North Sea Wind Push Sees Industry Vow to Spend €9.5 Billion
The offshore wind industry has pledged to invest €9.5 billion ($11.3 billion) in its supply chain by 2030 to help expand capacity in the North Sea as European countries work to turn one of the most famous oil basins into what German Chancellor Friedrich Merz called “the world’s largest clean energy reservoir.”
Leaders and energy ministers from nine nations including the UK and Norway came to Hamburg on Monday to sign a declaration on accelerating the technology. The sector, in turn, will also mobilize €1 trillion of capital in Europe, create 91,000 jobs and reduce power production costs by 30% by 2040, according to industry group WindEurope.
“We have already built a large number of offshore facilities, and this should continue apace,” said Merz, whose country hosted the meeting, adding that “safety in the North Sea has become particularly relevant in recent weeks.”
The commitment underscores Europe’s continued support for the technology, despite recent criticism by US President Donald Trump, who has labeled Europeans that install windmills as “losers.” This week’s North Sea conference is a “nice answer” to Trump’s statements at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Germany’s economy minister, Katherina Reiche, told reporters.
The nations aim to jointly develop 100 gigawatts of offshore wind capacity by 2050 — the bloc’s climate-neutrality target — while strengthening protections for energy infrastructure, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday [Jan. 22]. That effort includes wind farms linked to multiple countries.
Grid operator Tennet Germany and the UK’s National Grid Plc also agreed to build an interconnector with 3.8 gigawatts of capacity that will connect offshore wind parks to both countries’ coasts. It should become operational at the end of the 2030s, pending a final investment decision.
“Today’s investment pact provides reliable perspectives for the offshore sector, secures creation of value in Europe and brings future-proof jobs,” Reiche said. Ed Miliband, the UK’s energy secretary, said clean energy could get the nation “off the fossil fuel rollercoaster and give us energy sovereignty and abundance.”
The governments also pledged to bolster the clean power push with their own initiatives. While the UK has stepped up support for the technology — resulting in a record wind auction earlier this month — Germany’s most recent zero-subsidy tender attracted no bidders, and upcoming rounds also risk failure.
“In this respect, we will adjust the tender design and areas so that we can offer a good investment framework,” said Reiche, adding that the changes will be paired with so-called contracts for difference, which provide a minimum subsidy and an upper cap.
The North Sea summit follows two similar gatherings since 2022, at which coastal states set out plans to install 300 gigawatts of capacity — up from about 35 gigawatts currently — in response to the energy crisis triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the European Commission are also taking part, with Iceland joining despite not being a North Sea nation.
On the sidelines of the meeting, Berlin and Copenhagen also agreed to invest in an offshore wind development on the Danish island of Bornholm, which will supply power to about 3 million households.
Oil and gas extraction in the North Sea accounts for more than 9% of historical global greenhouse gas emissions, said climate nonprofit 350.org, citing calculations by Oil Change International. “Transforming the North Sea into a renewable energy hub would not erase that damage, but it could begin to correct it,” said Clémence Dubois, the group’s campaign manager.
Closer cooperation between countries might also help protect conservation areas, according to Felix Schmidt, policy adviser for WWF Germany.
“At the moment, biodiversity doesn’t have the priority in marine-protected areas in the North Sea, given the numerous economic uses that continue to take place within these areas,” he said.
Photograph: Offshore wind turbines. Photo credit: Krisztian Bocsi/Bloomberg
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