Norway's wind resources might be the best hope for the EU to reach its goal of getting 20% of its total power from renewable sources by 2020 -- no small task. The latest studies of winds in the North Sea estimate that, with the right investments, Norway could become "Europe's Battery." At least, that the term that Norway's energy minister Aaslaug Haga is throwing around to market his country's energy potential to the EU.Reports estimate that Norway's offshore wind farms will be able to produce as much power as 8 nuclear plants by 2020 with about $40B worth of investments. That would offset nearly half of the country's total emissions in 2007. That's not taking into account advances in turbine technology, like Statoil-Hydro's new floating turbines. The humongous floating turbines are expected to produce twice the energy of a landlocked turbine. Still, there will be calm days in the North Sea, hopefully they've got a sufficient plan for backup power.
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