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European countries plan offshore wind-farms

Progress is being made among several European countries to allow energy from offshore wind supplies to make a greater contribution to the national electricity supply.

The North Seas Countries' Offshore Grid Initiative is a commitment made at Brussels to develop an extensive offshore wind infrastructure in the North and Irish Seas.

Along with the UK, eight other European countries have committed to this development of wind power.

Paolo Berrino, press officer from the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA), commented: "In general some grids are being constructed already and some others are planned, some grid projects have received a boost with funding allocated by the European Investment Bank and the European Economic Recovery Plan."

He mentioned that the EWEA has a long-term vision of a 'Supergrid' which would allow power to feed in to one supply connected to all of northern Europe, thus inciting more competition within the industry.

Mr Berrino added that the offshore developments were of high importance as "without extending and upgrading the grid Europe will not be able to make the emissions reductions it wants, or achieve the level of renewable energy it has set as a target".

Posted by Mark Thomas

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The North Seas Countries' Declaration