Netherlands Cabinets Target 70 GW Offshore Wind by 2050

The Netherlands government has set an offshore wind power target of 70 GW that it says needs to be achieved by 2050. The new target is to further sustainability and green hydrogen manufacturing to combat the climate change challenges.

The government assumes that by 2040, it will be able to generate about 50 GW of wind based energy. The Dutch Cabinet is already working to add more than 21 GW by the end of this decade. This will be about 75 per cent of present electricity consumption in the Netherlands.

The west European country wants to develop large-scale hydrogen manufacturing facility in the North Sea to ensure that most of its industry makes a shift from gas to green hydrogen.

The Netherlands wants to make most from the offshore wind farms in the North Sea that lie too remote from its coasts. All remote wind installations couldn’t be connected with the power grid. Hence, the plan is to connect them to the power nodes for the production of green hydrogen in the sea itself. This implies that some of the clean electricity would be connected with the power grid on shore and some will be employed for green hydrogen making.

This will lead to less deployment of power cables saving costs and shoreline spaces. Rob Jetten, Climate and Energy Minister of the Netherlands, stated, “Earlier this year, we made firm plans for 2030. Now we are also setting an ambitious plan up to 2050. This gives us the space to look ahead and work carefully.”

Jetten said, “70 gigawatts of power from offshore wind turbines is very ambitious and in the next few years we will see exactly how many gigawatts are needed. This gives us the opportunity to sustainably electrify a large part of the Netherlands and generate green hydrogen for industry, for example.”

“We work carefully in this regard, with a keen eye for nature above and below the water and other interests in the North Sea, such as food production, shipping, defense and coastal defence,” he added.

A week ago, the member countries of the North Sea Energy Cooperation (NSEC) group announced that they would now target to add at least 260 GW of offshore wind energy by 2050. Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Norway and the Netherlands have pledged to bring 76 GW of the offshore wind energy online by 2030 and 193 GW by 2040.