U.S.–EU High-Level Business Forum on Offshore Wind Power

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — United States (U.S.) Secretary of Energy, Jennifer M. Granholm, and European Union (EU) Commissioner for Energy, Kadri Simson, co-led the 2022 U.S.-EU Energy Council High-Level Business Forum, focused on offshore wind energy. The High-Level Business Forum was held in conjunction with the International Offshore Wind Partnering Forum (IPF) 2022, in Atlantic City, New Jersey, on April 27th.  

The U.S.–EU Energy Council High-Level Business Forum facilitated discussions and direct engagement between U.S. and EU private sector and government leaders about policies needed to accelerate investment in offshore wind projects and the development of an offshore wind manufacturing base in the U.S. The event promoted business-to-business conversations between U.S. and EU companies about partnering in the development of offshore wind projects on both continents.

The U.S.–EU Energy Council is the lead transatlantic coordination forum on strategic energy issues dealing with energy security, policies and technologies between the U.S. and the EU. As part of their respective climate change mitigation strategies, the U.S. and EU both announced ambitious offshore wind power deployment goals for the year 2030: 30 gigawatts in the U.S. and at least 60 gigawatts in the EU. These are part of a longer-term ambition on both sides to become climate-neutral by 2050. U.S.–EU cooperation on offshore wind energy is among key priorities to accelerate market deployment and utilization of clean energy technologies and measures in Europe and the United States as stated by President Biden and President Von der Leyen in their Joint Statement of March 25th.

Secretary Granholm said, “By achieving our ambitious goal of deploying 30 gigawatts of offshore wind power by 2030, the U.S. will hit the trifecta of advancing our own energy security, helping combat the climate crisis, and supporting an estimated 77,000 jobs in America. Convening a U.S.–EU Energy Council High-Level Business Forum on Offshore Wind Power shows our dedication to transatlantic partnerships that will accelerate investment to build domestic supply chains and deploy offshore wind farms in the United States.”

Commissioner Simson said, “Our day started with the announcement by Gazprom that it is unilaterally stopping delivery of natural gas to some customers in Europe. This weaponisation of gas shows once again that we need to move away from Russian dependence. This is where renewable energy comes in. The European Union is already a global leader in offshore wind energy in particular. Today, we have 16GW of installed offshore wind capacity. We put in place the most comprehensive regulatory framework with a view to reach 60GW by 2030 and 300GW by 2050. There is a huge transatlantic business opportunity for our energy security and climate neutrality. We are ready to support this opportunity with our US partners.”

This is the third High-Level Business Forum organized under the U.S.–EU Energy Council, following similar meetings in Brussels on Liquefied Natural Gas and Small Modular Nuclear Reactors in 2019.