UK and Europe sign pact for ‘clean energy' future
UK Energy Secretary Ed Miliband signed the Hamburg Declaration with European allies to bolster energy security.
The deal made at the Future of the North Seas Summit in Hamburg. will drive forward a fleet of joint offshore wind projects between European countries, including Germany, Norway, France and Denmark, taking advantage of energy in the North Sea.
The summit brings together leaders in Germany, France, Belgium, Iceland, Ireland, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Denmark and Norway.
Three years ago, North Sea countries pledged to build 300GW of offshore wind in the North Sea by 2050.
The deal means North Sea countries have agreed to deliver 100GW of this offshore wind power through joint clean‑energy projects.
These will include new ‘offshore wind hybrid assets’ – windfarms at sea that are directly connected to more than one country.
The summit comes after the UK delivered an offshore wind auction, aiming to unlock 7,000 jobs and drive £22bln of private sector investment into UK factories and ports.
Further key outcomes expected from the summit include:
- Interconnected offshore grid
- Offshore hybrid assets
RenewablesUK's Depurty Chief Executive, Jane Cooper, says, 'This ambitious announcement to build a vast number of new offshore wind farms jointly with our European partners will increase the energy security of the UK and the whole of the North Sea region significantly.
'This historic declaration puts offshore wind right at the heart of Europe’s power system, with the UK leading the way. We are strengthening our security collaboration to ensure the North Sea’s critical energy infrastructure is protected from harm, so that we can continue to generate the huge quantities of clean power needed by the UK and our neighbours reliably at all times.
'We also have valuable opportunities to boost energy resilience and cost-effectiveness by connecting the UK and other European countries with further undersea cables, some of which can be linked directly to offshore wind farms. We will share infrastructure and data to enable clean power to flow more efficiently between our nations, and further integrate our electricity markets to drive down costs for billpayers'.
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