW team who might want to join next time? 😉
Another successful OW Padel Open!
This month, our OW Madrid team participated in another successful OW padel tournament. It was an opportunity to spend time with colleagues outside the office, playing sports and having a lot of fun!
This was actually the fourth edition of the tournament! Continuing strong and excited for the future ones! We see that between them, you practice a lot, and you are all getting better day by day!
Special congratulations to our winners and finalists: Adrian Maqueda & Ignacio Ares; Rafael Munilla & Ignacio Martin de Briones; Carmen Larrea & Alvaro Ortega; Pedro Conde & Ignacio Velasco!
See you in the next one!
Updated corporate presentation, and much more!
We have updated our external corporate presentation to reflect the latest evolution of our business, including the addition of our new Australian project.
Find it here!
Please use this new version and delete any previous versions you may have!
Remember, all the materials needed to showcase OW and apply our brand appropriately can be found in the Coms SharePoint:
- Our brand manual
- Corporate templates
- OW logo
- Image library
- And many more resources!
The use of this material is mandatory when referring to the OW brand.
Need something, we don’t yet have? Contact our coms team to develop new resources!
LinkedIn post of the month
This has been a very special month for us: we hit 100K followers!
Without a doubt, this milestone could not have been possible without your work as ambassadors of the OW brand, spreading the yellow wave!
And a special thanks to our Madrid team for shaping that fantastic 100!
