The North Seas Energy Cooperation (NSEC) supports and facilitates the development of the offshore electricity and hydrogen grid development and the large renewable energy potential in the region. This is a long-standing energy priority for the EU and the concerned countries.
The European Green Deal and the REPowerEU Plan emphasise the importance of offshore renewable energy in meeting the EU’s 2030 and 2050 climate and energy objectives and stress the importance of regional cooperation.
Under the TEN-E Regulation, regional non-binding offshore goals for the North Seas offshore grids, up to 2050, were updated in December 2024.
NSEC members
Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway and the European Commission are currently members of the North Seas Energy Cooperation, since the withdrawal of the UK from the EU on 31 January 2020.
A Memorandum of Understanding between NSEC and the UK was signed in December 2022 establishing a cooperation framework.
NSEC objective
NSEC is a regional non-binding cooperation framework, which aims to advance development of offshore renewable energy in the geographical area of the North Seas, including the Irish and Celtic Seas.
Work programme and agenda
The NSEC Ministers met in Odense Port on 24 October 2024 and agreed on the 2025-2027 work programme to deliver on the offshore ambitions in the North Seas. The work programme sets the objectives for NSEC collaboration the coming years and established a Support Group on offshore renewable hydrogen, which started its activities in 2025.
Action Agenda and tender planning
Under the 2023 NSEC co-Presidency and during the 2023 Ministerial meeting, NSEC Members endorsed an Action Agenda, which confirms the offshore ambitions and actively supports their realisation in the NSEC context. On this occasion, a joint NSEC offshore wind tender planning was also published to give as much visibility as possible on project demand. It was last updated in November 2025.
Offshore funding
A collection of all EU funding available for offshore renewable energy projects and an expert informative note on the EU offshore supply chain (by the Clean Energy Industrial Forum) were prepared in view of the NSEC meeting in Dublin 2022.
Governance and support structure 2020-2023
The NSEC governance and support structure consists of a high-level group, ministerial meetings and the coordinators committee. This structure is supported at technical level with 5 support groups established in the NSEC work programme, each focusing on
- hybrid and joint projects
- maritime spatial planning
- support framework and finance
- delivering 2050
- offshore renewable hydrogen
Joint statements
Marking 15 years of NSEC in Ostend in November 2025, a joint statement was issued, highlighting the important role of the High-Level Group in delivering the offshore renewables ambition in the North Seas region and turning it into an offshore interconnection hub.
At the NSEC event in Dublin on 12 September 2022, the 9 member countries agreed in a joint statement to reach at least 260 GW of offshore wind energy by 2050, which will represent more than 85% of the EU-wide ambition of reaching at least 300 GW by 2050. The 2050 NSEC ambitions are complemented with intermediate targets of at least 76 GW by 2030 and 193 GW by 2040.
The NSEC issued in July 2020 a joint statement calling for a European enabling framework for offshore wind energy. The joint statement and further work of the NSEC in 2020 provided valuable input to the EU strategy on offshore renewable energy, published in November 2020.
NSEC countries and the Commission took stock of the work and achievements in 2020 under the NSEC German co-Presidency, and published a joint press statement at the ministerial meeting on 14 December 2020.
Moreover, the Commission has supported ENTSO-E in preparing a guidance document for the preparation of future Offshore Network Development Plans.
Political declarations
At the Ostend North Sea Summit on 24 April 2023, the 9 member countries agreed in a Joint Declaration to reach at least 300 GW of offshore wind energy by 2050. The 2050 NSEC ambitions are complemented with intermediate targets of 120 GW by 2030. Furthermore, ways to promote the development of a well-functioning market for hydrogen are supported.
At the Ministerial meeting of 2 December 2021, NSEC countries and the Commission signed a renewed political declaration, updating and aligning the objectives of the regional cooperation to the evolution of the political context since 2016.
In 2016, a joint political declaration established the North Seas Energy Cooperation, aiming at facilitating the cost-effective deployment of offshore renewable energy, in particular wind, and promoting interconnection between the countries in the region
It emphasises the importance of voluntary cooperation, with the aim of securing a sustainable, secure and affordable energy supply for the North Seas countries.
At the North Sea Summit in January 2026, NSEC leaders and energy ministers, together with the UK and Iceland, reaffirmed their commitment to cooperate closely to speed up the development of stable, secure and affordable offshore renewables and make European industry more globally competitive. A series of declarations were signed to set out specific actions and timelines to de-risk investments to connect electricity grids across borders in the region and strengthen the energy system against physical, cyber or hybrid attacks. NSEC will coordinate the work to implement these actions.
Documents
- Non-binding agreement on goals for offshore renewable generation in 2050 with intermediate steps in 2040 and 2030 - 18/12/2024
- Work Programme and Action Agenda - 2025-2027
- Tender planning - November 2025
- NSEC Governance and support structure - 2020 – 2023
- Joint statements and meeting conclusions
- Political Declarations and MoU
- NSEC studies
- Factsheet: Projects of Common Interest in energy infrastructure in the Western Europe and North Seas - 12/2022
- Support schemes for offshore wind- emerging best practices - 2017
- Coordination of tenders for offshore wind in the North Seas - 2017
- North Seas energy clusters - scoping paper 2017
Related links
- Commission welcomes renewed commitment to power clean, independent and secure offshore energy in the North Seas region (26/01/2026)
- North Seas Energy Cooperation marks 15 years of progress and ambition (6/11/2025)
- Opening speech by Commissioner Simson at the North Seas Energy Cooperation (NSEC) Ministerial meeting (24/10/2024)
- North Seas conference in The Hague: from national goals to joint action for offshore wind energy (20/11/2023)
- North Seas Energy Cooperation and UK establish cooperation framework to facilitate the development of offshore renewable energy (18/12/2022)
- Members of the North Seas Energy Cooperation grasp historic opportunity to accelerate Europe’s move towards energy independence (12/09/2022)
- President von der Leyen participates in the Leaders' Summit on offshore wind in the North Sea (18/05/2022)
- Noordzeeloket - a series of documents, studies and reports with data related to offshore wind in the North Sea, published by the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management
- Spatial study North Seas 2030 (study and 2 annexes)
- Quick scan of cumulative impacts on the North Sea biodiversity (part A)
- Quick scan of effects from large upscaling of offshore wind - Effects on ecosystem processes from the large-scale development of offshore wind in the North Seas (part B)
- Quick scan of opportunities for nature enhancement from offshore (part C)
- Exploration of potential collaboration on preventive, mitigation and compensation measures
- EU funding for offshore renewables
- Offshore renewable energy