Offshore Wind Market Engagement
The market stands ready to engage and deliver the necessary parts for the solution to a green Europe.
Why read this report
Reaching the Paris Agreement targets requires a significant change in the current European approach towards energy policy and planning. In light of this and recent developments on both European and national levels, this report presents policymakers and the general public with the joint view and a call for urgent action shared by NSWPH and a broad representation of European offshore wind farm developers.
More specifically, this report introduces and discusses three key topics currently discussed across Europe and the North Sea countries. The analysis featured elaborates on the joint market view on the key sub-areas, which require urgent action, in order to trigger sufficient investor clarity and enable the initiation of hybrid projects.
Executive summary
Reaching the Paris Agreement targets and harnessing the potential of the North Sea by 2050 requires a fundamental change in the European approach to energy policy making, planning and the energy system as a whole. This transformation is complicated, but necessary, and can only be successful, if all parties come together.
In light of the task ahead and recent policy and target announcements, NSWPH and eight leading offshore wind farm developers in Europe have participated in this market engagement. The aim has been to build a consensus across the actors involved, and based on this to identify the key issues to address and potential next steps to be taken by European and national policymakers, in order to create a robust investment climate and enable the necessary deployment of offshore wind in Europe.
Political decision making on both a European and national level is considered to be critical for Europe’s ability to reach Net Zero and the 2050 deployment targets. Targeted and coordinated political action is an absolute necessity, in order to provide the market with the necessary confidence and frameworks to accelerate deployment and realise hybrid projects – largely considered a game changer for the European energy system and decarbonisation.
Call for action
In this Market Engagement Report, we jointly issue a call for action directed to European and national policy makers, with focus on three key messages aligned with the current focus and discussions of policymakers across Europe and the North Sea countries:
- A market setup approach, which ensures an enabling, transparent and fair distribution of revenue, cost and risk, is critical for driving investment and project initiation. This necessitates that work is promptly launched on further understanding and detailing the implications of the respective models.
- Long-term energy grid development planning (10+ years) on a European level is a necessity and requires significantly enhanced political coordination and commitment on a European level. This has to be coupled with strategic cooperation between governments, transmission system operators (TSOs) and offshore wind farm developers.
- Sector coupling is a critical element in the future European energy system. It requires immediate political action to align supply and demand and necessitates cooperation across actors and industries in Europe on key regulatory, commercial and technical issues.
The policies and ambitions set across Europe in recent months are highly welcomed and have set a strong starting point. However, already today it is critical to accelerate the political, technical and commercial work that lies ahead – this engagement has shown that the market stands ready to engage and deliver the necessary parts for the solution to a green Europe.
