The Netherlands EU Presidency will hold a high-level meeting on regional maritime cooperation on sustainable energy on 4 February, 2016.
The meeting will be attended by Directors-General whose portfolios include energy policy, and will focus on regional cooperation in the North Sea.
In the context of the EU’s transition to a more sustainable energy supply, the cost benefits of cooperation on offshore wind energy and the importance of coordinating infrastructure, market regulation and spatial planning will be core issues, it was explained on the website of the Netherlands EU Presidency.
In the light of the upcoming meeting, the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) and Friends of the Supergrid (FOSG) have called for an increased regional cooperation in the North Sea, saying that Member States and European Institutions now have the unique opportunity to set up a framework for regional cooperation taking into account the immense energy potential of the North Seas.
The two organizations have called for the creation of a High Level Group, gathering energy ministers and representatives from the EU institutions as communicated in the manifesto “Northern Seas as the power house of North-Western Europe” by 20 Members of the European Parliament.
The main objective of the High Level Group shall be to create a vision and a roadmap for the development, coordination and collaboration in energy infrastructure in the North Seas with the corresponding finance mechanisms that will expedite the interconnection between countries and between offshore wind farms and the mainland, EWEA and FOSG explained.
Additionally, raising broad support for regional cooperation in the North Sea among the industry, civil society and other relevant stakeholders is crucial to ensure public acceptance and technical know-how. FOSG and EWEA also call for the establishment of a North Sea Stakeholders’ Platform which should tackle technical and regulatory barriers needed to support a continuous pipeline of offshore wind and grid projects and the establishment of a European offshore wind technologies testing and verification centre.