Offshore renewable energy consists of many different sources that are abundant, natural and clean, like wind, wave and tidal. These avoid some of the challenges that onshore renewables face – hills, buildings, roads or other human activities which make it difficult to connect to the grid – even if they face additional challenges, such as competition to sea space access. 

The energy of the oceans can be harnessed by modern technologies without emitting any greenhouse gases, making offshore renewable energy a potential cornerstone of the clean energy transition in the EU.

The EU strives to become the first climate-neutral continent by 2050, as emphasised in the European Green Deal, and offshore renewables is therefore of key importance.

This stockshot features an example of a Belgian offshore project. Norther is an offshore wind farm – a total of 44 wind turbines – with a maximum capacity of 370 MW in the North Sea, approximately 23 kilometres from the Belgian port of Zeebrugge.