Brussels,

​Offshore renewable energy

Renewable energy from the seas includes abundant, natural and clean resources such as offshore wind, wave and tidal. With 5 EU sea basins, offshore renewables are positioned to become a major pillar of Europe’s future electricity mix, supporting decarbonisation, affordability, competitiveness and security of supply.

The EU Strategy

To ensure offshore renewables contribute substantially to the EU’s 2030 and 2050 energy and climate goals, the Commission adopted the EU Offshore Renewable Energy Strategy in November 2020. 

The strategy set Commission targets for installed capacity of:

• Offshore wind: at least 60 GW by 2030 and 300 GW by 2050
• Ocean energy: at least 1 GW by 2030 and 40 GW by 2050

Since then, EU countries have agreed and revised their regional offshore targets, most recently in December 2024.

The strategy goes beyond generation and addresses:

• maritime spatial planning
• coordinated grid planning and development
• regulatory framework improvements
• investment mobilisation and EU funding
• research & innovation
• industrial supply chains

Implementation has been driven by political follow-up (ministerial conference in 2021 and subsequent summits) and by a dedicated delivery communication:

• COM(2023) 668 – Communication on the delivery of the EU Offshore Strategy (PDF)

This delivery workstream highlights (among others): streamlining permitting, basin-level maritime spatial planning, and strengthening resilience/protection of offshore infrastructure and cybersecurity.

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Investing in offshore renewables

Offshore renewables span several technologies at different maturity levels, each with specific opportunities and constraints for energy systems, maritime users, industry and civil society. A long-term investment perspective requires progress on infrastructure, market design, regulation, and R&I, integrated at sea-basin level (North, Baltic, Mediterranean, Black Sea, Atlantic, and EU outermost regions).
EU-level support and funding entry point:

• EU funding for offshore renewables.
  
  

Offshore renewables in the Trans-European Energy Networks (TEN-E)

A key deliverable of the offshore strategy was the revision of the TEN-E Regulation, which entered into force in June 2022 and introduced infrastructure categories for hybrid offshore grids and radial lines, plus permitting provisions to accelerate offshore grid build-out.

• TEN-E regulation entry point: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?toc=OJ%3AL%3A2022%3A152%3ATOC&uri=uriserv%3AOJ.L_.2022.152.01.0045.01.ENG

TEN-E also underpins regional cooperation: EU countries define non-binding regional offshore goals per sea basin, revised every 2 years. They updated these goals in December 2024, following a first round in January 2023.

Based on these ambitions, ENTSO-E develops Offshore Network Development Plans (ONDPs) for each sea basin (first set published January 2024, updated every 2 years):

• ENTSO-E – Offshore Network Development Plans (ONDP).

To support cost-sharing discussions and investment frameworks, the Commission issued guidance in June 2024:

• Commission guidance on collaborative investment frameworks for offshore energy projects (27 June 2024).

Offshore Wind Energy

Offshore wind deployment is a core element of delivering the European Green Deal and strengthening EU competitiveness and security of supply. The installed EU offshore wind capacity was 19.38 GW in 2023.

In October 2023, the Commission presented two wind power initiatives aimed at accelerating wind manufacturing and deployment:

• European Wind Power Action Plan – COM(2023) 669
• Communication on achieving the EU’s offshore wind ambitions – COM(2023) 668

The Commission also links offshore wind scale-up to the 2023 revised Renewable Energy Directive target (EU renewables target at least 42.5%, aiming 45%), which implies total installed wind capacity must grow to more than 500 GW by 2030.

Regional cooperation to unlock offshore wind potential is supported through EU energy infrastructure High-Level Groups, notably:

• North Seas Energy Cooperation (NSEC)
• Baltic Energy Market Interconnection Plan (BEMIP)

Ocean Energy

Ocean energy technologies (e.g., wave and tidal converters) are part of the EU’s Blue Economy. They are emerging rapidly and have the potential to provide steady and predictable power output, contributing to the EU’s climate and energy goals. Thanks to industrial links with hydropower, shipbuilding, wind manufacturing, and offshore oil & gas, ocean energy can build on a strong European supply chain.

Latest highlights:

• In 2024, Europe added around 1,230 kW of new ocean energy capacity.
  
• Over the last 10 years, EU countries and the private sector invested more than €4 billion in ocean energy research and pilot projects.
• The EU Strategic Energy Technology (SET) Plan frames cost-reduction and innovation efforts for ocean technologies.
  

Where it can deliver first: early beneficiaries are expected to include offshore installations and islands that currently face high electricity costs.

Additional references:

• Ocean Energy Barometers (EurObserv’ER)
  
• CORDIS Results Pack – Ocean energy (10 EU-funded projects)
  

The EU Working Group on Ocean Energy

At EU level, ocean energy implementation planning is supported by the SET Plan Implementation Working Group (IWG) on ocean energy, established in 2017. The group develops research/roadmaps and aligns actions for the wave and tidal sector through successive Implementation Plans (first published in 2018, with the most recent update in 2021), in line with broader EU offshore priorities.
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