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North Sea Summit achieves major successes for Europe’s energy supply

The North Sea becomes the powerhouse of an energy independent Europe. Up to 100 gigawatts of offshore wind generation capacity are to be interconnected across borders by 2050. The German-Danish agreement on Bornholm Energy Island is regarded as a milestone for European energy cooperation.

The North Sea is 1,120 kilometres long (from north to south) and 1,001 kilometres wide (from west to east). It is bordered by the coasts of the United Kingdom, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and France. In the coming years, wind power will be further expanded to make the North Sea the green powerhouse for an energy-independent Europe with a secure energy supply. This was agreed by the heads of state and government and the energy ministers of nine European countries at the 3rd North Sea Summit in Hamburg at the end of January.

They came together at the invitation of the German Federal Government to discuss how to expand wind energy in the North Sea and strengthen offshore sector as a whole. A special focus was placed on strengthening regional coordination and financing the expansion of offshore wind farms and the related electricity grids. In addition to Belgium, Denmark, France, Ireland, Iceland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway and the United Kingdom, the European Commission, NATO and more than 140 representatives of businesses, associations and non-governmental organisations also accepted the invitation to the Hanseatic City of Hamburg.

The North Sea is an ideal location to expand offshore wind energy: it is not very deep, characterised by strong and consistent winds, and offers a lot of space and good conditions for the connection of the neighbouring countries to the grid. The increased construction of “cooperation projects” (offshore wind farms connected to more than one country or with a radial connection to another country) can make more efficient use of existing sites, reduce costs and improve the resilience of the energy system. The aim is to interconnect more than 100 gigawatts (GW) of cross-border electricity generation across borders in the coming years. In a joint investment pact between the North Sea countries, the offshore wind industry and the transmission system operators, all stakeholders have agreed on measures to realise this shared vision of the North Sea region as the world’s largest hub for clean energy.

© Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy

Among other measures, the North Sea countries aim to establish a stable pipeline of offshore wind auctions reaching 15 gigawatts annually beyond 2030, thus providing the wind energy and grid industries with planning and investment security. Based on this, the industry has committed to reducing electricity production costs (the average total costs per kWh of electricity generated throughout the entire lifetime of an installation) by 30% by 2040, investing around €9.5 billion in new production capacities in Europe by 2030, and creating 91,000 additional jobs. The decisions adopted for this purpose have been included in several declarations and intergovernmental agreements. The individual declarations can be found here.

At the summit, Germany also presented a cooperation strategy which sets out the necessary regulatory framework at national, regional and EU level to enable cross-border expansion of offshore wind energy through closely coordinated planning and joint financing of grid infrastructure.

© Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy

The agreement on investments in Bornholm Energy Island between Germany and Denmark is regarded as a key milestone. The first cross-border project of its kind aims to reduce Europe’s dependence on energy imports, speed up innovation and create resilience in times of geopolitical challenges. Bornholm, a Danish island in the North Sea, will serve as a central feed-in hub where electricity generated by offshore wind farms near Bornholm is collected and transmitted to Denmark and Germany via high-voltage direct-current (HVDC) transmission lines. Bornholm Energy Island is one of eight central “energy highways” which have been classified by the European Commission as priority projects. The project will be the first HVDC hybrid link with several terminals worldwide.

Denmark’s Minister of Energy Lars Aagaard said: “With an additional total capacity of three gigawatts from offshore wind farms which are connected to Denmark and Germany, Energy Island will provide reliable electricity supply for around three million households”. Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy Katherina Reiche praised the cooperation project as “flagship of European cooperation and a strategic project for our shared security”. She said: “We are sending a clear signal: Europe is taking united, sovereign and forward-looking action”.

The participating states described the 3rd North Sea Summit as a great success and as important for Europe’s energy policy. The summit builds on the preceding summits in Denmark in 2022 (we reported on this summit) and in Belgium in 2023, at which the participating countries agreed on an ambitious expansion of offshore wind energy in the North Sea region in response to Russia’s illegal war of aggression against Ukraine and the ensuing energy crisis.

Following the 3rd North Sea Summit, Germany will assume the co-presidency of the North Seas Energy Cooperation (NSEC) in 2026, and as such will press ahead with the implementation of the Summit decisions.