The German offshore wind industry added 342MW of new capacity in 2022, according to new figures.
The power came from RWE’s 343MW Kaskasi project in the North Sea and means that 1539 turbines are spinning off the country’s coast, a group of industry associations and Deutsche WindGuard said.
It is the first capacity added to the German grid from offshore wind in several years.
Total installed capacity is 8.1GW and will be increased in 2023 when Parkwind’s 247MW Arcadis Ost 1 comes online.
Deutsche WindGuard expects higher rates of new construction for the industry in the coming years with 8.8GW of capacity to be tendered this year.
“To achieve the expansion targets by 2030, 22GW must be installed offshore in Germany in less than eight years,” said industry organizations BWE, BWO, Stiftung OFFSHORE-WINDENERGIE, VDMA Power Systems, WAB e.V. and WindEnergy Network e.V.
“In Europe, a total of around 150GW of wind energy capacity is to be installed during this period. The industry therefore expects a significant increase from 2025 and especially towards the end of the 2030 expansion target, which requires industrial feasibility.
“A steady and even expansion path is needed to build stable supply chains and a future-oriented expansion of manufacturing capacities. The production capacities and skilled workers needed to achieve the expansion targets have been lacking to a substantial degree to date.
“A plan alone is not enough here. Together with politicians, we must immediately create a realistic basis for the implementation of the expansion targets for offshore wind energy for electricity and green hydrogen.”
Among the measures the industry wants is for the negative bidding element of future tenders to be removed.
“This is because it is clear that offshore wind farm operators will have to earn back the bid component,” the said.