On 15 October MEPs Barry Andrews, Annalisa Corrado and Bart Groothuis and EU Commission officials from DGs GROW and DG MARE joined WindEurope to visit Sif’s new monopile factory and Eneco’s new coastal wind farm in Rotterdam. The Port of Rotterdam also showed us how it’s driving every aspect of the EU’s Clean Industrial Deal. The Sif factory is one of 30 wind energy supply chain sites across Europe that are expanding to meet the EU’s 2030 energy security and climate targets.
Investing more than €300m, Sif expects the new production lines to be fully ready in the first half of 2025 which will allow production to be increased to the annual equivalent of 200 XXXL foundations. During the visit, Sif CEO Fred van Beers highlighted the expansion’s crucial role in accommodating the rising demand for offshore wind turbines in the North Seas and beyond.
Port of Rotterdam representatives showed what needs to happen on the demand side to deliver on the EU’s new Clean Industrial Deal. The port supports the electrification of ship operations, facilitates the local production of renewable hydrogen and rewards discounts on seaport dues for ships with higher environmental standards. The European Commission will release a dedicated strategy for ports, which play a major role in enabling both onshore and offshore wind deployment, over the coming months.
In February 2025 Siemens Gamesa announced a €200m investment to expand its Le Havre factory to allow it to produce the next generation of blades for 14 MW turbines. 200 new jobs will be created because of the investment. The expanded production is expected to begin in early 2026.
Europe’s wind energy supply chain growing quickly
Sif and Siemens Gamesa are not the only European wind energy suppliers investing in additional manufacturing capacity. More than 30 factories across Europe are currently being expanded or newly constructed.
New cable production lines are being developed in Belgium, Finland, France, Greece, Italy, Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands and the UK. These investments are helping Europe to urgently boost the grid buildout to unlock the large volumes needed to meet the EU’s wind targets – and it’s great to see that the supply will be met by European suppliers. which increases Europe’s energy resilience and economic competitiveness.
Wind turbine factories are also being expanded. Plants for hubs, nacelles, blades and towers are being developed in Denmark, France, Poland, Italy and the UK. All these infrastructure investments are summarised on the map below.
In the past two years, over €11bn in supply chain investments have been announced. These investments increase Europe’s strategic production capacity and ensures that projects can be supplied from European facilities. It also means that we are creating new jobs across Europe, providing opportunities that regions may not otherwise have seen.
WindEurope CEO Giles Dickson said: “This all underlines the wind supply chain’s efforts to scale up. We are creating thousands of jobs and boosting Europe’s competitiveness. The Net Zero Industry Act requires 36 GW of wind manufacturing capacity in the EU by 2030. We need more support to achieve this. Ease access to capital, enable a level playing field with non-European competitors, further boost the grid buildout and our European companies will deliver!”
Source: WindEurope asbl/vzw, 24th February 2025
www.windeurope.org
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