Power Archipelago

Europe needs to build energy islands. But what sort should it build?

“Oblivion”, a film starring Tom Cruise and released in 2013, was quickly relegated to the fate of its title. Still, it was memorable for one thing: gigantic contraptions of alien origin called “hydro-rigs”. They hovered over the Earth’s oceans and sucked up water. Europe’s ambitious plans to build an archipelago of artificial “energy islands” in the North and Baltic seas evoke a similar sci-fi vibe. Some will be huge, the size of dozens of football fields, designed to collect the power generated by hundreds of surrounding wind turbines. In March 2024 Elia, a Belgian power-grid operator, will start building the first one 45 km off the country’s coast. But does Europe require such pharaonic projects?