Industry leaders and legislators said that Europe has fallen behind its own ambitious offshore wind energy targets due to rising costs, redtapism and inadequate policies. They presented their recommendations on Thursday to the new European Commission.

On Thursday, Denmark hosted a conference in the port city of Odense to discuss the ways to realize the political vision to transform the North Sea into an energy hub for green energy that would help the EU reach climate neutrality while increasing energy security.

Last year, the North Sea countries committed to building 120 gigawatts of offshore wind energy by 2030 and 300 GW at least by 2050. This is equivalent to around 20,000 wind turbines. This is an increase from the 35 GW installed across Europe today.

Kadri SIMSON, EU Energy Commissioner, said: "At the moment we still struggle to reach our 2030 target."

In the last 20 years, the industry has experienced rapid growth due to lower technology costs and larger turbines.

Finding financing has become difficult due to the shrinking profit margins of both developers and turbine manufacturers as a result of the increasing costs associated with building wind farms at sea.

Vestas, world's biggest wind turbine manufacturer, has said that Europe falls short of its goals due to long permit processing times and flawed auction design.

Henrik Andersen, CEO of the company, said in Odense, where turbine blades, towers and other components are being sent to sea.

"You know the turbines which are sent from here will not go to the North Sea. He said they were headed for other countries like Japan and Taiwan. Jacob GronholtPedersen reports.

(source: Reuters)