Offshore wind could provide 25% of EU electricity at €54 per MWh

Offshore wind power has the potential to meet a quarter of the EU’s electricity demand by 2030 at a price of €54 per MWh – including the costs of grid connection and system integration – providing the right policies are in place. 

This is according to a resource assessment undertaken by BVG Associates for the European offshore wind trade body Wind Europe. Wind Europe has estimated that offshore wind could provide 7% to 11% of the EU’s electricity demand by 2030 – but this is a small amount of the total resource available.

The resource assessment, Unleashing Europe’s offshore wind potential, highlights the economically attractive offshore wind resource in the Baltic, North Sea and Atlantic. It says that, with supportive governments, in theory offshore wind could generate between 2,600 TWh and 6,000 TWh of electricity per year (80%–180% of the EU’s demand) at €65 per MWh or below by 2030, including grid connection. 

The most favourable locations could see wind developed at €54 per MWh in 2030. These locations could account for 25% of the EU’s electricity demand. The analysis relies on assumptions on the technologies that will be available in 2030.

To facilitate development of offshore wind towards this potential Wind Europe is calling for governments to commit to developing offshore wind in their energy plans; to work with suppliers to create a pipeline of projects; to coordinate the timeline of tenders for development across countries for efficiency; and to develop international grid infrastructure.

At the recent Offshore Wind Energy 2017 event in London representatives from the German, Danish and Belgian governments signed a pledge with 25 offshore wind companies to increase Europe’s offshore wind capacity to 60 GW by 2030. This would mean installing at least 4 GW a year through the 2020s.

Europe currently has around 13 GW of offshore wind capacity, and the industry has been surprised by recent low price bids for wind farms planned for the 2020s.