Offshore Wind Farms Being Planned By European Countries

It now seems that progress is finally being made among several European countries to allow energy from offshore wind supplies contribute more energy to the national electricity supply. The North Seas Countries’ Offshore Grid Initiative developed an extensive offshore wind infrastructure in the North and Irish Seas. The UK, with eight other European countries, have committed to this development of wind power.

The press officer from the European Wind Energy Association, Paolo Berrino, said that in general some grids are being constructed already. Some others are being planned, and some grid projects have received a boost in funding allocated by the European Investment Bank and the European Economic Recovery Plan. He also mentioned that the European Wind Energy Association has a long term vision of a “super grid”, which would allow power to feed into one supply connected to all of northern Europe. This would lead to more competition within the industry.

Mr Berrino also added that the offshore developments were of high importance right now. Without extending and upgrading this grid, Europe will not be able to make the emissions reductions it wants or achieve the level of renewable energy that it has set in its targets.

The UK has been working very hard to increase the amount of energy that it gets from renewable resources. However, there are some companies out there, mostly the ones that deal with oil, that are claiming that wind energy will not produce the kind of energy that Europe is hoping it will. Thus, the need for oil and coal is still there.