Nine European countries have established new ambitious targets for offshore wind development, setting up a massive build-out in the coming years.
As a result of the second North Sea Summit, nine European countries have pledged to new ambitious targets for the development of offshore wind in the region, aiming for 120 GW in 2030 and 300 GW by 2050. The new target hikes follow the first summit, hosted in Esbjerg last May, where Denmark, Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands set targets at 65 GW in 2030 and 120 GW in 2050. The nearly doubling of both targets set the stage for a potential massive build out of the grid infrastructure, connection hubs and wind farms in the North Sea in the coming years. Currently, the nine countries have combined 30 GW installed, leaving 90 GW to be installed in the next 7 years to reach the goal. Among the capacities that will contribute to the 2030 North Sea target, we find:
- Belgium: 6 GW
- Denmark: At least 5.3 GW
- France: At least 2.1 GW
- Germany: At least 26.4 GW
- Ireland: At least 4.5 GW
- Norway: 3 GW
- The Netherlands: About 21 GW
- UK: 50 GW
