2023-04-24 16:49:08
Nine European countries want to massively expand their wind turbines in the North Sea: That was the aim of a summit meeting in the Belgian port city of Ostend on Monday. Germany’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz praised the fact that the nine countries are now tackling the expansion of wind energy and green hydrogen “in a large European network”. “The greenest power plant in the world is being built in the North Sea,” said Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo.
Germany, Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, Great Britain, Ireland, France, Norway and Luxembourg took part in the summit. In the “Ostend Declaration” they wanted to agree to increase their joint offshore capacity to “120 gigawatts by 2030 and at least 300 gigawatts by 2050,” as the nine heads of state and government wrote in a guest article on the “Politico” platform. That is more than twice as much as previously planned.
“In a very short time, the North Sea – much more than we already know today – will be the most important place for energy production,” emphasized Scholz in Ostend. It was “more than a sign” that so many government officials had come together.
At the first North Sea summit in Esbjerg, Denmark, Germany, Belgium, Denmark and the Netherlands agreed almost a year ago to quadruple their combined offshore capacity by 2030 – to at least 65 gigawatts – and even increase it tenfold by 2050. to then 150 gigawatts.
So far, Germany has around eight gigawatts of offshore capacity. The Federal Republic is thus in second place in Europe behind Great Britain with 14 gigawatts. At the bottom of the group is the nuclear nation France with just 0.5 gigawatts.
EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen also walked the blue carpet in Ostend instead of the usual red carpet. She wrote on Twitter that the ambitious offshore plans “put the wind in our sails as we steer towards carbon neutrality.” The EU wants to become carbon neutral by 2050, as does the UK.
Von der Leyen’s authority had recently put the necessary funds for the 300 gigawatt target at 800 billion euros. The industry association WindEurope is pushing for billions in financial aid from the public sector. “Quite a few funds flow into innovation, but investments must also be made in existing production structures in order to double or triple capacity,” said policy officer Pierre Tardieu of the AFP news agency. More than 120 companies and other partners are taking part in the summit.
“I’m the only one without a sea, so I’ll bring the wherewithal with me,” joked Luxembourg Prime Minister Xavier Bettel. He supports “any project that is an alternative to nuclear power,” he said in a dig at French President Emmanuel Macron. Even in Ostend, he was caught up in protests against his pension policy: “We’re here,” chanted around 50 Frenchmen who were hitting the pot.
Belgian Prime Minister De Croo also mentioned security as an important summit issue. “Offshore wind farms, pipelines and undersea cables are subject to espionage and sabotage,” he said, referring to the explosions on the two Nord Stream pipelines in the Baltic Sea last year. Closer cooperation with NATO is planned for this.
The nine countries sent “a strong signal to (President Vladimir) Putin’s Russia that its days of dominating the world’s energy markets are finally numbered,” said UK Secretary of State for Energy Security Grant Shapps, representing Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in Ostend.
At the start, the summit participants took a look at the bright red deep-sea supply ship “Connector”, which is anchored in the port of Ostend.
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