“Special offshore offer”

The offer by some bidders in Germany’s first offshore wind power auction to build their projects with zero financial support has raised a lot of questions, Michael Bauchmüller writes in the Süddeutsche Zeitung. “Wind parks have been sponsored by the community of power customers with billions for years,” Bauchmüller writes, asking “and this is now supposed to be possible without support?” If profitable offshore wind power production is possible, why should there be any more of the contested onshore wind farms, he writes. While some people are already calling for lifting the ceiling on offshore expansion, others say power sources should be evenly distributed across the country to increase efficiency and spread blackout risks – especially since the construction of transmission lines for existing offshore parks is already a very strenuous task, Bauchmüller explains.

Read the article in German here.

See the CLEW article Operators to build offshore wind farms without support payments and the factsheet High hopes and concerns over onshore wind power auctions for background.