The European Parliament’s energy committee has agreed to dedicate €565 million for the development of offshore wind projects.

The EU Economic Recovery Plan intends to tackle the financial crisis by encouraging investments in offshore wind, coal (carbon capture and storage - CCS) and electricity and gas infrastructure.

The Plan has an overall value of €5 billion, of which nearly 80 percent is for energy projects up to 2010, including the initiation of the first stage of an offshore super-grid.
 
Acknowledging the initiative to build Europe’s offshore wind energy resource, Christian Kjaer, chief executive of the European Wind Energy Association, said, “Still, I have doubts whether the vast amounts of money being allocated to coal CCS will contribute to the EU’s economic recovery, since the technology will not be commercially viable this side of 2020. EWEA therefore supports the Parliament’s proposal to allocate any unspent money to renewable energy technologies, including onshore wind power, which can be employed immediately.”

In the recent past, it has already recommended that in order for the EU to meet its CO2 reduction and renewables targets, an extended grid with changed operating procedures is necessary to rejuvenate the EU’s power system, and will help reduce its operational costs whether more wind is added or not. An upgraded grid would, however, also allow larger amounts of wind onto the system.