Cabinet wants to double offshore wind energy production
The government is pushing billions of euros into building more offshore wind farms. The new wind farms must double the current amount of wind energy generated, adding 10 gigawatts of power by 2030. The expansion is to help the Dutch industry go green and achieve the 2030 climate goals, AD reports.
These plans are almost concrete, sources close to the Cabinet told the newspaper. Ministers Rob Jetten of Climate and Energy and Mark Habrbers of Infrastructure and Water Management hope to hammer out the final details in Friday's Council of Ministers meeting.
The Netherlands currently has offshore windfarms near IJmuiden and Egmond aan Zee and parks under construction along the Zeeland coast. But tightened European climate targets mean that the Netherlands will need to generate more wind power than the 11 gigawatts agreed to in the Energy Agreement and Climate Agreement.
The coalition, therefore, wants to build another 750 to 800 massive wind turbines in the North Sea. According to the newspaper, the plan is to put them a few dozen kilometers off the coast of Zuid-Holland and Noord-Holland and far above the Wadden Islands.
The billions of euros needed to achieve this will come mainly from the Climate Fund, for which the Cabinet earmarked 35 billion euros in the coalition agreement.
