COPENHAGEN, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) — The leaders of nations bordering the Baltic Sea agreed on Tuesday to sevenfold their offshore wind power generation by 2030, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen told reporters here after hosting the Baltic Sea Energy Security Summit.
Alongside Denmark, the declaration was also signed by Germany, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Sweden and Finland.
The signatories agreed to increase operational offshore wind capacity in the Baltic Sea from the current 2.8 gigawatts (GW) to 19.6 GW, providing electricity to 22 million to 30 million households.
At a press conference in Frederiksen’s official residence in Marienborg, the leaders, together with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, commented on their “Marienborg Declaration”.
“It’s a huge decision,” Frederiksen said. “We are committed to strengthening our cooperation on energy and our resilience, which can support our efforts to phase out our dependence on Russian fossil fuels as quickly as possible, while contributing to climate neutrality in the EU.”
Von der Leyen said the price of natural gas has increased significantly since the West imposed sanctions on Russia.
“The winds of change are blowing,” she said. “I think climate policy is security policy. With this declaration, we both speed up the green transition and make ourselves independent of Russian gas.”
According to the European Commission, offshore wind power in the Baltic Sea has the potential to generate 93 GW of electricity, enough to power more than 100 million households.
The agreement includes the construction of a 470 km long power cable connecting the Danish island of Bornholm in the Baltic Sea with Germany, which connects the two countries’ electricity grids.
The summit in Marienborg follows a similar event in the western Danish town of Esbjerg, which was attended by Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium.
The four countries have agreed on a tenfold increase in offshore wind power capacity in the North Sea to 150 GW by 2050.
Source: sn.dk