Port accessFrom 20 to 22 March, the Port Authority of Bilbao will be taking part in the WindEurope annual event, with many different companies and organisations from the wind energy sector coming together at the Bilbao Exhibition Centre (BEC). From Stand A60 in Hall 1, the Port Authority and UniportBilbao will jointly showcase their contribution to the industry as a wind energy hub to the thousands of attendees from the wind power sector in Europe and beyond.
As part of the event, Andima Ormaetxe, Operations, Commercial, Logistics and Strategy Director of the Port Authority of Bilbao, will be taking part in the panel discussion “Onshore power supply for decarbonisation of ports through electrification”, a round table to be chaired by Pedro Otazua, OPS Projects Development Manager at Iberdrola. The panel discussion will also feature Maximilian Schnippering, Head of Sustainability at Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy; Mikael Hougs, Head of Business Development Offshore Wind at Stillstrom; and Roland Teixeira de Mattos, President of the European Onshore Power Supply Association.
Visits to the Port of Bilbao
To coincide with the WindEurope annual event, various groups of people wishing to learn about and discover at first hand the facilities the Port of Bilbao has to offer and their suitability for wind energy traffic will be visiting the port. On 18 March, the first such visit, organised by Basque Trade and Investment (BTI), will feature delegations from companies and institutions from Scotland, Wales and Brazil, and will include a presentation of Wind Energy Basque Country and BiMEP, the offshore test area with a grid connection for the demonstration and validation of wave energy converters and floating wind platforms.
On 19 March, the port will host the meeting of the “WindEurope Ports Platform”, a working group of ports involved in the wind energy sector and of which the Port of Bilbao is a member. Twelve European ports will take part in this meeting alongside the Port of Bilbao. That same day, WindEurope and the Spanish Wind Energy Association have organised a meeting in the Port of Bilbao with specialist press from around the world, to be hosted by Andima Ormaetxe, Operations, Commercial, Logistics and Strategy Director of the Port Authority of Bilbao; Christoph Zipf, Press and Communications Manager at WindEurope; Juan Virgilio Márquez, CEO of the Spanish Wind Energy Association; and José Ignacio Hormaeche, CEO of the Basque Energy Cluster.
On 21 March, the port will welcome a delegation from the Pays de la Loire, organised by CCI France Espagne, the Franco-Spanish Chamber of Commerce, who will also be given a guided tour of the port and its facilities for wind power traffic.
Bilbao, wind energy hub
The hinterland of the Port of Bilbao is characterised by the presence of numerous companies connected to wind energy,
including manufacturers and service providers along the entire value chain. A firm commitment to innovation, the development of wind power technology and the experience of the Basque wind power sector make it a major player in the sector worldwide.
Bilbao is also an export port for leading manufacturers of wind energy components, and is equipped with the facilities and infrastructure required for the transport and logistics of this type of goods.
The Port of Bilbao also facilitates projects to promote wind energy and decarbonisation. A recent case in point has been the installation by the wind propulsion company Bound4blue of two 17-metre high suction sails on a general cargo ship owned by Amasus Shipping. These are the largest suction sails to be built and installed to date on a ship. This initiative was taken forward as part of the Sails for Cargo project, co-funded by the Ports 4.0 Fund of the State Ports Authority, and was supported by Bilbao PortLab, the innovation hub of the Port Authority of Bilbao.
European Wind Charter
The Port Authority of Bilbao signed up to the European Wind Charter in December 2023, thus reaffirming, together with representatives of the European Commission, EU energy ministers and over 300 companies from the wind energy sector, its commitment to strengthening Europe’s wind energy sector.
As a signatory to the Charter, the Port Authority is collaborating in a coordinated effort with its fellow signatories to improve conditions for the European wind power industry ecosystem, and to take forward and align its actions with those of the European Commission, the Member States and the wind sector itself. In short, further proof of the commitment of the Port Authority to help its customers to meet the demands and requirements of the energy transition, and to promote this strategic activity in the Port of Bilbao.
