Statement by Stefan Thimm on the national port strategy
The National Port Strategy was approved today in the Federal Cabinet, along with a statement from Stefan Thimm, Managing Director of the Federal Wind Energy Offshore Association (BWO):
The national port strategy needs an expansion financing plan
“A port strategy without a budget to implement it is a huge disappointment. We need an immediate port expansion plan, otherwise the expansion of wind energy at sea will come to a standstill.”
“The federal government should pay for a large part of the port expansion; it ordered it. As of today, the federal government is skimming off the revenue from the offshore wind energy tenders, but is only giving peanuts for the national task of expanding ports through port load equalization. Aligning the capacities of seaports with the goals of the energy transition is a great opportunity. The examples of Esbjerg and Eemshaven show this,” says BWO managing director Stefan Thimm.
“In this country, however, offshore wind energy companies are at risk because they cannot build their wind farms in the sea as planned without suitable ports. “That’s why we as an industry continue to propose that part of the revenue from offshore wind energy auctions be used for this purpose,” adds Thimm added.
Hintergrund:
On March 20, 2024, the Federal Cabinet approved the National Port Strategy. For the time being, the strategy only contains a collection of measures, but no financing plans yet.