Offshore wind energy in the North Seas : crafting collaboration and navigating governance

Abstract

In the North Seas region, a coalition of 9 countries expressed the ambition to quadruple their offshore wind capacity from 30 GW to 120 GW by 2030, and to then more than double the capacity between 2030 and 2050 to reach 300 GW. - Regional cooperation to achieve these ambitions can be organized in different ways: regional cooperation within the EU governance framework; Member State driven regional cooperation; and multilateral pilot projects leading by example. - Depending on the type of benefits that are being pursued, the scope of regional cooperation can consist of: regional grid planning and regional grid cost sharing principles; non-domestic offshore wind development; and new approaches to funding and financing. - Will these regional solutions emerge under the existing EU framework for regional cooperation in the North Seas? Not necessarily. A Member State led initiative with multilateral pilot projects is probably needed to unlock the full benefits of regional grid planning and cost sharing, and the benefits of nondomestic offshore wind developments. - This could entail the creation of a new regional secretariat, an office, a facility, or an entity, possibly in combination with a regional coordinator. Next steps could also be taken in the governance of the Offshore TSO Collaboration (OTC), and new multilateral joint ventures could be setup to drive regional investments forward.