LOCATION/TYPE

NEWS HOME

[ exact phrase in "" • results by date ]

[ Google-powered • results by relevance ]


Archive
RSS

Add NWW headlines to your site (click here)

Get weekly updates

WHAT TO DO
when your community is targeted

RSS

RSS feeds and more

Keep Wind Watch online and independent!

Donate via Paypal

Donate via Stripe

Selected Documents

All Documents

Research Links

Alerts

Press Releases

FAQs

Campaign Material

Photos & Graphics

Videos

Allied Groups

Wind Watch is a registered educational charity, founded in 2005.

News Watch Home

European Union plans mammoth expansion of offshore wind farms 

Credit:  Kate Abnett | Reuters | Nov 19, 2020 | financialpost.com ~~

BRUSSELS – The European Union unveiled plans on Thursday to transform its electricity system to rely mostly on renewables within a decade and increase its offshore wind energy capacity 25-fold by 2050.

Renewable sources like wind and solar provide roughly a third of EU electricity today, but the EU says that share will need to expand to about two-thirds by 2030 to put the bloc on track for its plan to become climate neutral by 2050.

The European Commission said in its offshore renewable energy plan that the EU’s climate change targets required 60 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind by 2030 and 300GW by 2050, confirming draft plans reported by Reuters.

That is a five-fold increase by 2030 and a 25-fold increase by 2050 from the bloc’s current offshore wind capacity of 12 GW.

Projects would be pushed out by individual countries in the 27-nation bloc. The EU document said all seas bordering EU nations – the North Sea, Baltic Sea, Black Sea, Mediterranean and Atlantic – had potential for wind generation.

The North Sea has led the way, with Germany, the Netherlands and Denmark, among the EU’s main offshore producers.

The biggest offshore wind producer in Europe is Britain, which has left the EU. Its installed wind capacity of about 10 GW and its expansion plans were not included in the strategy.

The Commission outlined plans for 40 GW of EU wave and tidal energy by 2050, lower than a draft plan to build 60GW but still a leap from the 13 megawatt (MW) operating today.

“Our aims are ambitious, but with our vast sea basins and our global industrial leadership, the EU has all that it needs to meet the challenge,” EU climate policy chief Frans Timmermans said.

Expanding offshore renewable energy will require investment worth nearly 800 billion euros ($946 billion) by 2050, mostly from private capital, to build mammoth new wind farms at sea and scale up nascent technology like floating turbines.

The EU said it would propose rules to better coordinate countries’ power grids at sea and enable offshore bidding zones for wind farms that supply power to multiple countries.

The Commission said targets could be met by using less than 3% of EU maritime space, although campaigners say expanding offshore energy should not harm marine habitats.

“We need clean energy just as much as we need healthy seas,” Sergiy Moroz, European Environmental Bureau senior policy officer said.

($1 = 0.8459 euros)

(Reporting by Kate Abnett; Editing by Marine Strauss and Edmund Blair)

Source:  Kate Abnett | Reuters | Nov 19, 2020 | financialpost.com

This article is the work of the source indicated. Any opinions expressed in it are not necessarily those of National Wind Watch.

The copyright of this article resides with the author or publisher indicated. As part of its noncommercial educational effort to present the environmental, social, scientific, and economic issues of large-scale wind power development to a global audience seeking such information, National Wind Watch endeavors to observe “fair use” as provided for in section 107 of U.S. Copyright Law and similar “fair dealing” provisions of the copyright laws of other nations. Send requests to excerpt, general inquiries, and comments via e-mail.

Wind Watch relies entirely
on User Funding
   Donate via Paypal
(via Paypal)
Donate via Stripe
(via Stripe)

Share:

e-mail X FB LI TG TG Share


News Watch Home

Get the Facts
CONTACT DONATE PRIVACY ABOUT SEARCH
© National Wind Watch, Inc.
Use of copyrighted material adheres to Fair Use.
"Wind Watch" is a registered trademark.

 Follow:

Wind Watch on X Wind Watch on Facebook

Wind Watch on Linked In Wind Watch on Mastodon