New Industry Guideline Launched: “Without Standardization, We Don’t Get to the Next Level”

At WindEurope Siemens Gamesa and Vestas unveiled the first concrete result of the Wind Industry Standardization (WIS) project: a common seafastening design guideline for wind turbine components on installation vessels. 

“We’ve reached a new phase of industrialization in the wind industry - and standardization is a key part of that. Without it, we won’t reach the next level.”  

That was the words from Marc Becker, Senior Vice President of Siemens Gamesa Offshore, during a launch panel featuring Vestas CTOO Anders Nielsen and Danish Minister for Climate, Energy and Utilities, Lars Aagaard.  

The Minister praised the work, emphasizing its long-term impact:

“I salute the work that has been done. I’m very pleased to see this focus on standardization—it’s a crucial part of bringing costs down for the future. We need green energy, but we also need affordable energy. Even though this may seem like nitty-gritty details, the impact is big.” 

Less steel and more speed 

This new guideline is a big step forward for the offshore wind sector, setting a common standard that allows wind turbine OEMs, shipowners, and developers to reuse seafastening across projects: 

“The faster you can switch from one project or OEM to another, the more efficient your installation becomes. It reduces waste, maximizes vessel use, and brings major advantages,” said Vestas CTOO Anders Nielsen. 

“No OEM will win or lose a project because we have the best sea fasteners on the ship. It’s much better to have common standards and drive competitiveness of the wind business.” Said Anders Nielsen. 

Senior Vice President Marc Becker from Siemens Gamesa Offshore also highlighted the cultural shift behind this collaboration: “The biggest challenge is accepting that others have the same competency level—not everything has to be done ‘our way.’ Once that mindset changes, we’re seeing amazing results—better than anyone expected.” 

A broad industry effort 

The guideline was developed with broad support across the industry. Sponsored by Siemens Gamesa and Vestas and facilitated by Energy Cluster Denmark, the project includes contributions from Cadeler, Havfram, Van Oord, Fred. Olsen Windcarrier, Ørsted, RWE, Vattenfall, Equinor, and others. It signals a move toward stronger collaboration on shared challenges. 

Shipowner Cadeler also sees clear value:

“This matters to us because we’re designing and fabricating seafastening structures for every project. We’re talking about thousands of tons of steel that have to be removed and reinstalled. Standardization helps us save on green steel and turnaround time,” said Heloise Vignal, Head of Project Engineering, Cadeler. 

Ørsted’s Program Manager Lars Valentin pointed to the future potential: 
“The potential is huge. If we can standardize seafastening on vessels, we can extend that to onshore logistics—from fabrication yards to feeder and pre-assembly ports. It’s often the same interface.” 

More to come - and an open invitation 

WIS already has more standardization projects in the pipeline, including work on tower transport and pre-assembly structures.  

If you have questions about the WIS collaboration or suggestions for future work, feel free to reach out to the respective Project Managers at Energy Cluster Denmark: 

Christian Munk Jensen - cmj@energycluster.dk 

Michael Langlo Nielsen -  mln@energycluster.dk