In Odense (Denmark), on Thursday 23 October, EU ministers will meet with CEOs of European companies in the wind industry during the NSEC meeting . The aim of the summit is to make agreements to generate more clean energy on domestic soil. Jan Vos, chairman of NedZero, will be present at the summit and will take a number of positions on behalf of the Dutch wind industry. Because offshore wind offers enormous opportunities, but there is still a lot of work to be done to achieve the objectives. Photo: North Seas Energy Cooperation (NSEC)
Positions for achieving goals
The North Sea wind deployment is Europe’s new powerhouse. Europe currently has 35 GW of offshore wind power. (Roughly equivalent to 20 coal-fired power plants in terms of electricity production.) While this is expected to grow to 90 GW by 2030, it will still fall short of the ambitious 150+ GW that governments agreed to after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. This delay is due to challenging market conditions and delays in permitting, tendering and grid expansions.
Yet, the annual development is growing strongly. There are currently 42 GW of projects in development and in 2023 €35 billion in investment decisions were taken for new wind farms. The supply chain is expanding, with a production capacity of 9.5 GW of turbines per year by the end of 2025.
To maintain this positive trend, NedZero will take the following positions:
- Ensure a steady inflow of new projects into the market.
- Set realistic goals to avoid peaks and troughs in volume.
- Stimulate the electrification of industry.
- Provides greater clarity on revenue streams such as Contracts for Difference (CfD).
- Index rates to prevent failed tenders.
- Reduce barriers to Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs).
- Provides developers with more flexibility in installation timelines.
- Our networks have become the bottleneck of the energy transition: faster grid expansions are a prerequisite for success.
- Invest in the expansion of our European ports
- A healthy business case is crucial: governments impose too many burdens on the companies that have to do the work.
