By 2050, renewable energy must power most of our climate-neutral economy. Kadri Simson eudebates

This has been the year of laying the groundwork for delivering the Green Deal. When it comes to the energy sector, we have already put in place three cornerstones – the energy system integration strategy, hydrogen strategy and the renovation wave. https://www.eudebates.tv/debates/special-debates/future-of-europe/watch-state-of-the-union-live-ursula-von-der-leyen-gives-2020-address-soteu/

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Today, we lay the forth with offshore renewable energy strategy. On this, we can build a strong, durable foundation for the climate-neutral energy system of the future.

Currently, about one fifth of the EU's energy comes from renewable sources. By 2050, renewable energy must power most of our climate-neutral economy. We will need massive amounts of green electricity to replace coal, lignite and gas. Many countries are already phasing these out or will in the future.

Offshore energy, and wind in particular, can give us the push we need towards our targets fast and at scale. In this strategy, we have set our sights on 300 GW of offshore wind and 40 GW of ocean energies across the EU sea basins by 2050. Already by 2030, we want to increase offshore wind capacity at least five times to 60GW and produce at least 1GW of ocean energy.

We are well positioned to get there: the EU is the global technological leader both in offshore wind and ocean energies. In 2018, our share of global offshore turbine exports was 47%, and eight out of the top ten global exporters were EU countries. All the world's ocean energy projects currently use EU technologies.

We know from experience that with the right policy support, technologies can develop quickly and costs can come down fast. In fact, there has been no other energy technology that has gone from an idea to maturity as rapidly as offshore wind. The fact that some new installations are now cheaper than fossil fuel-based energy generation is very telling.

But scaling up so quickly and massively will not happen by itself. We don't just need to build more, bigger wind turbines or new tidal power plants: larger volumes will change our energy sector in fundamental ways. And while a green, integrated energy system needs more renewable energy, renewable energy also requires an integrated energy system in turn. Their success is dependent on one another.

First, we need to plan. To install 300-plus-40 GW of offshore renewable energy will mean many more sites for production and connections to the power grid. But, while it is still only 3% of EU's maritime space, we need to make sure that we are not planning in isolation. Our energy needs can and should be aligned with our environmental principles and everything else that takes place in the sea – fishing, shipping, tourism, defence.

This is why the Member States need to include their offshore renewable energy development objectives in their national maritime spatial plans to be submitted by March 2021.

Moving away from planning in isolation also means increased cooperation between countries and planning based on sea basins, not individual Member States. Close regional cooperation is absolutely necessary for scaling up the offshore energy generation in an efficient, cost-effective and sustainable way.

Second, we need to connect. Generating energy is not enough, this energy needs to be delivered to the consumers on land. Without the appropriate offshore electricity grid to bring power efficiently onshore, our plans for renewable offshore energy will stall.

We are currently working on the revision of the TEN-E Regulation, to be delivered later this year. With TEN-E, we will propose a new framework for offshore grid infrastructure development, a system where Member States could agree on regional long-term commitments for offshore energy generation and a joint vision for grid planning.

Third, we need suitable, forward-looking market rules. The current rules were conceived for traditional onshore projects. To reach our targets, we need a framework better adapted to the needs of offshore installations, as well as the future energy islands and hybrid projects that are connected to several Member States.

To provide clarity and long-term legal certainty, today we published the market guidance for hybrid projects and to facilitate them, we are proposing to create offshore bidding zones. This ensures that offshore power can flow to the market where it is needed, supporting regional security of supply.
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