At the invitation of Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo and Energy Minister Tinne Van der Straten, heads of state and energy ministers from European nations will gather on 24 April in the Flemish seaside city of Ostend to discuss harvesting the energy potential of wind in the North Sea.
Energy ministers from Denmark, Germany, France, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, and the United Kingdom will meet with their Belgian counterparts. The President of the European Commission and the Energy Commissioner will also be in attendance.
At the first event in Esbjerg, Denmark, leaders from Denmark, Belgium, Germany, and the Netherlands formalised a commitment to quadruple their off-shore power generation capacity to 150 gigawatts by 2050, which is roughly equivalent to the power needed for 150 million European homes each year.
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This year, the summit hopes to achieve even more ambitious targets to reduce Europe’s reliance on fossil energy and diversify the energy supply. Participating countries want to harness the energy and industrial potential of the North Sea and turn it into Europe’s largest “powerhouse” in less than 30 years.
“The other issue of the North Sea Summit II will be the transmission of this [offshore] electricity. We need to make sure that this power arrives safely at our shores, on the continent and in the homes of Europeans. And to ensure that all our fellow citizens, from Biarritz to Tromso via London, Amsterdam, Dublin, Berlin, and Copenhagen benefit from this initiative,” the organisers said in a press release.
