Germany’s federal government and coastal states increased the capacity target of offshore wind power in the North Sea and Baltic Sea from 15 to 20 gigawatts (GW) by 2030, Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) announced on Tuesday.
“The determined, efficient, grid-synchronous and increasingly market-oriented expansion of renewable energies is a decisive element in achieving the climate targets in the energy industry,” BMWi noted.
The joint agreement was also adopted by the transmission system operators. According to BMWi, the agreed details and schedules would ensure that the necessary planning and approval steps as well as the construction of connecting pipelines and offshore wind farms would “go hand in hand.”
BMWi stressed that the government would assess additional measures to accelerate the planning and licensing procedure for offshore wind turbines in Germany.
In 2019, renewable energies covered almost 43 percent of German electricity consumption. By 2030, the government is aiming to cover 65 percent of gross electricity consumption with renewable energies.
“This is good news. It confirms a relevant contribution of wind offshore to Germany’s renewable energy target,” Robert Diels of r2b energy consulting told Xinhua.
The expansion of offshore wind power was an “important signal for the German energy industry,” Diels said, especially at a time when onshore wind power was stagnating while Germany’s solar expansion was about to reach its funding cap of 52 GW.