Regulation and Energy Islands at Hamburg Offshore Wind Conference Interview with Miriam Bardolet, Managing Director at Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP)

Miriam Bardolet, panelist at HOW 2025, gives an outlook on the urgent challenges for the wind sector in Germany and current state of the danish energy island project.

At the WindEurope 2025 last week in Copenhagen we heard a lot about intensified European cooperation in the field of energy politics. What do you think about this? Is the European Union on the right path? What should be done more?

The WindEurope 2025 event in Copenhagen underscored a renewed and intensified commitment to European cooperation in energy politics, particularly in the wind sector. This momentum is a response to both the urgent need for energy security and the strategic imperative of industrial competitiveness in a rapidly changing global landscape.

The EU is broadly on the right path, with ambitious targets, strong industrial capabilities, and a clear recognition of the strategic value of renewables. Wind energy now provides 20% of Europe’s electricity, with targets set for 35% by 2030 and over 50% by 2050. The EU’s Clean Industrial Deal positions electrification and renewables at the core of industrial strategy, driving €11 billion+ in new wind manufacturing investments. The new German government wants to further decarbonize the economy, included the net zero target by 2045 in the German constitution, and invest €100 billion via the country's climate and transformation fund.

However, success depends on accelerating implementation, removing persistent barriers, and ensuring that political and policy momentum is sustained across all Member States. The intensified cooperation discussed at WindEurope 2025, embodied in initiatives like the Copenhagen Call to Action and the proposed Offshore Wind Pact, offers a pragmatic roadmap for turning ambition into reality. The next few years will be decisive: scaling up European transmission systems, de-risking investments, and building a truly integrated Energy Union will determine whether Europe secures its clean energy future.

 

How long have you been involved in energy transition projects? What is so fascinating about them?

CIP’s Energy Transition Fund, is the largest dedicated clean hydrogen fund globally. The fund reached first close with EUR 800m in commitments in 2021 and was oversubscribed and closed at the hard cap of EUR 3 billion in 2022. Since then, the fund has built a base case portfolio of attractive large-scale renewable assets combined with~6.5GW of electrolyzers.

Energy transition is one of the largest and fastest-growing investment themes globally. I find these investments fascinating because they combine massive market potential, structural economic transformation, technological innovation, and measurable impact. For financial investors, Energy Transition projects offer attractive risk-adjusted returns, portfolio diversification, and alignment with ESG mandates.

Clean hydrogen, is set to play a central part in Europe’s future energy system, enabling the decarbonization of energy-intensive industries such as steel production, chemicals, refineries and heavy transport. Clean hydrogen production will emerge as a key and beneficial byproduct of the increased clean energy build-out, supporting the integration of renewables into the system while decarbonizing European industries.

 

What is the current state of your energy island project? Please explain again what is so special about an energy island? What are the obstacles right now?

The project is under development by CIP alongside with German partners. The idea of the project is to enable offshore sector coupling and offshore hydrogen production. The special feature of energy islands is that they allow for a cost-effective and flexible utilization of offshore wind far from shore. It is basically more cost efficient to build one large artificial island than multiple platforms.

With an island the installation of HVDC and electrolysers can be done more cost-effective. And what is more, the HVDC and electrolyser modules can be built in European shipping yards. And lastly, the island solves a number of industry challenges including creating a platform and harbour for search- and rescue and O&M activities.

The main obstacle is to ensure a regulation that allows for integrating the energy islands into the energy systems planning. There is currently a German regulation in place for permitting of artificial islands.

 

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