News item | 20-11-2023 | 13:30
Today in The Hague, the North Sea countries are taking a big step forward to promote plans for offshore wind energy. A joint Action Agenda works towards an integrated energy system in 2050, a sustainable and strong supply chain in Europe and a better balance between energy and nature in the North Sea. Earlier this year, the North Sea countries and the European Commission expressed joint ambitions for wind energy in the North Sea. The North Sea will become the largest source of sustainable energy in Europe. International cooperation is essential for these shared ambitions, which is why the North Sea countries are meeting for the second time this year.
Participants in this annual ministerial meeting are: Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the European Commission. The United Kingdom was present as a guest. In the past year, the Netherlands, together with the European Commission, chaired the North Seas Energy Cooperation (NSEC).
Actions
As co-chair, the Netherlands was keen to translate national ambitions into European actions. The agreements laid down in the Action Agenda will achieve this European Wind Power Package (recently presented by the European Commission) to the next phase. During the conference in The Hague, Minister Jetten presented the Action Agenda to the new NSEC chairman Denmark.
As part of this ambition, the NSEC countries are launching a joint tender planning. The tender planning translates the broad ambitions of the NSEC countries into concrete progress, with approximately 15 GW in auctions every year and almost 100 GW in awards by 2030. This will increase predictability in the wind energy sector and ensure better cooperation. For example, it facilitates better cooperation and coordination in the areas of cables, pipelines, port infrastructure and access to raw materials. This helps the European wind energy sector with their medium- and long-term (financial) planning. The countries will also better coordinate infrastructure planning at sea. It will be in January 2024 European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity (ENTSO-E) publish a joint plan for infrastructure in the North Sea, with input from NSEC countries. This is an important step towards a European integrated energy system in 2050. This plan takes into account the need for a fair balance with other sectors and users in the North Sea, such as the fishing and transport industries.
European Commissioner for Energy Kadri Simon: “Europe’s energy mix is becoming cleaner and greener, and offshore renewables will be an indispensable part of the future energy mix. The North Sea is at the forefront of their deployment and has the potential to become Europe’s ‘Green Energy Powerhouse’. Our discussions today showed the joint determination and commitment to continue the work to realize our offshore ambitions and continue the work to strengthen the competitive position of this vital sector. I would like to thank the Netherlands for organizing this year’s meeting in Den Haag and for the impressive work done under the NSEC co-chairmanship.”
Minister for Climate and Energy Rob Jetten: “In recent years, North Sea countries have shared ambitious plans for the sustainable development of offshore wind energy. Now it is time to translate these ambitions into action. We all share the responsibility to develop the energy plans for the North Sea in a responsible manner, in coordination with other North Sea users and while minimizing ecological impact. Close cooperation is the only way to successfully achieve our energy ambitions. Today we start the joint actions to take the sector to the next phase.”
Challenges
The development of offshore wind energy must take place in balance with other North Sea users and must minimize negative ecological impact. In addition, the sector faces challenges such as high inflation and rising raw material prices, limited labor availability and complex licensing. A healthy wind sector and an energy-independent Europe require mutual cooperation between the Member States and the industry.
This is also reflected in a new study carried out by Royal HaskoningDHV (on behalf of NSEC), which highlights the crucial role of ports in the development, maintenance and system integration of offshore wind energy. The study indicates that without additional joint action, the current and planned capacity of ports around the North Sea is insufficient to achieve the 2030 targets. It shows the bottlenecks for port development and makes several concrete recommendations. One of these recommendations is working on a joint European tender planning, as provided for under the European Wind Energy Action Plan.