Offshore wind takes pride of place in European energy ambitions
Thursday 13 November 2008
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| The EU Commission wants to see 150GW of offshore wind capacity around Europe by 2030 |
The European Commission has placed offshore wind power at the heart of its plans for the next wave of EU energy legislation.
Within a package of reports on various energy
issues within its Second Strategic Energy Review, the Commission's report on offshore wind energy predicted today that "Land-based wind energy will remain dominant in the immediate future, but installations at sea will become increasingly important."
It stressed that offshore wind can make a "significant" contribution to all three key objectives of the new energy policy - reducing climate change emissions, improving energy security and industry competitiveness.
The Commission said: "Today, the potential for offshore wind energy is largely untapped: even excluding potential deepwater deployments based on floating foundations, the potential exploitable by 2020 is likely to be some 30-40 times the current installed capacity."
The report on offshore wind highlights the various legislative and supply chain barriers to offshore wind at the moment, it proposed improvements to help drive more offshore wind in Europe.
This includes schemes to encourage international co-operation - starting in the North Sea - as well as new measures to help developers of large offshore wind farms avoid impacts on biodiversity and to push transmission organisations and energy regulators to enable offshore grid developments.
The Commission said by 2030, some 150GW of offshore wind capacity could be installed in Europe, generating 575 TWh of electricity each year. Even using giant 5MW turbines, that would mean 30,000 wind turbines being installed out to sea in EU waters.
Industry
Reacting to the Commission's plans today, the European wind industry welcomed the "key role" given to offshore wind energy, particularly the blueprint for a North Sea offshore grid.
With its decision to develop a blueprint for a North Sea offshore grid, the European Commission is addressing the key barrier to unlocking its massive potential.
The European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) said 1,486 MW of capacity was currently installed offshore in Europe, with 30,882 MW more capacity planned by 2015
It said investor interest was "high", but added that the sector needs a European legislative framework, including a dedicated offshore grid "to reach its full potential".
"The European Commission has identified Europe's largest untapped energy resources and understands offshore wind power's importance as a clean, inexhaustible and above all indigenous source in a carbon and energy constrained future", said Christian Kjaer, EWEA chief executive.
"With its decision to develop a blueprint for a North Sea offshore grid, the European Commission is addressing the key barrier to unlocking its massive potential."
Nine countries in Europe now boast operational wind farms - six more than this time last year - but the EWEA said offshore electricity infrastructure needed to be "vastly improved", while the overall EU electricity grids had to be updated and reinforced.
The trade body pointed out that the Commission has stated one of its aims is to "ensure the development of the grid to permit the achievement of the EU's renewable energy objectives".
Mr Kjaer said: "An offshore grid and increased interconnector capacity will allow large amounts of offshore wind energy to be integrated into the electricity network, while improving the functioning of the internal electricity market.
"This will reduce consumer electricity prices, avoid fuel and carbon costs, create jobs and help curb Europe's increasing dependence on expensive and environmentally harmful fuel imports from unstable and unpredictable regions of the world," the EWEA chief executive added.
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