The Taoiseach has said a giant leap forward in offshore wind energy is needed, and that Ireland's Atlantic wind potential could lead to the State becoming a major energy exporter.
At a summit of maritime country leaders in Ostend, Mr Varadkar said: "What we're saying here is that it's not business as usual anymore. We need to make a giant leap when it comes to renewable energy, when it comes to offshore wind in particular.
"But if every country does their own thing, and doesn't cooperate with industry, it's not going to work. So this is about cooperation between the countries of the North seas here in northwestern Europe, including Ireland, and also the industry to build out our offshore wind over the next few decades."
Nine countries are represented, with eight heads of government attending, including French president Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
The meeting comes amid reports that Russia has been systematically mapping the seabed in the Baltic and North seas, allegedly to monitor potential infrastructure targets in the event of a conflict with NATO countries.
Mr Varadkar did not comment on speculation that such activity happened during Russian naval exercises off the south west coast of Ireland.
However, he said: "It's pretty obvious from what Russia has done in Ukraine, or Russia has done in Georgia, or what Russia has done in Chechnya and other parts of Europe that this is a country that bears its neighbours ill-will.
"We need to face up to that if we haven't faced up to it already. And it's one of the many reasons why we need to work with our partners in the European Union and in America and elsewhere when it comes to enhancing our security."
The summit will deliver two declarations on the need for European maritime states to align procurement and design rules to ensure that a race to develop offshore wind farms does not lead to supply chain problems.
Ireland's sea area is seven times its landmass, and officials say abundant and reliable Atlantic wind means Ireland could become a powerhouse in the future.
Officials say Ireland will seek to partner with the UK in order to develop hybrid energy hubs - essentially artificial islands with multiple connections - which will provide more cost-effective ways to get wind-generated power to European markets.
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"Just building the turbines isn't enough," the Taoiseach told reporters in Ostend. "You need to work together and make sure that we have the right grid connections."
However, experts question whether the floating turbines needed to realise Ireland's west coast potential are sufficiently developed.
"Floating wind turbines are relatively untested at scale," says Paul Maile, head of planning and infrastructure consenting at Eversheds Sutherland, a law firm. "Testing turbines has been done at a relatively small scale so far. To meet the targets Europe is talking about you really need to test them at scale."
North Sea wind produces 30 gigawatt of electricity so far. Maritime leaders attending today's summit say that can be increased to 120 gigawatt by 2030 and 300 by 2050.
The leaders attending the summit said they recognised that the size of the task requires massive investment, and that standardising equipment is needed to bring down costs and timescales.
The Minister for the Environment Eamon Ryan said: "It will be wind and solar at the center of our system. That's the cheapest power supply in the world. And it's also the most secure, it's also the cleanest, it's also the one where we have advantage."
European summit looks to boost wind energy production
The summit aims to scale up wind power generation in the North Sea, spurred by the fallout of the Ukraine war and the push for renewables.
"We've seen over the past months what the impact is if you are too dependent on outsiders for the supply of energy," said Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo, hosting the meeting in the coastal town of Ostend.
The leaders of EU members France, Germany, Ireland, Denmark, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, along with European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen, attended the summit.
Norway and Britain also participated, with the latter represented by UK Energy Security Secretary Grant Shapps.
In a joint op-ed published in Politico, the leaders of the nine nations emphasised the need to build more offshore wind turbines "to reach our climate goals, and to rid ourselves of Russian gas, ensuring a more secure and independent Europe".
Several leaders pointed to the need also to ensure security of offshore wind farms and their interconnectors, in the wake of recent reports of a Russian spy ship in the North Sea and last year's sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea.
Mr De Croo said North Sea infrastructure, including turbines and undersea cables "are prone to sabotage or to espionage" and the topic was "an extremely important one" at the summit.
A key point, hammered by French President Emmanuel Macron, is to ensure the supply chain for the push for more North Sea wind power is anchored in Europe, rather than elsewhere, and that the jobs created are there.
"We want to secure our industrial chain, because it's important to deploy this offshore wind power but we don't want to repeat the errors we've sometimes committed in the past, of deploying equipment made on the other side of the world," he said.
The comment appeared to be directed at China, which currently dominates the supply of critical elements, such as rare earths. The European Union is seeking to shift away from that reliance on China by bolstering its own industries.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said the "very important" summit underscored the potential to greatly expand renewable energy from the North Sea.
Industry criticism
WindEurope, the federation representing Europe's wind energy industry, believes the summit's ambitions are achievable.
But it highlighted a lack of "adequate funding mechanisms" and recruitment in the sector.
The organisation says Europe needs to build the offshore infrastructure to add 20 GW in output per year, yet the sector currently has capacity for just seven GW annually, with supply chain bottlenecks for cables, substations and foundations, and in the availability of offshore wind vessels.
Investment to get Europe where it wants to be is huge: the EU has calculated the cost of reaching 300 GW in offshore energy production by 2050 at €800 billion.
Britain has the biggest fleet of offshore wind farms, 45 of them, currently producing 14 GW, with plans to expand capacity to 50 GW by 2030.
Germany's 30 wind farms produce eight GW, followed by the Netherlands with 2.8 GW and Denmark and Belgium both with 2.3 GW.
The other participating countries produce less than a gigawatt from their existing installations but share ambitions to greatly ramp up wind energy capacity.
Ireland 'late to offshore wind party'
Irish officials acknowledge Ireland is somewhat late to the offshore wind party compared to Belgium and Denmark, where shallow North Sea waters have given them an advantage.
The Government believes it can benefit from best practice and experience, but more importantly, officials believe that since Ireland's sea area is seven times the size of its landmass, and since space for wind farms in the North Sea is running out, Ireland could become an Atlantic wind powerhouse in decades to come.
However, to sell that energy into Europe, Ireland will need a huge spend on infrastructure, ports and vessels.
And now that Russia is suspected of targeting underwater data, power cables and wind farms, securing that infrastructure in years to come will require both a naval and financial commitment.
Additional reporting AFP
