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North Sea Energy Forum Meeting in Brussels

In June 2016, the ten energy ministers of the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Ireland, France, Luxembourg, Belgium and the United Kingdom signed a political declaration emphasising their commitment to developing offshore renewable energy and the necessary infrastructure in the Northern Seas region. The main objectives are the cost-efficient development of offshore wind energy and the acceleration of the interconnection of the states bordering the North Seas. The initiative's first stakeholder event took place on 23 March 2017 in Brussels. The “North Seas Energy Forum”, organised by the European Commission, hosted over 200 representatives from public, private and non-governmental sectors throughout Europe.

In his introduction to the event, the Director-General of the Directorate-General for Energy in the European Commission, Dominique Ristori, highlighted the importance of regional cooperation in the Northern Seas region and the development of cross-border grid connections.

The subsequent presentation by Michiel Müller from Ecofys underlined the importance of offshore wind energy for the goal of total decarbonisation by 2050. According to an Ecofys study, offshore wind energy will be able to deliver 90% of the energy demand of countries bordering the North Seas with 250 GW installed capacity by 2050. This would require an annual installation of 7 GW in Europe.

In the afternoon, the initiative's individual work programmes were presented in parallel break-out sessions. In the sessions Maritime spatial planning (Support Group 1 – SG1), Development and regulation of offshore grids and other offshore infrastructure (Support Group 2 – SG2), Support framework and finance for offshore wind projects (Support Group 3 – SG3) and Standards, technical rules and regulations in the offshore wind sector (Support Group 4 – SG4), stakeholders took the opportunity to discuss details with experts from industry, policy, academia and associations, who enriched the individual sessions with their professional views on the different subjects.

After an introduction to the SG2 session by Sue Harrison (UK Department for Energy and Climate Change) and Nicole Versijp (European Commission), the PROMOTioN project was presented by Cornelis Plet (DNV GL) and Dr. Praduymna Bhagwat (Florence School of Regulation). Alongside a general overview of the PROMOTioN project and the challenges involved in the development of a meshed offshore grid (MOG), barriers within the economic framework and the cost-benefit analysis for an MOG were introduced in detail. In addition to the project presentations, a representative of a WindEurope task force, Andreas Wagner (Stiftung OFFSHORE-WINDENERGIE), highlighted the position of the wind industry with regard to the complex challenges for the development of joint offshore grids.

At the conference, TenneT and Energinet.dk also signed an agreement for the development of a large renewable European electricity system in the North Sea. This ‘North Sea Wind Power Hub’ has the potential to supply 70 to 100 million Europeans with renewable energy by 2050.

European Commission Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič said of the project, "The North Sea Wind Power Hub shows what human ingenuity can achieve when we work across Europe's borders. This Wind Power Hub will reduce the costs of offshore wind energy and boost growth and jobs in this sector. It provides strong tail winds to our fight against climate change and to Europe's global leadership in renewable energies."

Speaker presentations and videos are available here.

Download presentation Michiel Müller (Ecofys) [PDF 1MB]

Download Ecofys Study

European Commission Press Release

Learn more about the North Sea Energy Cooperation here.

 

IABR: 2050 - An Energetic Odyssey

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