A growing number of wind turbines in the North Sea are powering Europe’s green transition, but they may also be stirring up international tensions.
A Dutch weather forecaster has raised concerns that Belgium’s offshore wind farms are inadvertently siphoning wind energy from Dutch installations, prompting calls for better international coordination of wind energy infrastructure.
Remco Verzijlbergh, CEO of the Dutch weather forecasting service Whiffle, has accused Belgium of “stealing wind” from the Netherlands’ wind turbines in the North Sea.
Speaking to Belgian public broadcaster VRT, Verzijlbergh explained how the positioning of wind farms plays a significant role in their efficiency and the amount of wind energy they can harness.
“A wind turbine is designed to extract wind from the air,” Verzijlbergh said. “If you measure behind a wind turbine, the wind blows less hard. Behind a wind farm with many wind turbines together, you really see lower wind speeds.”
According to Verzijlbergh, Belgian wind farms are located to the southwest of many Dutch offshore parks. Since prevailing winds in the North Sea often blow from the southwest, Belgian turbines can absorb a portion of that wind energy before it reaches Dutch installations—up to 3%, by some estimates.
The phenomenon, sometimes referred to as a “wake effect,” is a well-known concept in wind energy development. When wind passes through a turbine, it loses both speed and turbulence. This can reduce the efficiency of other turbines located downwind.
“They [Belgian wind farms] are in a favourable position,” Verzijlbergh explained. “You often steal some of our wind.”
As both countries work to meet ambitious climate goals, Verzijlbergh warned that such unintentional competition could undermine collective efforts unless better coordination is established.
“Coordination is needed so that it is not handled unwisely or that no ‘race to the water’ is organised, where whoever builds first also gets the most favourable wind,” he said. “First of all, within a country itself, but we will also have to do it internationally.”
The call for cooperation comes at a critical time. Belgium has committed to significantly expanding its offshore wind capacity in the coming years.
By 2030, the country aims to install six gigawatts of wind energy in the North Sea as part of its strategy to reach carbon neutrality targets. The Netherlands is pursuing similarly aggressive renewable energy goals.
While the dispute is unlikely to escalate into a diplomatic crisis, it highlights the complex interplay between national infrastructure planning and the shared environmental resources of Europe’s seas.
With the North Sea quickly filling with wind farms from multiple countries, experts agree that multinational agreements and technical planning are crucial to avoid inefficiencies and unintended conflicts.
“The North Sea is slowly being built with wind farms,” said Verzijlbergh. “So there will be more and more of that wind theft.”
As the push for renewable energy accelerates, ensuring that countries don’t unknowingly work against each other may prove essential for Europe’s green energy future.
