A coalition of countries looking to increase offshore wind farm capacity in the North Sea has expanded to nine. They are meeting on Monday in the Belgian coastal city of Ostend to discuss their plans to create a major green power plant.
In May last year, Belgium — which is a pioneer in the construction of offshore wind turbines — Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands signed the 'Esbjerg Declaration' to create the North Sea's largest sustainable energy plant. The agreement hopes to tackle Europe's continued dependence on Russia for fossil fuel imports by producing energy more locally.
The coalition has vowed to increase the total capacity of the four countries' offshore wind farms to 65 gigawatts (GW) by 2030, and to go to 150 GW by 2050 – the equivalent of 150 million households.
The cooperative initiative will once again be meeting on Monday, and this time will be joined by representatives from five new members: France, the UK, Ireland, Norway and Luxembourg ("virtual North Sea country," according to Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo).
Faster wind farm construction
Together, the nine countries are aiming to raise the stakes, and are now stating that they will sharply increase the capacity to 134 GW by 2030 and more than 300 GW by 2050. "Renewable energy is the solution to both the energy and climate crisis," said Energy Minister Tinne Van der Straeten.
During the summit, countries will highlight their national and collective targets for offshore renewables and discuss the industrial needs to achieve these targets, including the standardisation of wind farms, to ensure they can be built faster.
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The countries will also discuss agreements on tenders, interconnection and safety, especially in light of the recent sabotage of the Nord Stream pipeline but also because of the many data cables, power cables and pipelines in the North Sea.
In addition to the heads of government and energy ministers of the nine countries taking part in the summit, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and many business leaders are also expected to attend the summit in Ostend.
