Replacing welded steel joints with industrialised composite joints is how Europe regains competitiveness in offshore wind manufacturing.
We are proud to announce that the Grant Agreement for JOIN2SCALE has officially been signed under the Horizon Europe programme, with Tree Composites as project coordinator, leading a strong European consortium to deliver this transformation.
For decades, offshore wind foundations have relied on welding-intensive joint construction, requiring 30,000 to 50,000 hours of manual labour per jacket, driving excessive thick steel use, limiting fatigue performance and ultimately pushing large-scale fabrication outside of Europe.
Starting this May, JOIN2SCALE will develop and validate the industrialisation of automated composite joint manufacturing, enabling up to 200% higher production throughput, 30–50% optimised steel use, up to 40% cost reduction and up to 35% lower CO₂ emissions, while significantly improving safety by eliminating a large share of hazardous welding activities.
This unlocks true scale-up to full wind park volumes, ensures deep-water foundation fabrication remains competitive in Europe, keeps the steel industry actively engaged and strengthens European energy independence.
This step forward is made possible together with our partners: TU Delft | Civil Engineering and Geosciences + SAM XL, PINETTE PEI, Fraunhofer ITWM, INEGI driving science & innovation, ECCS – European Convention for Constructional Steelwork, Loop Technology Ltd, OCAS NV, CHOMARAT Group, ArcelorMittal Energy Projects and associate partner TenneT
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the granting authority. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
