Cooperation under the RES Directive - Case study on a joint project: An offshore wind park in the North Sea (cooperation between the Netherlands, Belgium, UK, and Luxembourg) : Task 4 report; A report compiled within the European project “Cooperation between EU MS under the RenewableEnergy Directive and interaction with support schemes”

Abstract

This case study provides an overview of how cooperation on a large joint project could beimplemented. It seeks to make the descriptions as close to reality, hands-on and practical aspossible. That said, the case is not an actually ongoing case, but should be seen as a potential projectidea.The joint project consists of a 1000 MW offshore wind park located on Dutch territory, to beconnected to an offshore hub on Belgian territory. Belgium, the Netherlands and the UK will togetherundertake the joint project and share the production and the RES benefits. Belgium will be the drivingforce of the joint project, organising the necessary negotiations and initiatives. The country will alsoassume most risks related to the development of the wind park. Therefore, we assume that the jointproject will be shared in the following way: 40% to Belgium, 30% to the Netherlands, and 30% tothe UK. We further assume that Belgium can achieve to involve Luxembourg into the project viastatistical transfers, corresponding to 10% of the project.Because of the first mover character of such a joint project in the North Sea, with offshore electricityproduction connected to several countries, we discuss in detail the implications of the set-up and thecooperation. We assume that the countries cooperate on the joint project, but not on their supportschemes. The latter aspect might follow in a second step.We show that all involved countries can benefit from the joint project. Belgium benefits fromgaining access to additional wind resources, which will help meeting its ambitious RES target. TheNetherlands will benefit from the connection of the wind park to the Belgian offshore hub. This will beat lower cost than a connection to Dutch shore – in return, the Netherlands will though only receive30% of the wind production as compared to own development at the same site. The UK will gain anoption on additional offshore wind resources that may be at competitive prices. Luxembourg mighthave a benefit from using a concrete joint project for the import of RES benefits, as they are moretangible than for e.g. technology-neutral, ‘pure’ statistical transfers. Please note that this study serves as an example for the potential set-up, issues and solutions of jointoffshore wind projects in an offshore grid. This is case is highly hypothetical. The Netherlands isalready developing the Borssele site for offshore wind, according to the Dutch Energy Agreementand, more specifically, the agreements on offshore wind and the offshore grid.