When the Dutch annual event Offshore Energy Exhibition & Conference (OEEC) opens its doors at Amsterdam RAI in November, security, resilience and geopolitics will sit alongside energy transition and ecosystem protection as central themes.
The OEEC conference agenda offers a window on how offshore energy is redefining itself in a time of turbulence. It must balance sustainability goals with affordability and security. At the same time, it is watching developments across the Atlantic. The US offshore wind industry is facing existential challenges. Meanwhile, Brazil and Colombia are ramping up work to bring their first offshore wind farms to fruition.
In Europe, work on connecting more renewable energy to the electricity grids continues, although much more cautiously and with a greater focus on securing immediate supply.
Oil and gas, and other forms of fossil energy, are (re)gaining strength as energy demand keeps increasing amid an unstable international environment.
Wind, oil and (geo)politics
While most European countries are trying to keep their promise on doubling down on renewables and energy resilience, the US offers a stark contrast. Recent months have brought a series of policy shocks that could reshape the US offshore wind sector and reverberate across global supply chains.