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Offshore Wind Foundations Alliance

OWFA

• Establish a level playing field to ensure the sustainable manufacturing of offshore wind foundations; • Ensure foundation suppliers take the lead in setting standards and defining certification processes; • Affirm the industry’s commitment to the principles of ESG by advocating for non-price selection criteria in tenders; • Strengthen the European offshore wind foundation industry’s production capacity in order to meet the EU Green Deal targets; • Ensure the sector and its supply chain’s resilience and competitiveness in line with the Net-Zero Industry Act. • To establish EU policy supporting the ramp-up of offshore wind in order to achieve the Green Deal targets, ensuring a • European supply chain that maintains and adds European jobs;

Lobbying Activity

Meeting with Karin Karlsbro (Member of the European Parliament, Rapporteur)

8 Dec 2025 · Stålmarknaden

Response to Trade measure addressing the negative trade-related effects of global excess capacity on the EU steel sector

1 Dec 2025

The Offshore Wind Foundations Alliance (OWFA) welcomes the European Commissions Regulation addressing the negative trade-related effects of global overcapacity on the Union steel. OWFA notes positively the Commissions holistic approach to better support the steel sector by including some semi-finished and finished products. However, excluding certain downstream products such as offshore wind foundations creates a loophole that allows excess capacity to bypass upstream duties, undermining the measures effectiveness. Offshore wind foundations enter the EU market as finished goods; bypassing protections meant for upstream products.This circumvention isalready happening, eroding the competitivenessof EU manufacturers. If foundations remain outside the scope, the measures riskdestabilising supply chains in strategic industriesand weakening Europes clean energy ambitions. Steel overcapacities can only be addressed if the entire value chain is protected. Offshore wind foundations have been designated as a main specific component in the Net-Zero Industry Act. European foundation manufacturers are global leaders in this industry, but face competition on a unlevel playing field as their product is being used for circumventing EU regulations such as anti-dumping tariffs. OWFA commends the Commissions efforts to address steel overcapacities, but stresses that the current measures further destabilise the offshore foundations market. Downstream industries such as offshore foundations are used for circumventing EU tariffs. Looking at the entire value chain, this lack of protection will also negatively impact the European steel industry. Offshore wind foundations are the key off taker of European heavy plates. If this industry goes out of business by neglecting the circumvention path, the European steel mills supplying this heavy plate steel will lose a crucial customer. OWFA calls for policymakers to extend the scope of the measures to include codes falling within 7308, specifically those within 7308 90 98 90, 7308 90 59 and 7308 20 000 and future relevant offshore foundation codes. This would close loopholes that are imminent, just as other large, welded tubes falling within the 7306 CN code are protected. Finally, OWFA calls for the scope review to be performed more frequently than every two years, as currently proposed. The Commission should accept data provided by industry on a rolling basis to determine if there is sufficient information to expand the scope to additional pieces of the value chain.
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Meeting with Adam Romanowski (Cabinet of Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič), Charlotte Merlier (Cabinet of Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič)

2 Jul 2025 · Challenges of the Offshore Wind Foundations industry

Response to Foreign Subsidies Guidelines

2 Apr 2025

The Offshore Wind Foundations Alliance (OWFA) welcomes the opportunity to provide information to the European Commission on the Foreign Subsidies Regulation. This trade defence instrument is critical to ensuring that European industry competes on a level playing field. OWFA welcomes increased scrutiny of critical industries, such as the wind sector. Please find our feedback attached.
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Meeting with Jutta Paulus (Member of the European Parliament, Shadow rapporteur) and EPIA SolarPower Europe and

