Proposal would create 62,000 jobs and achieve carbon neutrality, says commission
Last modified on Thursday, November 19, 2020 12. 19 GMT
The capacity of EU offshore wind farms in the North Sea, Baltic, Atlantic, Mediterranean and Black Sea will increase twenty-five as a component of a preliminary plan drawn up through the European Commission.
The move follows Boris Johnson’s announcement this year that he intends to produce enough electricity to force each and every home in the UK within a decade of the country’s offshore sites.
Both the UK and the EU must move towards the purpose of carbon neutrality until 2050 and pioneer potentially rival inventions that will put their industry at the forefront of the developing sector.
The total capacity for power generation in european seas is 23 gigawatts (GW), with 12 GW out of a total of 5,047 turbines connected to the grid in 12 countries, the United Kingdom.
As a component of a European Commission strategy, the 27 EU Member States would only succeed with a capacity of 60 GW by 2030 and 300 GW by 2050, with Germany in a position to increase components of their investment in the sector.
According to the leaked paper, the commission “estimates that an installed capacity of three hundred GW of offshore wind energy [and about 60 GW of ocean energy] would be needed until 2050 in the greenest, greenest and most climate-neutral built-in energy formula of 2050. “”
The commission writes: “This is feasible for a sector in which Europe has acquired unprecedented technological, clinical and commercial delight and where there is already strong capacity in the supply chain, from production to shipment to installation. However It is a very complicated horizon. This means that the capacity of renewable energy offshore is expected to increase 25 times until 2050. The investment required is estimated at 789 billion euros. “
The UK, which left the EU in January, has the largest offshore wind power in Europe, with 45% of all facilities, Germany arrives at the moment with 34%, followed by Denmark (8%), Belgium (7%) Netherlands (5%). ).
The UK, which is home to the world’s largest wind farms in Walney and Hornsea 1 in the North Sea, is lately investing more in offshore wind energy than any other country. Walney Wind Farm generates electricity for more than 600,000 homes in Cumbria, while Hornsea 1 supports the power of more than one million homes across the UK.
During the summer, the German government said it would also increase its existing capacity from 7. 5 GW to 20 GW by 2030, with a target of 40 GW by 2040.
But the European Commission has called for a more ‘resolved’ technique across the block. According to a leak of the strategy received through the Euractiv news story, the “very ambitious” target of new wind farms would arrive at an expected value of 789 billion euros. , creating 62,000 jobs in the offshore wind industry.
To make full use of technology, the Committee needs EU Member States to work with nationals to develop the capacity of so-called hybrid sites, of which there is only one example in Europe as it is.
Kriegers Flak site, a marine wind farm between Germany and Denmark, is also forced to operate under a transitional agreement due to the lack of enabling EU legislation.
The commission’s strategy, to be released on Thursday, will require investments in traditional fixed-bottom turbines and new floating infrastructure that may be in deeper water.
There are considerations that European countries are not investing enough in offshore sites. The strategy paper notes that “almost some of the world’s investments in offshore wind energy in 2018 have been positioned in China. “
“Offshore wind energy is reasonable, but it requires a lot of investment in advance,” said Ivon Pineda, WindEurope’s director of public affairs, the framework representing the offshore sector. Minimizing monetary costs is very vital. And the most productive way to do this is To make sure wind farms have solid incomes, it is very important that the strategy recognizes it, either for traditional wind farms or for hybrid parks that join more than one country.
“We want to reconsider the deployment of offshore wind energy in Europe. Connecting wind farms to more than one country is a logical progression and a step to optimize offshore space, reduce network prices and take electricity where it’s needed. “disadvantaged hybrids compared to normal interconnection and offshore wind projects».
The name and text of this article were amended on 19 November 2020 and the plan is to increase the capacity of EU offshore wind farms by 25, up to 250%, as indicated in an earlier version.