Outlook to WindEurope 2025 Interview with Pierre Tardieu, Chief Policy Officer at Wind Europe

Pierre Tardieu gives an overview about the itinerary and hot topics at these years WindEurope from 8 - 10 April in Copenhagen.

Offshore wind in Europe is facing new challenges: security issues (cyber attacks and military threats) and war on customs. What matters most to WindEurope and why?

Pierre Tardieu: In light of new geopolitical challenges and in particular Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine and attacks on physical energy infrastructure, the European wind industry is stepping up its cooperation with NATO and national Governments. Offshore wind is critical to European energy security and resilience more broadly. Expanding that means ensuring our infrastructure is safe and secure. Cybersecurity is also a very significant concern. We need to ensure as Europeans that our assets meet the highest EU cybersecurity standards set out in NIS2 and the Cyber Resilience Act. We cannot afford to be connecting turbines to the European grid that would pose a risk to system security.

 

How might the new CBAM influence the European offshore wind industry?

Pierre Tardieu: CBAM is designed as a climate instrument to ensure that steel, aluminium, and cement imported into the EU have the same carbon-related costs as the same materials produced in the EU. These are very significant materials for offshore wind, so the cost implications are high. There are many discussions at the moment on whether and how to reform CBAM to ensure the competitiveness of European industry in particular downstream products. WindEurope is very engaged in that debate. The key is we need to deploy wind at scale and expand the European wind supply chain to do that.

 

Which are in your opinion the new hot offshore markets in Europe and why?

Pierre Tardieu: In additional to the traditional markets - UK, Germany and Netherlands - countries like France have now installed large wind farms and Poland is about to. In fact, Poland is on track to become the new offshore wind leader in the Baltic Sea. And they have a solid industrial strategy. Poland is investing in port infrastructure in Gdansk and elsewhere. In turbine manufacturing sites in Szczecin. And in its wider offshore wind supply chain. It is definitely one of the upcoming offshore wind markets in Europe.

And France is now becoming an established offshore wind market. Building on the first projects France is aiming for 45 GW by 2050. 10 offshore wind farms are under various stages of development and around 15 GW of total capacity will be auctioned in the next two years. This includes the biggest floating offshore wind auctions in Europe to date. Stable supply chain investments and solid grid development make France one of the hottest offshore wind markets in Europe today.

 

At the beginning of April the WindEurope Annual Event will take place in Copenhagen – what will be the highlights?

Pierre Tardieu: It will be the biggest WindEurope annual event yet, 15,000 people, 550 exhibitors, 14 Ministers from around Europe and all the top CEOs. The theme this year is “scale up, electrify, deliver”. It’s all about how wind can strengthen Europe’s competitiveness, security, and geopolitical autonomy.

Each day the conference starts with a plenary session with Ministers and CEOs – with a different focus every morning:

• Tuesday 8 April: Scale up, electrify, deliver.
• Wednesday 9 April: Helping industry decarbonise.
• Thursday 10 April: Getting offshore wind back on track.

In addition to important discussions on permitting, grid buildout, community engagement we’ll loot at emerging issues such as:

• Physical & cyber security of wind farms;
• The fight against disinformation;
• How to strengthen our clean tech supply chain;
• Ports & vessels; and
• The landfill ban and other sustainability issues.

This will all have a huge bearing on the future of Europe. So, it’s vital we all stay on top of things and dedicate time to meet, exchange views and learn from each other.