The EU’s capacity to generate renewable energy from wind is expected to grow by 250 percent, thanks to new plans drafted by the European Commission that will see windfarms expanding in the North Sea, the Baltic, the Atlantic, the Mediterranean, and the Black Sea.
The move comes as the EU is seeking to ramp up its climate efforts to achieve carbon-neutrality by 2050 and pioneer potentially rival innovations that will put its industry at the forefront of the green energy revolution.
Currently, the total energy generating capacity that comes from the continent’s seas stands at 23 gigawatts (GW), from 5,047 grid-connected wind turbines across 12 countries. Under the new strategy, the 27 EU member states alone would achieve a capacity of 60GW by 2030 and 300GW by 2050.
According to a leak of the strategy obtained by the Euractiv news website, the new ambitious target for new windfarms would come with an expected price tag of €789 billion, creating around 62,000 jobs in the offshore wind industry.
