Plugged In: the energy news podcast Offshore wind: Navigating the storm
4 snips
Jun 5, 2025 
Jan Vos, a former Dutch MP and chairman of Ned Zero, joins Bas Sudmeijer, Managing Director at Boston Consulting Group, and Fintan Devenney, Senior Energy Analyst at Montel, to navigate the turbulent waters of offshore wind energy. They discuss Ørsted's withdrawal from a major UK project, the impact of high costs and policy instability, and the EU's ambitious renewable energy targets. The guests emphasize the need for political stability and innovative market structures to overcome challenges and secure a sustainable future for offshore wind.
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Higher Costs And Rates Squeeze Projects
- High interest rates and inflation have made final investment decisions for offshore wind very hard in Europe today.
- Developers face higher turbine and commodity costs plus weak indexation between bids and procurement.
Auction Design Shapes Viability
- Auction design matters: negative bidding undermines project viability while two-sided CFDs restore investor confidence.
- Several countries that used negative bidding are moving to CFDs to stabilise the market.
Big Deals Still Happen
- Despite headwinds, four major final investment decisions went ahead this year including Inchcape and Baltica 2 and 3.
- Poland's Baltic 2 and 3 deal alone is worth over €7 billion and is the country's largest private-sector investment.