Germany to accelerate development of offshore wind farms

• 2 years ago (2021-12-30)
• David Flin

Europe 1061 Offshore wind 119

---

The German government is supporting a large expansion of the country’s offshore wind power generation. Planning authorities are moving to accelerate the expansion of offshore renewable energy after years of delay.

The Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency (BSH) is presenting the first new projects as part of an update that came into effect in September 2021 for the country’s plan for the North Sea and Baltic Regions. The plan seeks to identify new areas with a focus on offshore wind and renewable energy projects including expanding into the far offshore regions of the North Sea.

BSH announced that it plans to release a new environmental assessment by mid-January 2022. This will include identifying sites for an additional 3 GW offshore wind generation in the North Sea. A draft plan for the development of the new areas is expected by mid-2022 and a final plan by the end of the year.

The previous plan called for 65 per cent of the country’s energy needs to come from renewable sources by 2030 but the new government seeks to increase this to 80 per cent by 2030. The new plan calls for a target of 30 GW from offshore wind power generation by 2030, up from a target of 20 GW.

The new Social Democratic Party coalition government says that it wants to achieve 40 GW from offshore power sources by 2035 and 70 GW by 2045. By comparison, the USA is targeting 30 GW by 2030 while the UK is targeting 40 GW of power from offshore wind power generation.