Abstract
High wave and offshore wind energy potentials are located along the West and North coasts of Europe, respectively. In the near future, these resources should significantly contribute to the European electricity mix, but there is hardly any grid infrastructure available for large scale integration of offshore renewable energy sources. According to this, the paper covers i) public and private initiatives for offshore transmission networks, ii) the synergies between the wave and the offshore wind energy sector within an offshore grid, iii) power transmission options for offshore generation and iv) the challenges ahead of the realisation of an offshore grid.