The 3rd North Sea Summit in Hamburg

In-depth analysis

On 26 January 2026, Germany will host for the first time, the third international North Sea Summit at the Hamburg City Hall. The overriding goal of the summit is to make decisions on closer cooperation in the cross-border expansion of offshore wind energy.

To this end, the heads of state and government as well as the energy ministers from Belgium, Denmark, Germany, France, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway and the United Kingdom will come together. The European Commission and, for the first time, NATO and Iceland have also been invited. In addition, more than one hundred key players from the industry will take part in the meeting, including representatives from the electricity grid, wind energy, large electricity consumers, non-governmental organisations, trade unions and financial institutions.

Background to the North Sea Summit

This summit is the third of its kind and follows the first summit in Esbjerg, Denmark (2022) and the second summit in Ostend (2023), Belgium. The original aim was also to strengthen cooperation between the North Sea coastal states in the expansion of offshore wind energy and thus reduce their joint dependence on fossil fuel imports from Russia in view of the war of aggression against Ukraine. At the first summit, the four founding countries (Germany, Denmark, Belgium and the Netherlands) signed a declaration reaffirming their goal of quadrupling their joint offshore power generation capacity to 150 gigawatts by 2050.

The second North Sea Summit followed in 2023 in Ostend, Belgium. In addition to the “Esbjerg states,” Norway, France, Luxembourg, the United Kingdom and Ireland also participated. In Ostend, the participating countries decided to develop the North Sea into a “green power plant for Europe” and to install a capacity of 120 gigawatts by 2030 and a total of 300 gigawatts by 2050 in the North Sea. This goal was subsequently reflected in the European Commission’s communication on achieving the EU’s renewable offshore energy targets (COM/2023/668) from October 2023.

Current situation of offshore wind energy

The offshore wind industry has recently found itself in a difficult situation. In the June 2025 tender round in Germany, for example, only comparatively low bids were submitted and awarded in the dynamic bidding process. This trend continued even more clearly in the subsequent tender round in August 2025: not a single bid was submitted for two areas in the North Sea – the first failed tender for offshore wind areas in Germany. The reasons cited for this reluctance included the tender design, shadowing effects between neighbouring offshore wind farms, rising costs along the entire value chain, interest rate developments, a lack of infrastructure, lengthy approval procedures and bottlenecks in grid connection (see our articles “Offshore wind energy in Germany – current challenges” and “Offshore wind in Germany: From market premium to contracts for difference?”). According to a recent forecast by the German Offshore Wind Energy Association (BWO), the expansion targets for 2030 could be significantly missed, with only 19.5 GW instead of the planned 30 GW.

A similar picture is emerging in other countries. In November 2024, for example, a tender in Denmark received no bids for reasons like those behind the tender in Germany in August. In the United Kingdom, a round of tenders failed in 2023 because the government had set the price cap for Contracts for Difference (CfD) too low.

Recently, however, there have been glimmers of hope in the industry. The latest tender in the UK was a great success. It was the largest tender for offshore wind areas in Europe to date (8.4 GW), for which numerous bids were received. The British government has allocated a budget of £1.79 billion for the implementation of this tender design, including for the realisation of CfDs. In the Netherlands, a tender for an area of one gigawatt will take place in September 2026 with government support.

Topics of the summit

The third North Sea Summit in Hamburg aims to further advance the implementation of the ambitious joint goal formulated in the Ostend Declaration. Its motto is “From National to Regional”.The main topics for the summit are:

the creation of suitable investment conditions for offshore wind energy,
cross-border planning and financing of offshore wind farms and the associated electricity grids,
the protection of critical infrastructure, and
cross-border cooperation in the expansion of hydrogen infrastructure.

The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWE) has stated that the summit’s objectives are to increase synergy effects in land use, strengthen European electricity trading and ensure better utilisation of the grid infrastructure. This is to be achieved through the planning and implementation of offshore wind farms connected to more than one country, as well as through the connection of offshore wind farms from the exclusive economic zones (EEZ) of other countries – so-called cooperation projects. According to Federal Chancellor Friedrich Merz, “the North Sea is to be developed into the largest reservoir of clean energy worldwide.”

Expectations and outlook

As a result of the summit, the German government expects both intergovernmental summit declarations at various levels – a declaration by the heads of state and government and a declaration by the energy ministers – as well as bilateral and multilateral agreements between the North Sea states on cooperation projects. An agreement with industry is also expected.

The results of the summit are eagerly awaited and their signal effect on the industry is likely to be considerable, especially in the current situation. However, it should not be forgotten that summit declarations merely reflect political consensus. They are not binding and do not usually result in binding agreements with commitments regarding resources or timetables. For example, the expansion targets in the Esbjerg and Ostend summit declarations were not incorporated into German or European law but remain a non-binding political goal to this day. The situation is likely to be similar with the expected agreement with industry, especially as it is still completely unclear what the content of such an agreement might be. The only thing that can be expected is that this agreement will increase trust and confidence in the industry.

The bilateral and multilateral agreements, on the other hand, could be more concrete and therefore more interesting. This is particularly true because they relate to cooperation projects. They could therefore contain binding requirements for the planning and implementation of offshore wind farms with electricity connections to more than one country, as well as for the connection of offshore wind farms from the EEZs of other countries.
Regarding the specific content of the summit results, three points deserve particular attention.

Firstly, NATO was invited to the summit for the first time, and the protection of critical infrastructure was listed by the BMWE as a separate important topic. It can therefore be assumed that the defence of European power generation infrastructure in the North Sea will form a significant part of the summit declaration. In view of the existing draft bills on the implementation of the CER Directive (EU 2022/2557) into a German KRITIS (Critical Infrastructure Protection) umbrella law and on the implementation of the NIS 2 Directive (EU 2022/2555), no major innovations are to be expected. Nevertheless, a common line on the protection of offshore power generation infrastructure would be welcome.

Secondly, the German government has made cross-border cooperation on the expansion of hydrogen infrastructure and the hydrogen market a key topic for the summit. The importance of hydrogen for the industry of the future is well known and is already being promoted through a national hydrogen strategy and at EU level. However, the summit could bring interesting innovations, particularly regarding bilateral and multilateral agreements on cooperation projects in the North Sea.

Thirdly, given the success of the CfD tender in the UK, it can be assumed that the tender design for creating suitable investment conditions for offshore wind energy will be a key topic. The EU Electricity Market Regulation (EU 2024/1747) already stipulates the use of CfDs or equivalent market instruments for tenders from 2027 onwards. However, the specific design of the tenders is still open, as was also evident in the BMWE’s consultation process on the amendment of the Offshore Wind Energy Act. Guidelines for uniform tenders in the North Sea region would be desirable, but expectations should not be too high. Nevertheless, broad approval of CfD-like instruments would send an important signal to the market.

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