North Sea Winds Of Change
quietus writes:
Belgium, Denmark, Germany, France, Ireland, Luxemburg, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom have agreed 300 gigawatt in offshore wind generation capacity in the North Sea by 2050. Current offshore wind capacity in the North Sea is 37 gigawatt. Getting to the equivalent of 300 nuclear power plants, or 8 times as much as the current capacity, will require an investment of a trillion euro.
The governments of the North Sea countries promise investment guarantees to industry: if the wholesale price on the market drops beneath an agreed upon level, government will fund the missing part; if the wholesale price exceeds that level, the top-over will go to the governments involved. In exchange, the offshore wind industry and distribution net managers promise 91,000 additional jobs and agreed to a 30 percent price reduction towards 2040.
In 2023, the same governments already had agreed to 120GW by 2030. It turns out that aim is/was quite a bit overambitious.
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