Posted on February 9, 2026
Earlier this week, Fritz Wiedemann (Director Van Oord Germany) joined an insightful panel discussion following the Hamburg North Sea Summit 2026. The session brought together industry leaders to reflect on the future of the offshore wind supply chain, including its challenges, opportunities, and the shifts needed to accelerate Europe’s energy transition.
We look back on a fruitful, interactive discussion covering several critical challenges currently shaping the offshore wind supply chain.
Key themes included:
– The funding gap to achieve the Net-Zero Industry Act (NZIA) target of 40% European content
– The tension between cost reduction ambitions and market realities
– More emphasis on protecting the European market, by stimulating local supply chain collaboration
– The panelists expressed a strong call for linking Contracts for Difference to indexation/inflation to ensure they reflect real market conditions
We want to thank our fellow participants, Jörg Kubitza (Ørsted) and Johannes Schiel (Vestas) for the honest and constructive discussion. These conversations are essential to strengthening Europe’s offshore wind supply chain and meeting our shared ambitions.
