The countries that surround the North Sea, including Belgium, have signed an investment pact with the offshore wind energy producers and grid operators to ensure the further expansion of wind energy production in the North Sea. The agreement that was signed at a summit in the German city of Hamburg on Monday has provisions for, amongst other things, wind farms to be connected to various countries that surround the North Sea’s power grids.
The countries that participated in Monday’s meeting have set themselves the target of jointly developing 100 gigawatts of offshore wind capacity by 2050. Meanwhile, the wind energy production industry and grid management companies have obtained greater future certainty thanks to a guarantee that tenders for offshore wind parks will continue to be issued after 2030. In exchange for this the energy industry has committed to reducing the cost of electricity production by 30% by 2040. Furthermore, 9.5 billion euro will be invested in new production capacity in Europe between now and 2030. This will result in the creation of 91,000 new jobs.
The host country Germany had invited heads of government and ministers from Belgium, Denmark, France, Great Britain, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Norway. Prime minister Bart De Wever (Flemish nationalist) and the Federal Minister responsible for the North Sea minister Annelies Verlinden (Flemish Christian democrat) were present on behalf of Belgium. NATO and the European Commission also participated in the summit.