The German offshore wind industry has called on Berlin to accelerate the pace of tendering to avoid a repeat of the current construction slow down.
Five industry associations said today the government needs to “immediately enable construction activities” by holding new auctions as quickly as possible.
They also called for implementation of new near-shore regulations and an evening out of delivery of projects at the end of the decade.
The calls come as the sector published its latest expansion figures, which show just 219MW came online last year.
The industry is warning that no new turbines will be grid connected in 2021.
“While the long-term framework conditions for the offshore wind industry improved last year with the EU’s ‘Green Deal’ and the new long-term goals of the federal government up to 2040, the short-term situation in the sector with its very weak domestic market remains challenging,” said BWE, BWO, VDMA Power Systems, WAB and Stiftung Offshore.
“The serious consequences of the lack of expansion of wind energy in the North and Baltic Seas, such as company closures, job losses and migration from the German market, which the industry has continuously warned about in recent years, must be overcome as quickly as possible. It makes sense to trigger an investment surge now.”
Meanwhile, the sector is warning of emerging conflicts with shipping, marine and nature conservation and is seeking a co-use approach to future development areas, as reported in more detail in today’s edition of subscriber-only reNEWS.
“According to this approach, the scarce marine space should – if possible – be used by several actors at the same time. This idea should be further developed and also increasingly applied in Germany,” said the associations.