Focus turns to offshore wind power in Europe

The European Commission is advocating the development of infrastructure that will enable wind power generated from offshore sites to access the grid easily.

Andris Piebalgs, the European Union’s energy commissioner said at the European Wind Energy Conference this week that a maritime grid infrastructure was required for the development of offshore wind energy without which it would be impossible to build offshore wind farms. The energy commissioner added that it was an urgent matter. The key question of how it would be financed however remained.

From information obtained from the European Commission, wind energy has been offering the most promising results among all renewable energy technologies. In December 2007 the total capacity was almost fifty seven thousand megawatts which constitutes close to four percent of the power demand in the European Union. This was a huge improvement compared to the year 2000 when less than one percent of the power demand in the European Union came from wind farms.

Mr Andris Piebalgs further urged that the growth trend in production of wind power that has been observed be sustained since with wind power being a clean source of energy it would mean lower carbon dioxide emissions. Also employment opportunities would be created in the process.

The energy commissioner also revealed that he will be tabling a plan by the end of this year intended to pinpoint areas where the European Union could assist in the development of offshore wind energy.

In 2007 the EU pledged to increase the supply of energy from renewable sources by twenty percent by the year 2020.

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