By 2020 the EE has said it wants about 20% of energy to be renewable. To make this happen nine different countries - Germany, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Denmark, Sweden and Ireland and the UK - are drawing up long-term plans for a collaborative renewable energy grid that links together clean power sources (wind, wave, solar, etc) around the North Sea.
The idea is to balance out energy production across the continent by using high voltage direct current underwater cables to link together all the current and planned renewable energy projects.
For instance, Justin Wilkes of the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) calculates that over 100GW of offshore wind projects are currently being developed around Europe which would meet around 10% of EU demand.
Unpredictable weather patterns (e.g. less sun or wind) often disrupt the smooth supply of renewable energy, load balancing across a grid solves this problem.
You can hear a 4m podcast about this here.
[Spotted on The Guardian Environment]
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