Offshore renewable energy

The EU, with its 5 sea basins, has massive potential for both offshore wind and ocean energy. Renewable energy from the seas can be harnessed by a great variety of technologies, making it a cornerstone of the clean energy transition.

The EU is investing in offshore renewable energy to deliver on its energy and climate goals, while reducing our need for energy imports, increasing the competitiveness and affordability of our electricity, and ensuring security of energy supply. 

In line with EU countries’ regional cumulative offshore goals of 86-89 GW by 2030 and 355-366 GW by 2050, offshore renewables are poised to become a major pillar of Europe’s future electricity mix.  

The installed offshore wind capacity in the EU was 23 GW in 2026.  

Offshore wind energy

The deployment of offshore wind energy is at the core of delivering the European Green Deal and ensuring Europe’s competitiveness and security of energy supply. The Commission presented 2 wind power initiatives in October 2023, which aim to accelerate wind energy manufacturing and deployment in Europe 

• European Wind Power Action Plan (COM/2023/669) 
• Communication on achieving the EU’s offshore wind ambitions (COM/2023/668) 

Cooperation  

To harness the full potential of offshore wind in the North Sea and the Baltic Sea, and to boost cooperation between countries in these regions, the EU is part of the High-Level Groups on energy infrastructure. While all High-Level Groups have held discussions on offshore renewables and grids, the North Seas Energy Cooperation (NSEC) and the Baltic Energy Market Interconnection Plan (BEMIP) put particular focus on their development. 

Under the right conditions, ocean energy could contribute around 10% of EU power demand by 2050.  

EU countries and the private sector have invested more than €1.5 billion over the last 10 years in research and pilot projects on ocean energy. Through the Strategic Energy Technology (SET) Plan, the EU has set cost-reduction targets for ocean technologies for the next decade. 

The first areas that could benefit from ocean technologies are offshore installations and islands that currently have high electricity costs. More information can be found in the CETO report on ocean energy and in the CORDIS results pack that describes 10 EU-funded ocean energy technology projects. 

Investing in offshore renewables

Offshore renewable energy covers several energy sources and various technologies, which are at different stages of development. These come with their own set of challenges and opportunities for European energy systems, sea users, industrial actors and civil society. 

The continued development of European energy infrastructure, regulatory frameworks, market design, and research and innovation is necessary to provide a long-term perspective for offshore renewable energy and facilitate the required investment. This includes integrating offshore renewable energy at sea-basin level in the North, Baltic, Mediterranean and Black seas, the Atlantic Ocean, and the EU’s outermost regions and overseas territories, and ensuring ambitious objectives in national maritime spatial plans. 

EU funding for offshore renewables

EU strategy on offshore renewable energy

Providing concrete ways forward to support the long-term sustainable development of the sector, the strategy set Commission targets for an installed capacity of at least 60 GW of offshore wind and 1 GW of ocean energy by 2030, and 300 GW and 40 GW, respectively, by 2050. EU countries agreed revised targets, most recently in December 2024. 

It also addresses a broad range of areas, such as maritime spatial planning, coordinated grid planning and development, improving the regulatory framework, mobilising investment and EU funding, research and innovation, and developing supply chains. 

Implementing the strategy

In 2023, the Commission adopted a Communication on the delivery of the EU Offshore Strategy (COM/2023/668). It outlines the achievements in implementing the strategy and sets out further actions and areas of focus for the Commission, such as 

• supporting national authorities in the streamlining of permitting procedures 
• establishing regional maritime spatial planning per sea basin 
• strengthening the resilience and protection of offshore infrastructure 
• cooperating on cybersecurity 
• supporting the revision of the European Technology and Innovation Platform (ETIP) strategic agenda on wind energy 

Furthermore, as indicated in the Communication, the Commission has worked on implementing all other committed actions. For example, it launched a working group on offshore renewables under the Clean Energy Industrial Forum to identify supply chain challenges in the sector and help achieve the 2030 and 2050 goals.  

Offshore renewables in the Trans-European Energy Networks

A key deliverable of the strategy was to revise the Regulation on Trans-European Energy Networks (TEN-E) to better support the development of offshore renewables and grids. It entered into force in June 2022 and includes infrastructure categories for hybrid offshore grids and radial lines, as well as permitting provisions to accelerate the scale-up of offshore grids. 

In addition, the TEN-E Regulation supports regional cooperation between EU countries to define, with support from the Commission, non-binding regional goals for offshore renewable deployment in each sea basin, to be revised every 2 years. In December 2024, EU countries concluded such regional agreements for the second time, updating the first regional agreements of January 2023. 

Based on the ambitions expressed by EU countries, TEN-E calls for ENTSO-E to develop offshore network development plans (ONDPs) for each EU sea basin. ENTSO-E published the first ONDPs in January 2024, to be revised every 2 years. 

As a subsequent TEN-E deliverable, the Commission adopted the Guidance on collaborative investment frameworks for offshore energy projects in June 2024. It supports EU countries, national regulatory authorities and transmission system operators in their discussions on cost-sharing agreements to achieve their regional offshore renewable targets. ENTSO-E will apply this Guidance to the ONDPs by mid-2025.

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