The operator of Germany's 396MW Merkur offshore wind farm, owned by APG and TRIG, aims to expand its consultancy business by targeting developers in European markets.
Merkur Managing Director Arjen Schampers stated that providing project management and technical services to less experienced developers would enable the Hamburg-based company to grow its staff from 25 to 40 and leverage expertise gained since the commissioning of the 66-turbine North Sea array in 2019.
Merkur has already collaborated with clients in emerging markets, including Dominion Wind for the 2.6GW Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind and Hitachi for TPC's 109.2MW Changhua Phase 1 wind farm off Taiwan, since diversifying into consultancy in 2020. However, stretching end-decade deployment targets and a significant increase in new entrants have created more opportunities closer to home. Merkur aims to achieve a 50:50 split between consultancy activities and wind farm operations, according to Schampers.
“There are a lot of new parties stepping into the industry, there are a lot of wind farms being built and they are sometimes being treated as a commodity,” said Schampers. “In the Netherlands and Germany, we are seeing more inexperienced players at a time when the management of wind farms is becoming increasingly difficult with more multi-contracting and risk being pushed back to developers.”
Fellow Managing Director Lena Buesing added, “It is about knowing the ins and outs of a project and how the CAPEX needs earning back. As a wind farm operator, we have experienced that learning curve and already know the pitfalls and the long-term impacts of decisions made at an early stage.”
