Production of energy

Production of energy as a human activity affecting the marine environment includes renewable energy generation (wind, wave and tidal power), including infrastructure and transmission of electricity and communications (cables).

Overall, the production and transmission of ocean energy activities in the EU-27 generated an estimated EUR 3.3 billion in Gross Value Added (GVA) and employed over 14.3 thousand people in 2021 (Table 1).

Table 1: EU coastal and maritime activities - Ocean energy: number of people employed and Gross Value Added (GVA), past trends (2008-2021) and expected trends (2022-2024).

Read more on these activities

Renewable energy generation

The marine renewable energy production sector includes activities related to offshore wind, wave, tidal, thermal and other ocean energy production. Europe is at the forefront, leading the technological and industrial development of the wide-ranging techniques for harnessing green energy. By 2030 the European Commission estimates that it will be possible to have an installed capacity of at least 60 GW offshore wind and at least 1 GW of ocean energy , rising to 300 GWand 40 GW in 2050 respectively.

Offshore wind energy production

Offshore wind energy production in particular has seen a steep rise since the 2000s. The majority of wind farms are found in the Baltic Sea and North Sea and are showing an increasing trend in the size and capacity of their turbines, and their distance from shore. Offshore wind grew 18% in 2018 and by 2024, Europe's total installed capacity is expected to reach 29.8 GW, expanding at an annual growth rate of 12 %. The world’s first offshore wind farm was installed off the southern coast of Denmark in 1991 and more recently the world’s first floating wind farm was installed off the coast of Scotland in 2017 and is currently in operation.

Tidal, wave and ocean energy production

Tidal, wave and ocean energy production utilize the kinetic, temperature and salinity properties of the ocean. The majority of the EU installed capacity is found in France with the UK and Portugal contributing significantly less. In 2015 it was estimated that this type of energy production contributed 0.02 % of the EU-28’s total electricity generated from renewable sources. Some projections predict installed ocean energy capacity in the EU reaching 3 600 MW by 2020, while others project 665 MW by 2020.

Non-renewable energy generation

Transmission of electricity and communications

Cables laid on or buried under the seafloor are used for the transfer of electricity and communication transmissions across Europe’s seas. Subsea telecommunications provide transmission of over 95% of all communication traffic but expansion is still being explored into new territories such as thawing Arctic regions. As offshore renewable energies continue to grow, more and longer cables and pipelines will be needed to reach the more distant offshore wind farm sites.

Pressures on the marine environment

While construction and operation of these energy production activities can provide some benefits to the marine environment such as the introduction of new habitat areas and the closing of areas to fishing practices (i.e. trawling around seabed cables), they mostly impose pressures. These pressures include the introduction of electromagnetic energy, the physical loss and disturbance of seabed habitats, disturbance of mammals and seabirds, and provision of pathways for invasive species. The pressures imposed on the marine environment by this activity include:

Physical loss and disturbance of the seabed, cause in the area where installations and related infrastructure are constructed, causing fragmentation of natural habitats and limits species distribution.

Changes to hydrographical conditions can be caused by large scale infrastructure construction, such as a field of multiple wind farms.

Introduction of underwater noise is related to emissions of impulsive underwater noise during construction phase of infrastructure construction.

Contamination can be aggravated by construction and dredging due to resuspension of polluted sediments or emissions from ships and other equipment used in the processes.

Eutrophication can be aggravated in the eutrophic areas by resuspension of nutrients from sediments.

Non-indigenous species can be transferred by vessels used during construction or maintenance; alien material (such as concrete) can serve as welcoming habitat supporting survival of alien species that can attach themselves to empty surfaces (Duarte et al., 2012).

References

European Commission, Directorate-General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, Joint Research Centre, Borriello, A., Calvo Santos, A., Codina López, L. et al., The EU blue economy report 2024, Publications Office of the European Union, 2024, https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2771/186064
^↵
EC, 2020a. Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, The Council, The European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions: An EU Strategy to harness the potential of offshore renewable energy for a climate neutral future. {SWD(2020) 273 final}
^a^b^c
EC, 2020b. European Commission (2020) — Progress of clean energy competitiveness (SWD (2020) 953 final.
^↵
EC, 2020c. Commission Staff Working Document: Impact assessment accompanying the document ‘Communication from the commission to the European Parliament, The Council, The European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the regions: Stepping up Europe’s 2030 climate ambition – Investing in a climate-neutral future for the benefit of our people. {COM(2020) 562 final} - {SEC(2020) 301 final} - {SWD(2020) 177 final} - {SWD(2020) 178 final}
^↵
JRC, 2019.Technology Market Report Ocean Energy, JRC117349.
^↵
EEA, 2019. Marine Messages II. Navigating the course towards clean, healthy and productive seas through implementation of an ecosystem-based approach. European Environment Agency, EEA Report, 17/2019: 82 pp.
^a^b
Credence Research, 2017. Europe Offshore Wind Energy Market – Growth, Share, Opportunities & Competitive Analysis. pp. 2016–2024.
^↵
EC, 2017. Commission directive (EU) 2017/845 of 17 May 2017 amending Directive 2008/56/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards the indicative lists of elements to be taken into account for the preparation of marine strategies. Official Journal of the European Union, L 125/27, 18.5.2017.
^↵
Eurostat. 2017. 'Tidal, wave and ocean energy', http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/environmental.data.centre.on.natural.resources/natural.resources/energy.resources/tidal.wave.and.ocean.energy) accessed September 18. 2017.
^↵
EC, 2016. Prospects for long term smart, sustainable development of European offshore industry and its relations with the EU’s maritime sectors [Official Journal]. Retrieved from https://eur.lex.europa.eu/legal.content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:52015IE1459&from=EN
^↵
Korpinen, S., Klančnik, K., Peterlin, M., Nurmi, M., Laamanen, L., Zupančič, G., Popit, A., Murray, C., Harvey, T., Andersen, J.H.,Zenetos, A., Stein, U., Tunesi, L., Abhold, K., Piet, G., Kallenbach, E., Agnesi, S., Bolman, B., Vaughan, D., Reker, J. & Royo Gelabert,E., 2019, Multiple pressures and their combined effects in Europe’s seas. ETC/ICM Technical Report 4/2019: European Topic Centre on Inland, Coastal and Marine waters, 164 pp. (https://www.eionet.europa.eu/etcs/etc-icm/products/etc-icm-report-4-2019-multiple-pressures-and-their-combined-effects-in-europes-seas)
^a^b^c
JRC, F. 2017, February 2. JRC Ocean Energy Status Report: 2016 Edition [Text]. Retrieved June 14, 2019, from EU Science Huba European Commission website: https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/en/publication/eur.scientific.and.technical.research.reports/jrc.ocean.energy.status.report.2016.edition
^↵
COGEA, CETMAR, & EASME, 2017. Study on the establishment of a framework for processing and analysing of maritime economic data in Europe: Final report MARE/2014/45.
^↵