7 Mar 2025 · Security of Energy Supply

Response to Implementing Act on non-price criteria in renewable energy auctions

21 Feb 2025

The Offshore Wind Foundations Alliance (OWFA) commends the NZIA's sustained commitment to strategic renewable energies and appreciates the mandatory inclusion of sustainability and resilience criteria in renewable energy auctions. We are particularly encouraged by the potential enhancements this could bring to the foundations industry, a sector currently grappling with increasing challenges. Offshore foundations, indispensable yet often neglected components of offshore wind turbines, are increasingly being imported from third countries. The lack of a level playing field could result in increased dependencies and reduce the viability of European strategic technology manufacturing. The Offshore Wind Foundations Alliance stresses that: To fully achieve the NZIAs goals to diversify supply chains, proactive support is needed to protect European industries from unfair competition and to ensure no new dependencies are created. The Commission should provide guidance to national authorities to ensure diversification in the four main specific components to which resilience criteria are applied in Article 7.1. Coordination between member states is imperative to ensure that the various elements of the Implementing Act and their interpretations are harmonised and implemented effectively. Please find our full position attached.
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Meeting with Radan Kanev (Member of the European Parliament)

18 Nov 2024 · Decarbonization of foundation construction of offshore wind turbines

Response to Net Zero Industry Act

27 Jun 2023

The Offshore Wind Foundations Alliance (OWFA) fully endorses the EUs ambitions set in the Net Zero Industry Act and welcomes its focus on offshore renewable energies. Strategic renewable energy technologies such as foundations would be able to scale up more rapidly through implementation of the objectives laid out in the NZIA. To make the NZIA as effective as possible, OWFA stresses that: - The scope of the NZIA should remain focused on the selected renewable energy technologies - Shortening permitting times alone will not solve other significant bottlenecks - Non-price selection criteria in tenders should be made mandatory - Harmonised standards are necessary to increase capacity and future-proof the offshore wind industry - Developing the right skills will require the right infrastructure and adequate funding opportunities Please, find our detailed position in the paper attached.
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Response to Ecodesign for Sustainable Products - Product priorities

12 May 2023

The Offshore Wind Foundations Alliance (OWFA) encourages the Commission to consider downstream products made from priority intermediate goods covered by the regulation. Following the JRCs preliminary study on new product priorities under the ESPR, steel was identified as a priority intermediate product group. As such, it was assessed that the sustainable sourcing of steel would be considered as a mandatory requirement for new steel placed on the EU market. The key role of that material in the energy transition is also mentioned, especially in reference to wind energy. As they are large structures made almost exclusively from steel, offshore wind foundations are directly linked to any measures applied to steel. Given that foundations are approximately 100 meters long and can weigh up to 2,000 tonnes, with diameters of 10 meters, the raw material demands of those products are significant, especially considering the fact that the EU will need to dramatically increase the number of offshore wind farms starting immediately if it wants to achieve its goal of 300 GW of installed capacity by 2050. Without strong ecodesign requirements for the rest of the supply chain, there is a risk that the market will be flooded with less sustainable foundations coming from third countries for which no requirements on sustainable fabrication exist. Including foundations as a priority group would ensure that all the foundations placed on the EU market respect certain sustainability requirements, no matter their origin. This would ensure a level playing field for third-country manufacturers and help secure European energy independence. Please, find attached our full position paper. Below is a summary of OWFAs main asks: Foundations should be included as a priority product group to ensure a level playing field with third-country manufacturers. If foundations are included, the text should consider a life-cycle assessment for environmental and carbon footprint requirements, health and safety requirements, robust durability requirements based on realistic standards, as well as mandatory green public procurement criteria.
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Meeting with Barbara Glowacka (Cabinet of Commissioner Kadri Simson)

21 Sept 2022 · EU policies aiming to quickly ramp offshore wind and fast forward the green transition, in line with the objectives of the REPowerEU Plan.

