Denmark and Germany to collaborate on offshore wind and energy islands

They describe their plan to cooperate as “an important step to fulfil the ambition enshrined in the EU Offshore Renewables Strategy to quintuple capacity to 60 GW in 2030 and 300 GW in 2050.”

They also noted that ‘energy hubs’ or ’energy islands’ can increase the supply of green power, green hydrogen and promote power-to-X technology such as the production of green hydrogen from renewable electricity.

Federal Minister of Economic Affairs and Energy Peter Altmaier said, “Joint offshore wind projects will make an important contribution on the route towards a climate-neutral Europe and are a priority of the German EU Council Presidency.

“We must identify and promote concrete projects together with our neighbours. For me, it is important to have framework conditions that ensure that both countries benefit from cooperation. Joint offshore wind projects can also facilitate synergies for the development of green hydrogen.”

Danish Minister for Climate, Energy and Utilities Dan Jørgensen said, “Last week, Denmark took the decision to phase out oil and gas production by 2050. Today, Denmark and Germany are taking another leap forward by strengthening cooperation to jointly develop and connect offshore wind energy hubs.

“This will not only increase renewable power production considerably in both countries. It is also a prerequisite for power-to-X technology to produce sustainable fuels for shipping and aviation. To that end, Denmark is working to establish two offshore hubs with a capacity of five GW by 2030.”

The agreement between the two countries is the start point for further cooperation to explore the design of possible joint projects. In this context, a possible cooperation on the energy hubs in the North and Baltic Seas will be discussed.

Denmark already plans to build two energy hubs by 2030, with a combined minimum capacity of 5 GW. In the long-term, Denmark plans to establish energy hubs with a total capacity of 12 GW of offshore wind energy in the North Sea and Baltic Sea. It also plan to explore the use of electricity from the windfarms in the hubs to produce green hydrogen.

The two countries have been cooperating on offshore wind development for some time. In the North Sea Energy Cooperation and Cooperation in the Baltic Sea, they are working together with other North Sea and Baltic Sea countries and the European Commission to promote offshore wind development.

They regard the bilateral agreement as an important step towards exploring joint projects. building on experience from the Kriegers Flak project in the Baltic, which was the first of its kind.

Ministers Jørgensen and Altmaier argue that, in the long term, additional bilateral and multilateral cooperation projects are needed to achieve a climate-neutral Europe.