Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen hosted a North Sea offshore wind summit in May 2022 and is expected to host one on the Baltic later this month (source: Danish Gov)
Hard on the heels of a May 2022 North Sea summit, the Danish Government is to host another energy security summit, this time focused on the potential of offshore wind in the Baltic
Reports from the Danish press suggest the summit will take place 30 August 2022, and that Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen will host European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and heads of government from Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Finland.
The aim of the meeting is to strengthen Baltic countries’ energy independence in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The news was reported by a number of outlets, including Altinget and The Local, which reports Danish news in English.
The Danish Prime Minister held a similar meeting focused on offshore wind in the North Sea on 18 May 2022. That meeting also included the President of the European Commission, along with German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz; Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Mark Rutte; and Prime Minister of Belgium, Alexander De Croo.
At the May meeting, the leaders of Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and Denmark jointly pledged to build at least 150 GW of offshore wind in the North Sea by 2050 and as much as 65 GW by 2030.
Apart from Denmark – which is a world leader in its commitment to offshore wind – and Germany, a number of countries in the Baltic have plans to build offshore windfarms, including Poland, Lithuania and Estonia. Sweden is also planning to build offshore windfarms and Finland is making plans to do so, as is Latvia.
In September 2020, high-level representatives of eight countries in the Baltic signed a joint declaration to accelerate the buildout of offshore wind in the region. Among the signatories to the Baltic Sea Offshore Wind Declaration were Poland, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia. The countries signing the declaration jointly committed to expand offshore wind in the Baltic and said they wanted to foster mutual collaboration in the context of the Baltic Energy Market Interconnection Plan.
If the 30 August 2022 summit results in a similar level of commitment to new offshore wind capacity in the Baltic as agreed in the North Sea, it would be a turning point for the market, there and further boost the already rapidly growing global offshore wind backlog.
