Eight transmission system operators (TSOs) from the Baltic Sea region have published a joint expert document on closer cross-border cooperation in the field of offshore wind energy and related electricity transmission network infrastructure. They presented their strategic guidelines yesterday at a meeting of ministers on the Baltic Energy Market Interconnection Plan (BEMIP) in Warsaw, organized by Polish Energy Minister Paulina Hennig-Kloska and European Commissioner for Energy and Climate Action Dan Jorgensen.
The electricity network operators of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Sweden, known as the Baltic Offshore Grid Initiative (BOGI), aims to develop a joint action plan for producing more offshore wind energy in the Baltic Sea and supplying it to the relevant markets as efficiently as possible. This document pays particular attention to maritime infrastructure safety and security issues. Given the expected increase in the number of offshore wind farm projects, the Baltic Sea region could become more attractive for industrial investment in manufacturing companies and has the potential to create many jobs across the value chain.
The energy production potential of the Baltic Sea is around 93 GW, compared to less than 5 GW currently installed capacity. Regulatory and economic conditions are still lacking to jointly exploit this potential for a strong Europe. The expert paper aims to provide impetus in this area.
The document is based on the Vilnius Declaration signed by the governments of the Baltic Sea region on April 10, 2024, which gave operators a clear mandate to strengthen regional cooperation. At that time, the countries of the Baltic Sea region set a target of achieving 26.7 GW of offshore wind capacity by 2030 and nearly 45 GW by 2040. In the expert document, the TSOs analyze the potential for electricity interconnections between EU Member States and illustrate these possibilities on a map of the Baltic Sea network. These possibilities include point-to-point interconnections, i.e., cross-border electricity lines, so-called hybrid interconnections, connecting offshore wind farms in two or more countries, as well as cross-border radial connections connecting wind farms located in the territorial waters of one country to the electricity grid of another country.
The expert document also examines whether the planned offshore wind farms could have a negative impact on energy efficiency due to the interaction and turbulence between the turbines (wake effect), how the necessary financing can be secured, to achieve the right cost-benefit ratio, taking into account the increasing project costs, and how supply chain disruptions can be reduced overall. In view of this, operators propose the following measures to address the challenges: closer regional planning between countries and TSOs based on the Nordel master plan, greater involvement of private investors, and targeted EU funding for projects.
The full expert document can be found here
The eight TSOs in the Baltic Sea region are 50Hertz (Germany), AST (Latvia), Elering (Estonia), Energinet (Denmark), Fingrid (Finland), Litgrid (Lithuania), PSE (Poland) and Svenska Kraftnät (Sweden).
Preparatory works for offshore wind farm development and related infrastructure No. 03-004-P-0001
Funded by the European Union NextGenerationEU
