The emissions goals across the continent are formidable: Germany alone, for example, must reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 to 90 percent of what they were in 1990. It also has to increase its renewable energy share to 80 percent of its total energy production. Journeys like Germany’s are made more complicated by the continent’s steady move away from nuclear power, making the pressure to find clean renewable sources even more intense. To put it bluntly, Europe needs something big—and quick—to have any chance at success.
Thankfully, the region is already making some headway, particularly with some interesting projects in the wind-battered waters around Northern Europe. The most ambitious plan yet was unveiled to the public in early March: a new chain of artificial islands dedicated solely to wind power.
Under the plan, the North Sea could gain an archipelago of power-generating islands within a decade. A Danish, Dutch, and German consortium created by the companies TenneT and Energinet is launching plans to create an island 6 kilometers in circumference, roughly equidistant between Denmark, Norway, Britain, Germany, and the Netherlands. [...]
Finally, while it is unlikely that the islands would be permanently inhabited, they would provide an ideal base to service the turbines and power lines, providing a temporary base for staff that would make maintenance cheaper and easier. The video below—still speculative—reveals it as a reasonably spacious place, with a high, rocky breakwater sheltering space for a dock, an airstrip, and service buildings, as well as a freshwater pool with tree-planted edges. Should the initial project be successful, a string of other islands nearby could be in the works.
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