North Sea countries sign wind farm cooperation deal

The Netherlands, Germany Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Denmark, Ireland, Sweden and Norway are teaming up to research technologies to generate renewable energy in the North Sea and to plan the construction of offshore wind turbines. These "North Sea countries" will ratify their agreements at the Energy Council in Luxembourg on Tuesday, NOS reports.  This cooperation was Minister Henk Kamp of Economic Affairs' idea. While Luxembourg and Ireland are not exactly North Sea countries, Kamp is happy with their involvement - the more countries the better, he feels. The idea is that this cooperation will significantly lower the cost of generating renewable energy on the North Sea, for example through joint development and purchasing. Kamp expects that the North Sea will be covered in wind farms in the future. He demonstrated this to his European colleagues while discussing the cooperation. "We really need to shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy. This collaboration is a breakthrough and could lead to a European energy policy."