About
The European Commission has developed several key strategies under the Green Deal and new climate ambitions to support offshore wind. These include the:
- energy system integration strategy, promoting renewables-based electrification
- hydrogen strategy, advancing hydrogen production from renewable sources
- offshore renewable energy strategy, focusing on expanding offshore wind capacity, grid infrastructure, and environmental protection across EU sea basins.
Wind energy, particularly offshore wind, is crucial to Europe's energy system and achieving the EU's renewable energy targets. Offshore wind development is expected to generate jobs, support Europe's transition to a sustainable energy mix and significantly contribute to the EU's electricity needs.
As a strategic priority, the EU is focusing on increasing offshore wind capacity, advancing technology and improving infrastructure. Member States are committed to expanding offshore wind in line with broader goals for energy independence and emission reduction.
Established in 2016, the working group on wind energy coordinates SET Plan countries’ research and innovation (R&I) agendas for offshore wind and promotes increased collaboration between national research activities. The first implementation plan (IP) for offshore wind was published in 2018, followed by a revised Implementation Plan for offshore wind in 2022.
It is supported by the European Technology Innovation Platform (ETIP) Wind, European Energy Research Alliance (EERA) JP Wind and SETIPWind project.
Targets and objectives
The IP lists the following priority actions for wind energy:
- next-generation wind turbine technology
- offshore wind farms and system transformation
- floating offshore wind and wind energy industrialisation
- wind energy operation, maintenance and installation
- ecosystem, social impact and human capital agenda
- basic wind energy sciences.
In June 2023, as part of the SET Plan’s revision, the Member States involved in the Implementation Working Group (IWG) on wind defined six new targets for wind energy. These new targets must guide R&I efforts from the Member States to accelerate the development and the deployment of wind energy in Europe. The targets include:
- at least 3% increase of national R&I funding dedicated to wind energy
- at least 0.5 percentage points increase per year in wind energy penetration in electricity needs at European level
- at least 2 GW of wind manufacturing capacity added per year at the European level
- research and development budget for to materials recovery technologies, including recycling and critical raw materials
- at least 100,000 workers trained by 2025 at the EU level
- one research project on average per year to enable faster permitting for wind energy projects.
