Offshore wind energy in Europe has in the past decade grown by an impressive growth rate, reaching more than 33 GW of installed capacity. Even more effort is needed to reach the targeted 60 GW of offshore wind capacity by 2030 and 300 GW by 2050 (450 GW including Norway and UK) that is laid out in the projections by the European Commission. The investment needs for such large-scale offshore energy deployment amount to an unprecedented level in energy investments of €800 bn until 2050, two thirds of which is associated with grid infrastructure.
This SP8 workshop will explore how future market arrangements for large-scale offshore wind energy could look like to create a transparent, fair and non-discriminatory European offshore energy market. We will explore different market organisational, economic, financial, and governance aspects for offshore wind energy and its related infrastructure, including hubs, artificial energy islands, offshore electricity grids and interconnectors, power-to-x facilities and potential exploitation of existing oil and gas infrastructure.