Britain has signed a clean energy security pact with European leaders to deliver major offshore wind projects in shared waters.

The Hamburg Declaration was signed on 26 January at the North Sea Summit in Hamburg and promises to secure 100 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind power through large-scale joint projects across the continent, transforming the North Sea into the world’s largest ‘clean energy reservoir’.

Projects envisaged include new ‘offshore wind hybrid assets’ — wind farms at sea that are directly linked to more than one country through interconnectors.

According to a statement issued by the UK Department of Energy Security and Net Zero, interconnectors are “crucial to Europe’s energy security, enabling countries in the North Sea to send clean power to where it’s needed most and end Europe’s reliance on volatile fossil fuel markets controlled by petrostates and dictators.”

Quoted in the same statement, UK Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said: “We are standing up for our national interest by driving for clean energy, which can get the UK off the fossil fuel rollercoaster and give us energy sovereignty and abundance.”

The new pact reinforces a commitment made three years ago in response to Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine and weaponisation of Europe’s energy supplies, when North Sea countries pledged to build 300GW of offshore wind in the North Sea by 2050.

With Mr Miliband at the signing of the new pact were Energy Ministers from Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and Norway.

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See also Enlit guest contribution: ‘How offshore wind can unlock a competitive EU steel industry.’