Ten countries sign Hamburg Declaration on North Sea power grid

Target of 100 GW of offshore wind with cross-border grids; 5 GW a year jointly from 2031 to 2040; about €1 trillion of investment expected by 2040

Ten European countries agree to accelerate the expansion of offshore wind farms in the 2030s and to build a power grid in the North Sea – a milestone in transforming the ageing oil basin into a 'clean energy reservoir'. Plan: offshore wind farms with direct connections to various countries via high-voltage submarine cables; 100 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind capacity (enough for 143 million households). Governments pledge to jointly build 5 GW of offshore wind capacity per year from 2031-2040. Over 100 companies signed an industry declaration on cost reduction and the creation of 91,000 jobs. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz: the North Sea is to become the 'largest clean energy reservoir worldwide'. The UK also plans to cooperate with Germany, Belgium, Denmark and the Netherlands on cross-border offshore projects with joint planning and cost sharing. Transmission system operators are to identify around 20 GW of 'economically promising' cross-border projects by 2027 (including hybrid projects such as a UK wind farm exporting electricity to other countries).