The European Commission says it is “doubling down” on efforts to support offshore renewable energy with additional actions.
It says member states must collectively install almost 12 gigawatts (GW) a year on average to meet ambitious new goals set after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
A target of 12 GW annually is ten times more than the new 1.2 GW of offshore wind installed last year, it notes.
The cumulative offshore installed capacity among 27 member states last year amounted to 16.3 GW.
EU member states recently agreed on ambitious new goals for offshore renewable energy generation by 2050, with intermediate goals for 2030 and 2040 for each of the EU's five sea basins, it notes.
Additional actions include a commitment to strengthen grid infrastructure and regional cooperation; to accelerate permitting; to ensure integrated maritime spatial planning; to strengthen resilience of infrastructure’ and to sustain research and innovation, and develop supply chains and skills.
Details of its new communication of delivering offshore renewable energy can be found here