EU Commissioner for climate action Miguel Arias Cañete has called for unparalleled investment in offshore wind, on a scale with investment in offshore oil and gas projects
EU Commissioner for climate action Miguel Arias Cañete has called for unparalleled investment in offshore wind, on a scale with investment in offshore oil and gas projects.
In an address to the North Sea Countries Ministerial meeting in Esbjerg last week, the Commissioner said he expected investment in offshore wind to reach €310Bn (US$353Bn) by 2030 and €1.3Tn (US$1.5Tn) by 2050.
He said he would like to see much of that investment going into offshore windfarms in coastal states in Europe, in the North Sea, Baltic and other areas.
“We must encourage wind developers to come forward with large-scale projects that are at least as significant in size, ambition and financial value as the investments in oil and gas they are designed to replace,” he said.
The Commissioner said offshore wind and interconnections had “great potential” to lead the way in the energy transition. “Regional co-operation is a great European tool to reach our objectives in Europe and inspire other parts of the world,” he said.
“We must be more ambitious and more systematic,” said the Commissioner. “Europe must bring forward continual rounds of investment and co-operate across borders. We need to think of energy systems as a whole,” he said, highlighting the importance of energy storage and power-to-gas technology.
“The right framework is now in place. The ball is now in the investors’ court,” he concluded, noting that offshore wind capacity in Europe increased by 18% in Europe in 2018, with 15 new offshore windfarms coming online.
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