Netherlands: 2040 offshore wind targets lowered from 50 GW to 30 GW

The Dutch Ministry for Climate and Green Growth has announced in a letter to Parliament dated 16/07/2025 a revision of its target for offshore wind power generation in the North Sea from 50 GW to 30 GW by 2040.

The Dutch government is sending Parliament its North Sea Wind Infrastructure Plan (WIN), which sets out the choices to be made in the coming years regarding offshore energy infrastructure in order to achieve the government's long-term objectives for offshore wind power. The plan covers the period 2033-2040, with an outlook to 2050. The Netherlands has already planned to deploy 21 GW by 2030.

"It is not realistic to aim for 50 GW in 2040. The latest analyses also show that the electricity demand forecast for 2040 probably doesn't justify it. The development of the hydrogen industry is also slower than expected, which makes the production of hydrogen at sea less urgent. Consequently, it seems neither feasible nor necessary to have 50 GW of offshore wind generation capacity in 2040, nor to build the infrastructure for it", writes Sophie Hermans, Minister for Climate and Green…