A future-proof resilient North Sea

Why this webinar?

The North Sea is rapidly evolving into a cornerstone of the North West European energy system. Offshore wind, electricity grids, hydrogen infrastructure, CO₂ transport and storage, ports and industrial clusters are becoming increasingly interconnected across national borders.

At the same time, the system is under growing pressure. Geopolitical uncertainty, grid congestion, spatial constraints, rising system costs and the need to safeguard ecological balance call for a more integrated and coordinated approach to offshore energy development.

This raises pressing questions for governments, system operators, industry and ports across the region:

• How can the North Sea energy system remain reliable and resilient, even when parts of the system are disrupted?
• How can countries reduce costs and risks through joint infrastructure development rather than fragmented national solutions?
• How can offshore energy ambitions be realised while maintaining ecological balance in the North Sea?
• How can planning, investments and operational decisions be better aligned across sectors and borders?

From ambition to system resilience

Resilience in the North Sea energy system goes beyond the robustness of individual assets. It requires a system level approach, in which offshore electricity, hydrogen and CO₂ infrastructure are designed and operated in a coordinated way — across borders and in balance with ecological values.

In this webinar, TNO brings together experts from research, transmission system operation, energy infrastructure and government to explore how system integration and cross border cooperation can strengthen resilience, sustainability and cost efficiency, while ensuring responsible use of the North Sea.

Evidence from practice: what already works

The discussion builds on concrete programmes and projects that demonstrate how integrated offshore energy systems are already taking shape, including:

• North Sea Energy Programme – international collaboration on offshore system integration, reuse of infrastructure and cross border optimisation.
• PosHYdon – the world’s first offshore green hydrogen pilot, converting wind electricity to hydrogen at sea.
• OESTER – exploring offshore electricity storage to better balance supply and demand.
• Aramis – large scale CO₂ transport and storage infrastructure supporting industrial decarbonisation.
• PHOENIX – developing concepts for cross border hydrogen infrastructure in the North Sea region.
• Renewaflex – research into system flexibility solutions that enable renewable energy integration, focusing on the interaction between offshore generation, grids, storage and demand across sectors.
• OranjeWind – an offshore wind project that serves as a testbed for integrated system design, including connections to the onshore energy system and consideration of spatial planning and ecological balance.

Together, these initiatives provide lessons learned and decision relevant insights for the next phase of offshore energy development — including how to combine system efficiency, resilience and ecological balance.