Response to Sustainable Products Initiative

22 Jun 2022

The Offshore Wind Foundations Alliance (OWFA) is a coalition of five European companies producing offshore wind foundations: Bladt Industries A/S (Denmark), EEW Special Pipe Constructions GmbH (Germany), SIF Netherlands BV (the Netherlands), Smulders Projects Belgium (Belgium), and Steelwind Nordenham GmbH (Germany). Offshore wind foundations are the support structures for offshore wind turbines, and as such they are an indispensable component of any offshore wind farm. The production of offshore wind foundations will increase considerably in the coming years if the EU wants to achieve its EU Green Deal objectives. In the position paper attached, OWFA makes the following recommendations: • Prioritise a delegated act regulating offshore wind foundations, given the dependence on steel and intensity of the scale-up required in this product group. • Durability requirements for offshore wind foundations should be holistic and based on strict standards developed by CEN-CENELEC in close coordination with European fabricators. • Environmental and carbon footprint requirements must be based on a life cycle assessment, for heavy structures transport of the goods is a crucial factor. • Performance requirements should include worker health and wellbeing. • Private procurement contracts must be included in the legislative scope, particularly green award criteria for private tenders. • A digital product passport will help information on products’ sustainability is shared along the supply chain, but it shouldn’t add excessive red tape.
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Response to Standardisation Strategy

9 Aug 2021

The European Wind Foundations Alliance (OWFA) welcomes the European Commission’s initiative to consolidate and improve the EU standardisation system. The revision is especially timely as it fits with the objectives of the Green Deal objectives. It provides an opportunity to improve the current European standardisation system for the renewables energy sector, making it more efficient and sector specific. Over the past 25 years the offshore wind technology has developed rapidly, and the pace is expected to accelerate. The current installed total capacity of offshore wind within the European Union is 14.5 GW, with targets of 60 GW by 2030 and 300 GW by 2050. With around 85% of the world’s installed capacity for offshore wind currently in Europe, the EU should act as frontrunner in developing harmonised standards for the sector to enable the rapid diffusion of this technology. In particular, foundations are an important component of offshore wind installations, typically representing 6 to 10% of project costs. However, the European offshore wind foundations sector is facing several challenges in relation to standards: • There are currently no European or international standards specific for offshore wind foundations. Due to the lack of harmonised European standard for offshore wind, designers and manufacturers have to use existing European standards such as EN1090 (Eurocode 3). However, the lack of certain chapters in Eurocode 3 requires the use of other standards (e.g. DNVGL rules or ISO standards for coating), leading to a fragmented system. • The basic standard (Eurocode 3) needs further evolution to be compliant with the current offshore wind sector. Eurocode 3 was created for steel structures such as houses and bridges, but not for offshore wind structures. • Standards should keep up with the market pace and with technology developments. The heights of structures such as monopiles continue to increase, offshore wind parks move to deeper waters and turbine sizes are growing making current standards no longer compliant. • Standards should be developed through a consensus-based approach involving all parties. All parties who must work with the standards should be equally represented in standards committees. For instance, codes should be developed with all parties involved and the use of the final code should be mandatory. • Existing or new standards should include new ambitious requirements on quality, health and safety and CO2 emissions. Standards should contribute to Green Deal objectives based on a European, harmonised approach. In a nutshell, OWFA recommends that, in the context of the Standardisation strategy and its follow-up measures: • A European standard specific to offshore wind foundations be created or use existing standards to develop new mandatory requirements adapted to the offshore wind sector. This would allow for higher efficiency during a project and cost savings throughout the process, from development and design to manufacturing and installation – ultimately leading to a lower cost of deploying offshore renewables for citizens and taxpayers. • Such standards should set and enforce first-class EU quality, health and safety, environmental and GHG criteria for offshore wind foundations. Sources: • Offshore Wind Foundations Alliance (OWFA) website, https://www.offshorewindfoundations.eu/ • Nurturing offshore wind markets good practices for international standardisation, International Renewable Energy Agency, https://www.irena.org/-/media/Files/IRENA/Agency/Publication/2018/May/IRENA_Nurturing_offshore_wind_2018_Summary.pdf?la=en&hash=3652073D0487231E44D407D83318CFAC81F7E8ED
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