Vestas boss urges rethink to build ‘one gigawatt at a time’

The chief executive of Danish wind company Vestas has called for a gigawatt-by-gigawatt approach to rolling out large scale renewable projects instead of “trying to do the mission impossible”.

Henrik Andersen used the stage at the WindEurope annual conference in Madrid to voice his frustration at the increasing number of projects that are stuck in limbo or are cancelled.

Stating that “uncertainty is a real killer” of energy projects, he added: “When it comes to the grid, let's not try to build 100GW and then find excuses for not doing it or pointing blame at each other.

“We’ve got to appreciate one thing: when we want to build 100GW, it's a consolidated number that comes over time. So we should actually say we want to build 100GW and start with the first GW. Then the second gigawatt.”

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And Andersen stressed the urgency of accelerating large-scale energy projects across Europe. “We are out of time. We're 55 per cent dependant on energy imports and we sit here discussing Ts and Cs that are so complex and complicated that it takes longer [to discuss them] than to manufacture, connect, and get the projects into society. 


“So let's not spend more time on finding individual blame, but just fix it one gigawatt at a time.”

German example

He praised the efforts of Germany which has cut the red tape that has been holding back the deployment of renewable energy projects.

“I love the German way. They cut through all of their own bureaucracy of permitting. That takes huge courage and pride to cut through your own bureaucracy. But they had the guts to do that. That's the example to follow. Simplify; make it happen; a gigawatt at a time.”

And on the flip side, he rued the efforts of his own country, which for so long has been a pioneer of windpower.

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“I come from Denmark and I'm proud of it. But I'm also embarrassed by it when you fail in an offshore auction in Denmark.”

“We are in a desperate time now – every day matters. So we should avoid trying always to do the mission impossible. It is not time to build it more complex. You simplify. You accelerate rather than delay.

“If we don't get that, we will sit here in five years' time and ask permission to keep the lights on.”

Time to be radical

Andersen was sharing the stage with Ireland’s Energy Minister Darragh O'Brien, who echoed the need for swift action to get projects moving.

“We've had enough wake-up calls – we don't need another one,” he said. “We've got to be radical now. Ireland is investing 19 billion in our grid between now and 2030. I agree with Henrik in celebrating each gigabyte.”

He said the biggest bottleneck to unblock was permitting. “Consenting is one thing I think we can do more on At an EU level.

“I think we have to step back and have a look and make some radical decisions… to allow accelerated deployment over a specific period of time.

"This is within our grasp – we can do this: I'm positive about it, even with all the geopolitical events that are happening. We've got to focus on the EU and on Europe and our colleagues within Europe to see how we can work together.”

O'Brien said it was vital that Europe kept “competitiveness to the core”.

He said he believed in the current calls for a Made-in-Europe standard, but added he would be “more of a proponent of Made-with-Europe. I think we've got to be broader than that: we're very dependent on free trade… the most successful free trade block in in the world.”