To expand offshore wind in Europe and reduce the cost of connecting turbines farther out to sea by cable as coastal locations fill up, TenneT, a major European transmission grid operator, is studying the feasibility of building a $1.8-billion man-made wind-farm island in the North Sea between the U.K. and Denmark—and maybe others. The plan was developed with an eye toward meeting 2050 carbon dioxide emission targets in Europe, which will require large-scale wind generation in the region.
“We’re thinking of a modular approach” for the project, called the North Sea Wind Power Hub, says Jeroen Brouwers, a spokesman for TenneT, the transmission operator for the Netherlands and most of Germany. The islands would be built in a shallow North Sea area called Dogger Bank, about 78 miles from the coast of England known for high winds and near where territorial waters of the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark meet.