The governments of Ireland, Belgium and the UK will cooperate with each other on offshore wind development and the role of interconnectors in the energy transition after signing a joint statement in Brussels this week.
The statement builds on the Ostend declaration, signed by nine North Sea countries in 2023, on the development of offshore wind and associated infrastructure in the region.
The latest agreement creates a new working group that will see Ireland, Belgium and the UK share and collaborate on their respective national plans for new offshore wind and the planned interconnectors that can transmit the energy produced across the region.
Among the projects likely to be impacted by the collaboration is Belgium's plan for an energy island named the Princess Elizabeth Island designed to connect 3.5GW of offshore wind off Belgium's North Sea coast.
Ireland’s energy, climate change and environment department said the group would explore possibilities of trilateral agreements between the three countries, with work expected to be completed in the first half of 2025.
“Princess Elisabeth Island will unlock Belgium's second offshore wind zone. It will also serve as a landing point for future hybrid interconnectors. With this partnership, Ireland, the UK and Belgium are realising the ambitions set out at the North Sea summit in Ostend a year ago: to make the North Sea the largest sustainable power plant in Europe,” Tinne van der Straeten, Belgium’s energy minister, said.
.png)
.png)
