Foundation manufacturer, Nordseewerke, is threatened with insolvency after Germany’s Lower Saxony state government decided last week against providing further financial guarantees for new loans to the company.
The decision by the state’s committee on state credits risks jeopardising a contract under which Nordseewerke is to build 40 tripod foundations by next May for Windreich’s Global Tech 1 offshore station.
A meeting took place last night between Lower Saxony’s leaders and Nordseewerke to discuss the problem, but no solution was found. A further meeting is planned for Friday.
State finance minister, Hartmut Moellring, announced last week that Lower Saxony would provide no further loan guarantees to Norseewerke, making it impossible for development bank, NordLB, to extend the company any more credit.
The Green Party, which is in opposition in Lower Saxony, has criticised the decision: "The economic problems behind the delay in winning further contracts for Nordseewerke are due to a clear failure on the part of the federal and state governments, which have applied too little pressure on the network operators to accelerate expansion of the transmission networks and building the network connections."
Nordsweewerke is not the first foundation manufacturer to find the German offshore wind market financially challenging. Kvaerner recently announced its withdrawal from the market, following a legal dispute over Nordsee Ost.
