On March 27 and 28, 2024 we attended the Belgian Offshore Days in Ostend. This conference and exhibition, organized by the Belgian Offshore Cluster, brings together Belgian and international companies active in the offshore wind industry. It provides a forum for companies to network and encourages collaborations to strengthen the offshore wind industry.
What was to discover?
At the conference, numerous guest speakers raised the ambitions and challenges in the offshore wind industry. Some ongoing offshore projects were also presented. In addition, industry suppliers were also present with a booth. At our booth, we explained to visitors our cooperation with various wind farms.
Here are our findings
- Demand for low-code solutions is rising. The promise that low-code solutions are cheaper and allow you to make modifications yourself without having to rely on a developer naturally sounds attractive. At the same time, more companies now have several years of experience using such solutions. It turns out that for limited simple processes, low-code can be a good solution. For more complex processes, however, this applies much less, if at all. Moreover, making your own adjustments turns out to be mainly a theoretical option. In practice, companies still seem to fall back on external consultants.
- The approaching start (Q4 2024) of the tender process for the (3) new wind farms in the Princess Elisabeth Zone is causing some 'excitement' in the offshore world. As the tender principles become clear, the challenges for different players also become clear.
- Several companies see opportunities for AI applications but struggle to find reliable data to train the model. Others hope to use already available (commercial) models but struggle with the fact that the result is not 100% reliable.
- The digital twin is a popular topic in this sector, although the term often covers different interpretations.
Read more about our projects in the offshore wind industry in these posts: