Netherlands plans massive expansion of offshore wind energy to 70 gigawatts

The Cabinet wants to increase the production of wind energy enormously in the coming decades. New wind farms need to be built, especially far away from land. By 2050, the government wants to produce approximately 70 gigawatts of wind energy at sea. The minister of economic affairs and climate, Rob Jetten, called the aim "very ambitious.”

In March, the Cabinet already announced that the capacity for wind energy at sea should be roughly doubled in the coming years. It means that by 2030, approximately 21 gigawatts of electricity will need to be produced at sea. That is already equal to 75 percent of the current energy consumption in the Netherlands.

According to the new plans, that capacity must then double again by 2040, and will eventually expand to about 70 gigawatts by 2050. There will also be the development of large-scale hydrogen production at sea for industrial use.

The new wind farms must be located far out at sea from 2030. Earlier this week, agreements were made with eight other North Sea countries to build a total of 260 gigawatts of offshore wind power by 2050. In doing so, they were in line with a plan that the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium and Denmark presented in May.

These countries then reported their intention to build thousands of wind turbines in the North Sea in the coming decades. In 2050, those wind farms should supply at least 150 gigawatts of power.