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227. Wind + Grids = Energy Security - May26
Brief
Wind and grids as pillars of European energy security was the focus of a wide-ranging conversation between hosts Laurent and Gérard and their guest Tina vander Straeten, WindEurope’s newly introduced CEO and former Belgian energy minister. Tina framed the conversation around two shocks — the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine and the recent Middle East disruption — arguing these crises underscore Europe’s vulnerability when it relies on imported fossil fuels. Her central prescription: accelerate deployment of homegrown electricity through wind (onshore and offshore), faster permitting, stronger interconnections, and electrification of transport, buildings and industry.
The discussion moved from policy to technical and market realities. Tina pointed out that wind reached ~20% of Europe’s electricity and that 2025 saw ~€45 billion in FIDs, evidence of industry confidence when regulatory frameworks are stable. She stressed the importance of repowering existing onshore sites (using the Italy example: 13 GW installed, ~6 GW ageing in the next five years) to double capacity and triple generation at prime locations. Hosts and Tina agreed that onshore will remain the backbone (roughly 80–90% of installations), while offshore — especially in the shallow North Sea and Baltic with an established supply chain — is scalable; turbines are growing (onshore ~6 MW, offshore ~20 MW) and modern projects can reach ~40% load factors. They also debated policy tensions: Germany’s fast-track permitting produced strong deployment, Poland is emerging as the third major offshore market after the UK and Germany, and Spain’s geography makes floating offshore more relevant but costlier. The hosts criticised Sweden’s rollback on offshore as ideological; Tina countered that energy policy must be fact-based and stable to attract capital. Across the episode the parties converged on three imperatives: provide regulatory stability (so banks will finance projects), create predictable project pipelines, and build the interconnections and market design (auctions/CfDs) needed to marry abundant wind output with electrification across Europe.
Why it matters
Tina vander Straeten (introduced as the new CEO of WindEurope and former Belgian energy minister in 2022) said wind supplied ~20% of Europe's electricity in 2025 and that the industry reached €45 billion of final investment decisions (FIDs) that year, signalling investor confidence.
Key details
- Vander Straeten argued for ‘homegrown electricity’ to increase Europe’s energy security after the 2022 Russian invasion and the 2026 Middle East shock, urging faster renewables deployment, electrification of heat/transport/industry, and more grid interconnection.
- On technology and scale: hosts and Tina noted onshore turbines have grown (up to ~6 MW each) and offshore machines up to ~20 MW, with modern projects reaching ~40% capacity factors; onshore still dominates (~80–90% of installations) and repowering is a priority.
- She highlighted repowering as a fast win — e.g., Italy has 13 GW of onshore wind with ~6 GW reaching end-of-life in ~5 years; repowering could reduce turbine count while doubling capacity and tripling generation at existing sites.
- Policy and permitting: Germany’s fast-permitting approach (using overriding public interest) drove ~1/3 of European onshore installations in 2025; Tina warned that regulatory instability undermines investment despite the €45bn FID number.
- Market design and project delivery: the panel agreed CfDs/auctions work (they cited examples in Poland, the UK, Germany) and that offshore supply chains thrive in the North Sea/Baltic (shallow waters, oil & gas skills), while floating offshore in the Mediterranean remains costly and nascent.