Closing ranks on the coast: nine European states are planning a huge eco-energy network to harness the potential of renewable energies more effectively. Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Great Britain and the Netherlands, Ireland, Luxemburg and Sweden have joined the North Sea Offshore Initiative. The states aim to interconnect wind energy plants via a high voltage grid beneath the North Sea. This would be the first European energy network to extend beyond numerous national borders.
“The initiative is of great importance to Germany as a country with ambitious plans to extend offshore energy,” stressed Rainer Brüderle, the Federal Minister of Economics and Technology. He said the project would “bundle the resources of the various participating states.” In addition to this, the possibility of linking up with the hydroelectric power stations in Scandinavia would enable us to store valuable eco-electricity. At the moment excess eco-electricity is still being produced under strong winds. But if the hydroelectric plants were integrated into the system, this energy could be used to pump water into reservoirs. These water reserves could then be used to produce the necessary energy when wind levels are too low. Such a network would make the participating states less dependent on weather fluctuations, which until now have hampered wind energy efficiency. According to the newspaper “Süddeutsche Zeitung” the planned network could also integrate tidal power plants on the Belgian and Danish coasts, and wind and solar energy plants on the European continent.
The founders of the North Sea Offshore Initiative want to develop the main areas of collaboration in the first half of 2010. Further progress will then be agreed in a “Memorandum of Understanding” at the end of 2010. Experts estimate the high-tech network could cost up to 30 billion euros, says the “Süddeutschen Zeitung”. Against the background of the disappointing Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, the eco-electricity project is a positive sign for climate protection. Economics minister Brüderle says: “We want to help make the leap into the age renewable energy as fast as possible. It must be achieved with the latest technologies and economically.”
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