North Sea Energy Cooperation Countries Eye 260-GW Offshore Wind by 2050

In major development that is expected to take Europe towards carbon free energy generation, the member countries of the North Sea Energy Cooperation (NSEC) group have announced that they would now target to add at least 260 GW of offshore wind energy by 2050.

NSEC published the new targets after a meeting that was hosted by Eamon Ryan, the Irish Energy Minister, in Dublin. The agreement between the countries is a non-binding one.

In the group, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands and Norway have held that 76 GW of the offshore wind energy will be brought online by the end of this decade and 193 GW by 2040.

The target of 260 GW constitutes more than 85 per cent of the European Union target that wants to produce at least 300GW of offshore wind capacity by 2050. The NSEC group countries have termed the new target as a ‘historic opportunity’ to accelerate deployment of offshore wind.

The official statement by the NSEC countries held, “The urgency of action has been reinforced by Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine and the consequential energy prices and security of supply crises.”

It further added, “Developing our common offshore renewable resources will reduce regional reliance on imported fossil fuels through strengthened energy regional self-sufficiency, as well as necessarily speeding up the transition towards a green and resilient energy system.”

The Ministers and the Commissioner held that NSEC, in the wake of the revised framework for TEN-E Regulation, shall facilitate the development of the North Seas Offshore Grids (NSOG) that will be deployed for the sea basin.

NSEC would also want the member countries to cooperate for the development of priority offshore corridors and also the development of hybrid projects.

The NSEC members also called for an accelerated permitting system and granting procedures that is inalienable for timely development of offshore wind energy and related projects to help check the climate challenges.

“It is impressive that the target agreed by nine NSEC countries constitutes more than 85% of the EU-wide ambition we outlined two years ago,” said Kadri Simson, Commissioner for Energy.