The European Commission today launched a new consultation process, inviting businesses, investors and renewable energy groups to help identify the barriers currently hampering the development of offshore wind farms.

The consultation, which runs until 20th June, aims to provide the Commission with a clearer understanding of the planning and infrastructure barriers obstructing the development of offshore wind farms and potential solutions to current bottlenecks within the sector.

Project developers, wind farm manufacturers, energy companies, government services, environmental NGOs and other interested stakeholders have all been invited to participate in the consultation process.

The consultation follows the launch earlier this year of the Commission's far reaching climate change plan, which includes a target to generate 20 per cent of Europe's energy from renewable sources by 2020.

Officials believe offshore wind energy has the potential to contribute significantly to reaching that goal but industry figures have consistently claimed that the targets will not be met unless more is done to streamline the planning approval process and deliver the infrastructure required to transmit energy from offshore farms to the mainland.

In related news, German energy giant Energie Baden-Württemberg (EnBW) announced it is to invest €3bn in expanding its renewable energy capacity.

Chief executive of the company Hans-Peter Villis said that in the last few weeks it has secured access to several sites for offshore wind farms that it hopes can deliver up to 1,000MW of capacity.

Other plans announced include an efficient hard coal power station in Germany and possible hydroelectric power projects in Turkey or the Balkan states.