The Wind in the Sails

When it comes to energy system transformation, wind plays a decisive role in future scenarios. To ensure that they soon become reality, we are investing energy and resources in promising research projects and aligning our ports to the requirements of the offshore industry.

 

In recent years, the seaport of Cuxhaven has developed into the leading port for handling offshore wind turbines on the North Sea coast. With forward-looking investments by the state and supported by the EU, the Cuxhaven offshore base has been continuously expanded and is now a central location for the offshore wind power industry. In Cuxhaven, generators of offshore wind turbines are produced, shipped from here and installed at sea. The constant growth in the offshore segment is also having an impact on the port's capacities. As the existing berths 8, 9.3 and 9.4 of the port of Cuxhaven are already occupied by offshore projects, it was necessary to expand the port and create new capacities.

 

New Areas for Offshore Wind Energy

Berth 4 is particularly suitable for heavy cargo transport, as required for huge wind turbines. The completion of berth 4 means more handling for the high-performance seaport, which is the top North Sea port in the offshore sector. But that's not all: the planning approval procedures for the expansion of berths 5 - 7 are also already in progress. The additional port facilities will strengthen the competitiveness of the Cuxhaven region in conventional goods and in the growing renewable energy segment.

 

Wind + Hydrogen = Eco-love

Hydrogen is regarded as the key to energy system transformation, because unlike the energy suppliers sun and wind, hydrogen can be stored and transported. The seaport of Emden is ideally located for this ambitious research project due to its proximity to large onshore and offshore wind farms with surplus electricity. As a large universal port, Emden also offers various fields of application for our research questions in order to play out the novel use of hydrogen.
This is why we have launched the WASh2Emden research project at this port location. In cooperation with Tyczka, abh, DBI, MARIKO and in collaboration with the Emden port service provider EPAS and Emden University of Applied Sciences, we are investigating how hydrogen can be produced from wind power and where it can be used as an innovative energy source in the port. By 2020, we want to explore three areas within the project. The first is the question of where hydrogen can be produced from wind power in the Emden area. The second aspect is about the storage, transport and distribution of hydrogen: Which transport routes and storage facilities make sense for the port of Emden? And the third question revolves around the fields of application that arise for hydrogen in the port of Emden and the regional environment. It is conceivable that it could be used for handling equipment or port vehicles.