'An Enormous Market'

The Nordseewerke's new business manager, Frank Wübben, 38, also appears confident. Wübben left competitor Enercon to join SIAG this July and he knows the wind turbine business. Adding together all the plans in all the countries that border the North and Baltic Seas, he says, there's construction in the works for more than 20,000 wind turbines on those two seas by 2015. So far, only 3,700 of the projects have been approved. "It's an enormous market," Wübben says, and one with few competitors. Germany has just 10 other companies manufacturing wind turbine towers and bases.

The new Nordseewerke have already signed a first basic contract to produce 180 towers by 2014, Wübben says, and the company will be able to construct 50 to 100 towers per year. If demand increases, he adds, it would be possible to increase that number to 300.

In other words, production capacity for the large number of planned offshore wind turbine sites has not been met, not by far. Not every shipyard can suddenly convert to manufacturing wind turbines, of course, but Wübben believes there's room in the business for a few more.