Green Forum • 18 December, 2024 at 7:19 AM
EU countries have updated their goals for the deployment of offshore renewable energy up to 2050 in each of the EU's 5 sea basins, with intermediate objectives to be achieved by 2030 and 2040.
At an online meeting of the Directors-General of the Ministries of Energy in the respective countries today, non-binding agreements were reached on the updated level of ambition. The combined figures result in an overall ambition of installing approximately 88 GW of offshore renewable generation capacity by the end of this decade, rising to around 360 GW by mid-century. This compares to a level of more than 20 GW installed in the EU today.
This confirms that Member States continue to attach high importance to offshore renewables for EU energy security and the clean energy transition, providing the stability the sector needs for its further development up to 2050.
Building on strong regional cooperation instruments and tools established by the revised Regulation on trans-European energy networks (TEN-E Regulation), today's agreements not only confirm the continued importance Member States attach to offshore renewables and send a strong signal to encourage the necessary investment, but, by going beyond national approaches, they are also taking a trans-European approach. This framework will allow for a cost-effective expansion of the grids needed to incorporate the expected offshore renewable generation, tackling internal bottlenecks where they occur and incurring the least environmental impact.
With these milestones agreed, the European Network of Transmission System Operators for electricity (ENTSO-E) will now update the strategic integrated offshore network development plans (ONDPs), giving visibility to grid promoters, investors and the supply chain on what offshore grids to expect for each sea basin by 2050.