The European Commissioner for Energy, Kadri Simson, welcomed, on Tuesday 23 January, the launch of the very first Offshore Network Development Plans by the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity (ENTSO-E), with the aim of developing the potential of offshore renewable energies in all European sea basins, while acknowledging the need to speed up the pace.
For Kadri Simson, these plans show “the true potential and benefits of coordination and cross-border projects” and “provide a wealth of information and data”.
She recalled that the objective was to reach an installed offshore production capacity of 120 GW by the end of the decade and 317 GW by the middle of the century.
She once again highlighted production in the North Sea, “which is poised to become Europe’s Green Power Plant”, with currently 14 GW of the 16 GW of offshore wind power produced in the EU.
However, the Commissioner pointed out that, according to the ENTSO-E plans, “to achieve the targets set, the expansion of offshore renewable energy sources must be nine times faster than it has been over the last ten years”.
To meet this challenge, Ms Simson reiterated her commitment to putting the issue of networks at the top of the political agenda for the coming months, “because we will not exploit all the potential if we do not deploy offshore grids and reinforce onshore ones”.
She referred to the ‘Action Plan for Grids’ presented by the Commission last November (see EUROPE 13302/8) and the ‘Wind Power Package’ adopted in October (see EUROPE 13278/5).
“This sends a clear signal of how committed this Commission is to ensure the wind sector, including offshore, grows and helps us deliver the energy transition”, she concluded.
To see the ENTSO-E plans: https://aeur.eu/f/aji (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)