1. November 2023
Last week, we were part of a delegation from Agder that went to Newcastle and Energetic Future. Two exciting days with port visits and a conference. The Norwegian British Chamber of Commerce organizes Energetic Future annually and ensures that British and Norwegian businesses meet each other for energy talks and project development.
Port of Tyne is Equinor and Dogger Bank's Operations & Maintenance Base (O&M Base). The wind farm itself is located more than 130 kilometers from shore and a solid, safe and developed base is necessary to ensure that all operations and maintenance are coordinated, systematized and streamlined. Origo Solutions is a partner in the Dogger Bank project and we got to see the SCADA control room, which is an important piece of the puzzle that must be in place to ensure uptime throughout the value chain. Warehouse space, office space and logistics are precisely what Port of Tyne delivers every day in all operations and was also able to deliver to Equinor and Dogger Bank. In addition to being the O&M base for Dogger Bank, the port is an important player for Nissan and their electric car fleet, working with bulk in a broad sense, offshore and logistics as part of a total value chain for cargo and freight. A business model that is viable for the port has facilitated effective regional collaboration with the other ports in the North East region of England, and there is little doubt that the Port of Tyne is a port for the future.
One of the ports that is crucial to the collaboration is the Port of Blyth, which has its focus on testing facilities rigged up by and around the Offshore Renewable Catapult (OREC) with its large halls for blade testing and large-scale nacelle testing. Their vision, together with the port, is to take as much risk as possible on behalf of the industry in order to detect faults as early as possible. In all their tests, they are proud to say that up to 40% of all tests fail, confirming that it is the pilot that fails and not production. The Port of Blyth's traditional business is related to offshore, container logistics and decommissioning of oil and gas rigs and equipment. For this reason, the Port of Blyth has set up several competence modules to ensure that old knowledge becomes new knowledge at all stages of the competence chain. From trade certificates to innovation and development.
With this knowledge, the stage was set for a conference that put the business models of the future on the agenda. How to secure enough energy to create a safe and new market in the renewable offshore industry, exemplified in particular through offshore wind and hydrogen.
- The world is changing and change requires action. Many of these actions are not necessarily every popular or easy to take.
- The risk lies primarily with companies that will operate based on completely new business models. We, who are not one of those companies, must be willing to share this risk based on our capabilities.
- The challenges we now face require knowledge and expertise that rests on the shoulders of what we in Norway and Agder already know a lot about, we need projects in physical waters and no longer on the drawing board, we need regulations and decisions that are willing to share risk.
- The responsibility lies with everyone - politicians and the public sector, companies and businesses, clusters and industry, you and me.
The solution lies somewhere between joint risk relief, security in the market between supply and demand and, not least, predictability to develop business models for the future.
The delegation from Agder consisted of Kristiansand Havn IKS, Næringsforeningen i Kristiansandsregionen, FSS Marine, Nekkar, Southwind, Origo Solutions, Pentagon, Firenor and Nye Sodevika.
Thanks to GCE NODE and Fremtidens Havvind for guiding the delegation from Agder through their visit to the UK.
