All comments – Research: The Port of Ventspils can already offer an adequate service to developers of offshore wind farms

Ventspils port can already offer appropriate services to developers of offshore wind farms, Inga Ieviņa, head of public relations of Ventspils Freeport Authority, informed LETA agency.

The study of the Dutch company “Witteveen+Bos” on the adaptation of the port of Ventspils to the service of offshore wind farms concluded that for the meaningful use of all the potential in the port of Ventspils, it is necessary to build an efficient terminal in the area of ​​the North pier from the point of view of costs and use.

Igors Udodov, Deputy Manager of the Freeport of Ventspils, points out that renewable energy projects are developing in the Baltic Sea region to achieve the goals of energy independence and climate neutrality, which is not only a turning point in energy, but also changes the way ports can contribute to the overall process of maintaining and developing the economy.

“If for more than a century the port of Ventspils served mainly as a transit point for the provision of fossil energy, now it can transform into an energy port in a much wider scope, parallel to the existing directions of operation – here we are talking about renewable energy, the hydrogen economy, as well as the export of Latvian products,” Udodov explains. .

He informs that the port has chosen the path of development and it will proceed gradually, starting with the evaluation of the existing opportunities and potential. Thanks to joint work with the internationally experienced company “Witteveen+Bos” in this field, the port has a ready plan, rationale and calculations so that offshore wind farms can receive the best possible service in Ventspils.

A land-based technical maintenance base is needed to service offshore wind farms – potentially the port of Ventspils is located in the most advantageous and closest location to the planned wind farms and could provide services related to the servicing of offshore wind farms. At the beginning of last year, the Ventspils Freeport Authority, attracting the Dutch engineering consulting company “Witteveen+Bos”, started work on the study “Evaluation of Ventspils Port’s possibilities for servicing offshore wind farms and related infrastructure”.

The initial goal of the study was to evaluate the existing infrastructure and its possibilities and model the creation of a new terminal in the North Port, which is a large, developable area of ​​the port in the northern direction. However, during the research, “Witteven+Bos” came up with a new proposal for the expansion of the port, which would be even more attractive both for the development of private investors’ ideas and for the meaningful use of public infrastructure, both from the point of view of costs and efficiency. Namely, the experts offered to rebuild the existing pier 35 in the North pier, by washing up a new port area of ​​approximately 50 hectares, providing space for both wind farm servicing and construction production.

A technical solution has been developed, wave impact modeling and other preparatory work has been carried out to ensure the validity of the development plan from the point of view of efficiency, cost and safety.

The technical manager of the “Witteveen+Bos” expert team, Kristians Luber, emphasizes that the assessment included a study of best practices for the development and maintenance of offshore wind farms in European ports and the determination of functional requirements for terminals. Based on these requirements, existing port terminals were evaluated to determine their suitability for the needs of offshore wind farm developers. At the same time, expansion options to the north of the existing jetty were explored, including the creation of new jetties, grounds and terminals.

The manager of SIA “Witteveen+Bos Latvia” Oskars Zivtiņš informs that, after evaluating the compliance of the port of Ventspils with the functional requirements set for the construction and maintenance of offshore wind farm projects in other European ports, the experts of the company “Witteveen+Bos” concluded that the port of Ventspils would already be ready to offer its services to offshore wind farm developers. It is possible to develop new terminals in the North Port, dividing their development into logical and investment-based phases. The port of Ventspils has an advantageous geographical location in relation to the construction sites for offshore wind farms planned in the region.

The Ventspils Freeport Authority is currently actively working with potential investors who might be interested in cooperating in the creation of a new terminal. The project concept, which was created as a result of the study “Evaluation of Ventspils port possibilities for the servicing of offshore wind farms and related infrastructure” carried out by SIA “Witteveen+Bos Latvia”, will be forwarded for approval to the Ventspils city council and the responsible institutions of the Latvian state.

Ventspils is one of the largest ports on the east coast of the Baltic and the third largest industrial center in Latvia. In the past years, Ventspils Freeport has started active work in the direction of new development projects to transform the traditional operation of the port from fossil energy transit to renewable energy project service, green fuel storage and transport services, food and export hub of Latvian products. Ventspils is the only port in Latvia that has already signed a long-term construction rights agreement for the construction of a hydrogen plant, and the merchant has started the environmental impact assessment process.