At the North Sea Summit in the Danish town of Esbjerg last year, an ambitious target was set. The plan was to turn the North Sea into Europe’s ”green power house.”

The way to reach that target was by installing 65GW offshore wind by 2030. And 150GW before we get to 2050.

A mere year later and those targets will be more than doubled, maintain Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo. He hosts Monday’s summit in the Belgian coastal town of Oostend.

”Nine countries aim to build 134GW offshore wind by 2030 and more than 300GW in 2050,” said De Croo on a press briefing ahead of Monday’s summit.

The ramp-up reflects the doubling of member nations, having gone from four to nine. Last year, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen hosted the summit in Esbjerg on the Danish west coast. Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium were part of the summit back then.

But now, several other North Sea neighboring countries opts to join the group, with France and the UK as the most notable additions.

”Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands and Belgium saw the potential for expanding the coalition. To the south with France and to the west with the UK and Ireland. Norway also holds a great potential. And when pooling those forces together, the offshore wind ambitions become vast,” says De Croo.

The sudden interest in sustainable energy sources in the North Sea is a direct result of many European nations scrambling to access cheaper energy after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Additionally, sustainable energy is a decisive climate mitigation measure.

According to De Croo, the summit aims to shun haughty ambitions which won’t come into force before the vast majority of the delegates have left their political offices. Instead, the summit focuses on speedy execution.

Notably by standardizing the infrastructure needed so that North Sea wind farms can be built faster and cheaper. He also calls for more swift permit processing.

”Standardization allows us to move forward more quickly. Our main focus is on offshore wind. But some countries choose to combine offshore wind and hydrogen, so that is also on the docket at the summit,” says Belgian Energy Minister Tinne van der Straeten.

President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen and some 100 industrial partners, including some of Europe’s major utilities, are also participating in the summit.