Europe struggling to meet offshore wind targets, industry heads and lawmakers say

By Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen and Stine Jacobsen

ODENSE, Denmark (Reuters) – Europe is falling behind its own ambitious targets for offshore wind power, hindered by rising costs, red tape and inadequate policies, industry leaders and lawmakers said on Thursday as they presented recommendations to the new European Commission.

Denmark hosted a meeting in the port of Odense on Thursday to discuss how to realise the political vision of transforming the North Sea into a green energy hub that will help the EU achieve climate neutrality and increase energy security.

North Sea countries last year pledged to build 120 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind power by 2030 and at least 300 GW by 2050, equivalent to around 20,000 offshore wind turbines. That is up from the 35 GW installed in all of Europe today.

At this moment we are still struggling to achieve our 2030 targets,” EU Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson said.

The industry has grown fast over the last two decades by lowering technology costs and building bigger turbines.

But finding financing for projects has become a challenge as the rising costs of building wind parks at sea have thinned profit margins for both turbine manufacturers and developers.

Vestas, the world’s largest wind turbine manufacturer, said that Europe is falling short of its ambitions due to lengthy permit-processing times and flawed auction designs.

“We are pushing a large, bulky target in front of ourselves,” its CEO Henrik Andersen told Reuters in Odense where giant turbine towers, blades and other parts are dispatched to sea.

You know, the turbines that are dispatched from here are not going to the North Sea. They are headed to other places in the world like Japan and Taiwan,” he said.

(Reporting by Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen)