Countries across Europe from Iceland to Germany agreed Monday to join forces to transform former oil fields in the North Sea into a “reservoir” for clean energy with a massive offshore wind project to supply 10 countries with electricity. File photo by Koen Van Weel/EPA
Britain and nine other northern European countries committed Monday to building a massive 100 Gigawatt offshore wind project in the North Sea to transform its spent oil fields into a “reservoir” for clean energy over the next 25 years.
Energy ministers from Britain, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Norway signed onto the deal — the Hamburg Declaration — at a meeting in Hamburg, Germany, that will see them build windfarms producing electricity sufficient to power 143 million homes via high-voltage undersea cables.
U.K. Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said that by securing clean energy for the future Britain was backing its national interests, enabling it to get off the “rollercoaster” of fossil fuels.
The commitment is part of the so-called “Ostend Declaration” in 2023 to add 300 Gigawatts of offshore wind-powered electricity generation by 2050, with the Brussels-based WindEurope trade body forecasting Monday’s agreement could pull in as much as $1.2 trillion of investment by 2040.
European Commission and NATO officials were also at the meeting in Hamburg for discussions on protecting energy infrastructure offshore due to growing fears over adversaries’ efforts to tamper with underseas pipelines and cables.
European power grids already share mutual, two-way connections via sub-sea cables — with Britain’s National Grid reporting “interconnectors” had saved consumers $2.3 billion since 2023 — but it will be the first time offshore wind power networks have been directly hooked up to the grids of several countries simultaneously.
National Grid said the savings came from cut-price surplus energy from other countries sold to Britain that had been generated at times of the day when demand was low, but which were peak periods in the U.K.
U.K. time is as much as two hours behind European Standard Time.
RenewableUK said the effort would “drive down costs for billpayers,” significantly boost the energy security of not only Britain, but the entire North Sea region, saying it sent a signal to “those who doubt Europe and our drive to deliver energy that is homegrown, secure and affordable.”
Energy U.K. hailed the deal, saying it was a historic step that would see the North Sea developed into a bona fide “regional clean power hub.”
“This deeper cooperation on supply chains, standardization and shared infrastructure is not just a strategic necessity, it is the most effective way to bring down energy costs for households and businesses while fueling sustainable economic growth and high-value jobs for years to come,” said the body’s chief executive, Dhara Vyas.
However, the opposition Conservative Party warned it would do the opposite, at least over the short-term.
“We cannot escape the fact that the rush to build wind farms at breakneck speed is pushing up everybody’s energy bills,” said shadow Secretary for Energy Security and Net Zero Claire Countinho.
Speaking in Davos at the World Economic Forum last week, U.S. President Donald Trump criticized what he said was the visible expansion of wind power across Europe saying it was a loser and that countries’ “windmill” numbers were in inverse proportion to their wealth.
Producing 16 Gigawatts with another 20 Gigawatts in the pipeline, Britain is second only to China, which generates 43 Gigawatts of wind power, more than half of the 83 Gigawatts global total, according to RenewableUK.
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Picketers hold signs outside at the entrance to Mount Sinai Hospital on Monday in New York City. Nearly 15,000 nurses across New York City are now on strike after no agreement was reached ahead of the deadline for contract negotiations. It is the largest nurses’ strike in NYC’s history. The hospital locations impacted by the strike include Mount Sinai Hospital, Mount Sinai Morningside, Mount Sinai West, Montefiore Hospital and New York Presbyterian Hospital. Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo
