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Offshore Wind Common Goal in Netherlands as 75 Pct of Electricity in 2032 Expected to Come from Wind Farms in Dutch North Sea. “The story in the Netherlands is a little bit boring because the outlook here is still great. We do have a new cabinet, however, the new cabinet made a clear statement that offshore wind is going to be developed as it was before”, said Jan Vos. Currently, the Netherlands has 4.5 GW of offshore wind capacity in operation and plans to have a total of 21 GW by 2032. While the country’s new cabinet has a different position on the political spectrum than the previous one, the offshore wind roadmap progressed by the previous government continues to be one of the main energy goals. “Offshore wind is the cheapest source of electricity and it is the best way for our country to generate power”, Vos said. “So this cabinet, which is way more on the right than any cabinet we’ve had in the Netherlands, is on track for offshore wind as any other government has been before and they’re fully implementing the roadmap.” One of the drivers for the commitment to offshore wind is also the fact the Netherlands had around 56 per cent of its electricity produced by clean sources in 2024, with renewable energy taking over fossil energy production. “If you plug your laptop or your phone into the socket, 56 per cent of that electricity is from solar and wind energy, and the majority of that is now from wind energy alone. This used to be very different only ten years ago when it was just a few percentage points. So renewable energy took off fascinatingly and, especially in offshore wind, we will continue to grow rapidly”, Vos said. “In 2032, when you plug in your laptop or your phone, 75 per cent of all that electricity will be produced by offshore wind alone. That is gigantic! There is no precedent in recent history for one production source of electricity being so dominant in the energy mix.” Under its offshore wind roadmap, the Netherlands not only plans the 21 GW of offshore wind in 2032 but it also outlines the path towards adding further capacity after that, with an ultimate goal of reaching a total of 72 GW of offshore wind capacity in the North Sea. |
