WindEurope welcomes the agreement signed by 10 EU countries to cooperate on offshore energy in Northern Europe. Energy Ministers from 10 EU Member States signed in Luxembourg a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and Work Programme to enhance their cooperation on renewable energy, particularly offshore wind. The Ministers of Germany, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Norway, Sweden, France, Denmark, Ireland, Belgium and the U.K. signed the agreement, which aims to reduce the costs and accelerate the deployment of wind power at sea.
Giles Dickson, CEO of WindEurope, said: "The agreement signed in Luxembourg today is a major step forward to fully realise the potential of offshore wind in Europe."
Dickson added: "It's a good combination of top-down and bottom-up: top-down political commitment to take bottom-up practical action to reduce costs and facilitate the deployment of offshore wind. We congratulate the Ministers for the ambition they've shown and the Dutch Presidency for having made this happen. It's a clear statement of intent that gives confidence to the offshore wind industry and will help drive further investments."
The agreement outlines a number of actions to help reduce costs in offshore wind, including cooperation on spatial planning, grids, finance, technical standards and regulation such as health and safety rules.
