A coalition of offshore wind operators, transmission system operators and environmental NGOs are calling on the German government to back proposals for sustainable offshore wind expansion.
The Offshore Coalition for Energy and Nature (OCEaN), which includes TenneT, 50hertz, Amprion and BWO, has produced recommendations to ensure offshore wind expansion occurs in a nature-friendly way.
OCEaN stated: “Human activities and nature conservation must be planned with due consideration for each other and in consideration of the entire marine ecosystem.
“Climate and nature conservation obligations must be prioritised when designating marine areas and impacts of other marine activities must be reduced.
“Keeping clear of marine protected areas (MPAs) and the use of compensatory measures will contribute to this. This will prevent conflicts later on and have an accelerating effect.”
OCEaN also recommended a stakeholder dialogue on co-usage should be initiated to mitigate conflicts and to expand and consistently use transparent and effective European cooperation.
“We urgently need an overall spatial planning concept for the North Sea and the Baltic Sea as well as transparent participation opportunities in existing international cooperation fora.
“Offshore wind farms and the connecting infrastructure must be planned in a future-oriented manner, embedded in a European, cross-border strategy that also takes onshore grid expansion into account,” stated OCEaN.
It also advised projects use publicly accessible data as a starting point for planning.
Stefan Thimm, managing director of Federal Association of Wind Farm Operators Offshore, said: “We are pleased that the cooperation with transmission system operators and environmental and climate protection organisations in the OCEaN is now also bearing its first fruits in Germany.
“The joint paper is a clear signal in the direction of politics: a nature-friendly expansion of offshore wind energy is necessary and possible.
“It is important that climate protection and nature protection are no longer played off against each other, but are meaningfully combined and adequately prioritised.”