We, representatives from governments, enterprises, academia and NGOs from more than 10 countries and regions around the world, unanimously approve to adopt the “Yangjiang Declaration at Global Offshore Wind Conference” at the GOWS 2019 held in Yangjiang, Guangdong Province from May 31 to June 2, 2019. GOWS 2019, under the theme of “International Cooperation, Industrial Collaboration, Innovation Driven-Accelerating High-Quality Offshore Wind Development”, is aimed at promoting global offshore wind development, and improving the international cooperation and exchange mechanism.
We are convinced that by 2030, the cumulative installed capacity of global offshore wind will reach 300 GW, a reasonable conclusion made taking into account such factors as current development status, industrial planning of countries and the evolutionary trend of technologies. We believe that offshore wind represents an important force in achieving global energy transition. It has become the consensus of countries to accelerate energy transition and take the road of green and sustainable development. European practices demonstrate, offshore wind plays an important role. In the meantime, offshore wind has seen significantly reduced costs in recent years, and some projects no longer need subsidies, thus becoming a green energy with competitive price.
We believe that vigorous development of offshore wind will produce good social and economic benefits. The offshore wind featured by long industry chain can not only stimulate direct investment, promote local industrial structuring and upgrading, but also create a large number of jobs, thus representing a strategic opportunity that countries should firmly grasp. In addition, as it involves a number of state-of-the-art technologies, the advancement of offshore wind will also accelerate the breakthrough of related technologies.
It is our belief that offshore wind still has huge potential for development. The world has a long coastline and a vast sea area, providing broad space for offshore wind development. Currently, both traditional markets such as UK, Germany, and Denmark, and many emerging markets, have developed ambitious medium- and long-term plans, indicating that the installed capacity of global offshore wind will maintain rapid growth in the future. With the advancement of technology, deeper and open sea will be fully developed, thus further expanding the development space of offshore wind.
In order to achieve the above goals and accelerate global offshore wind development, the following six initiatives have been proposed:
1. Strengthening global cooperation. Strong support and close cooperation of governments will contribute to the rapid and stable development of global offshore wind. The international community should jointly create an open and cooperative global offshore wind collaborative development space, establish an efficient and transparent industrial governance system, and realize the sharing of infrastructure, data and information. Adhering to the principle of achieving shared growth through discussion and collaboration, governments, enterprises, NGOs, academia, international organizations and other stakeholders are encouraged to play a greater role in accordance with their respective roles and responsibilities.
2. Fostering technological innovation. Technological innovation is the core driving force for offshore wind development. A smooth communication channel should be established on a global scale to share the latest research results of countries. Efforts should be made to promote collaborative innovation, increase investment in the construction of public test platforms, accelerate the development of key common technologies, encourage enterprises to increase R&D and innovation investment through tax abatement, develop more efficient and adaptable offshore wind turbines, accelerate technological breakthroughs in wind measurement, foundation and transmission, and promote offshore wind development towards deeper and open sea.
3. Establishing a fair and open market. A fair and open market environment is conducive to achieving the survival of the fittest through competition, promoting the free flow of advanced technologies and optimal solutions on a global scale, ultimately improving the development level and efficiency of countries, and bringing prosperity to the overall market. A transparent and stable market allows investors to have clear earnings expectations and increase their investment enthusiasm. Countries should ensure long-term market stability in form of laws and regulations, establish a fair market access system, develop an international coordination mechanism for technical standards, promote multilateral mutual recognition of certification results, and eliminate trade barriers so that all parties can fairly enjoy the development opportunities brought about by offshore wind.
4. Intensifying personnel training and encouraging talent flow. Offshore wind is a multi-disciplinary, and multi-technical cross-over systematic project that places particularly high requirements for practitioners’ skills. Countries should establish a multi-level offshore wind education and training system as soon as possible, cultivate professional talents with a global perspective, and improve practitioners’ professionalism; and establish a global talent flow mechanism, encourage the free flow of talents in offshore wind, and promote the international exchanges of offshore wind technologies and experiences.
5. Constructing a strict safety and health protection system. Guaranteeing practitioners’ safety and health Is a prerequisite for sustainable development of the offshore wind industry. Countries should start with the safe and reliable operation of equipment and projects, improve relevant quality assessment and certification mechanisms, set strict qualification thresholds for practitioners and carry out on-going safety training, so as to construct a multi-dimensional safety and health protection system.
6. Boosting the integrative development of offshore wind and other marine industries. Tapping the potential of marine resources and accelerating the industrial structuring of the marine economy is an important economic development strategy implemented by countries. In this process, offshore wind can play a good supporting and radiating role, driving the development of port construction, marine renewable energy equipment manufacturing, and marine aquaculture industries. Countries should strengthen relevant research and practice exploration, achieve multiple-industry coordinated development, and improve the utilization efficiency of marine resources.
In order to ensure the smooth completion of the 2030 goal, following actions will be taken:
1. Regularly assess progress on the 300GW goal and implementation of the six initiatives, and produce an annual report on progress to be discussed at GOWS.
2. Organize relevant national institutions to carry out joint research on eco-environmental impact assessment, R&D progress of state-of-the-art offshore wind technologies, supporting policy mechanism for offshore wind, (medium- and long-term) offshore wind development goals, common technologies/management plans to reduce costs, socio-economic value of offshore wind industry chain, and global offshore wind market information and data, and timely release relevant research results for dissemination on a global scale.
3. To facilitate international communication and cooperation, a workshop will be held during GOWS events as an open platform for expert consultation, experience & know-how sharing, and addressing issues & challenges observed in global offshore wind development.
4. Designate a specialized agency to collect and integrate the information of the global offshore wind industry chain, and regularly publish relevant information through multiple channels, to achieve transparency and sharing of information.
5. Present awards to outstanding projects and organizations with technical breakthroughs, as well as persons who have made a great contribution to boosting offshore wind development during GOWS events starting from 2020.
6. In view of the huge development potential of offshore wind in emerging countries, but with the technology and management levels yet to be improved, various forms of training activities will be organized to accelerate the capacity building of offshore wind industry in these countries.
7. Make the public be more objectively aware of offshore wind development, and understand the positive role of developing offshore wind in
addressing climate and environmental issues, driving local economic development, and creating jobs by means of public opinion guidance, science popularization, and public visits.
Yangjiang, Guangdong Province, China June 1, 2019
Nguồn: Nguyễn Hoàng Dũng