EU member states and the UK have signed a clean energy security pact to ‘bolster energy security for families and businesses across Europe’. The deal is expected to drive forward an unprecedented fleet of joint offshore wind projects among European countries, including the UK, Germany, Norway, France and Denmark, taking advantage of Europe’s abundant energy availability in the North Sea. The joint commitment is set out in the ‘Hamburg Declaration’, agreed on 26 January at the Future of the North Seas Summit. 

Europe and the UK intend to stand together to reaffirm their commitment to clean, secure energy as the only route to escape the fossil fuel rollercoaster. Three years ago, North Sea countries undertook to build 300 GW of offshore wind generation in the North Sea by 2050, in response to president Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine and weaponisation of Europe’s energy supplies.

The agreed deal means that, for the first time, North Sea countries have agreed to deliver 100 GW of this offshore wind power through joint clean‑energy projects. These will include new ‘offshore wind hybrid assets’, that is, wind farms at sea that are directly connected to more than one country through interconnectors. The European leaders met to push forward plans to transform the North Sea into the world’s largest ‘clean energy reservoir’. The Hamburg summit brought together European leaders in Germany, France, Belgium, Iceland, Ireland, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Denmark and Norway.

Industry is expected to respond to the Declaration by unveiling ambitious plans for new projects, including more interconnectors, which are crucial to Europe’s energy security, enabling countries in the North Sea to send clean power to where it’s needed most and end Europe’s reliance on volatile fossil fuel markets controlled by other states.

Further key outcomes and undertakings expected from the summit include further interconnection of the offshore grid, resulting from a statement of intent by the UK, Germany, Belgium, Denmark and The Netherlands to unlock cross-border offshore electricity projects, focusing on joint planning, cost-sharing and market arrangements to speed up delivery, and a framework for advancing offshore Hybrid Assets, which will deepen German and UK collaboration on this kind of asset, that is, advanced subsea energy infrastructure that combine offshore wind farm connections with electricity interconnectors.