The numeric sequence 12-60-300 is not a simple code built on multiples of five nor an easy-to-remember phone number. It is something of much greater importance: these figures are the targeted offshore wind capacities in gigawatts for Europe – the UK now excluded – in 2020, 2030 and 2050 as set in the European Commission’s EU offshore renewable energy strategy.

And here is another important number: €800bn ($960bn) – the total investment calculated necessary to build the 300GW offshore wind fleet that can help decarbonise Europe by 2050.

The decarbonisation of Europe will require the electrification of most parts of the economy, either directly – such as the case of electric vehicles – or indirectly – via generation by electrolysis of green hydrogen.

The EU’s hydrogen strategy sets and objective of 40GW of renewable energy to power electrolysers as soon as 2030. High capacity factor renewable technologies, such as offshore wind, are said to be the best fit to allow for continuous operation of electrolysers.

This is convenient in a sense as Europe, being a densely populated continent, has geographic limits when it comes to the installation of renewable energy plant on land. Going offshore will allow for the implementation of the massive power generation capacity required to usher green hydrogen in to the energy mainstream.

In this state of massive market growth, Europe does not want to lose its global leadership in offshore wind

So far so good. But to achieve this, there is a clear need for spatial planning to enable coordination on maritime ecosystem protection, on the uses of offshore acreage and on the access to the grid. The Commission’s strategy particularly tackles this, with existing initiatives like the North Seas Energy Cooperation already proving fruitful and referential in showing the significant benefits of working on spatial planning across maritime borders.

Grid connection will be key too, with the Commission strategy is pushing for greater link-up between different members state and for so-called hybrids projects, which would wire together wind farms directly via cross-border interconnectors. Next steps will include a framework for collaboration between developers, transmission system operators and EU States to distribute cost and benefits of the interconnections.

Offshore wind has been led by European companies since the first sea-based project, Denmark’s Vindeby, was built in 1991, and the EU has developed its stewardship of this industry around the 23GW bottom-fixed fleet now operating in the shallower waters of the northern seas.

During these last 30 years offshore wind’s levelised cost of energy (LCOE) has been halved and halved again, to the point where projects are being constructed on a merchant market LCOE. This success has exponentially increased the interest in sea-based wind all around the world as a source of clean energy and economic growth – not least in China, which is expected to soon eclipse Europe as the largest offshore wind play on the planet.

Now we are also seeing a bloom of offshore wind as new markets such as Taiwan, US, Japan, Korea and Vietnam present their own pipeline of developments, with floating project removing the limitation of water depth and in the process extending the feasibility of offshore wind to any coastal region in the world.

In this state of massive market growth, Europe does not want to lose its global leadership in offshore wind. This way, the EU strategy reinforces the mobilisation of finance: both unlocking private sector funds, backed by InvestEU, and by a continuous support to research and innovation in impactful programmes as Horizon Europe.

Speaking from the floating wind side, it must be acknowledged that this continuous support for innovation by the EU has been a key element on the sector’s development, which should continue to be considered to be a real game changer for the global energy industry by allowing almost unlimited cost efficient electricity to power decarbonisation. Worldwide industrialisation of floating wind – which DNV GL forecast could expand to 250GW or more by mid-century – awaits.

First though, it is a matter of working together to achieve the 12-60-300 offshore wind gigawatt target in Europe. After all, numbers don’t lie.

· Luis González-Pinto is chief operating officer of Spanish floating wind pioneer Saitec Offshore Technologies

Power Players

'Offshore – and floating – wind is Europe's $1trn answer to the question of climate action'