Offshore wind power boom revitalises coastal German communities

The construction of new offshore wind farms is revitalising German communities on the North Sea coast, Stefan Reccius reports for Handelsblatt Global. Wind turbine technicians are filling hotels that had been suffering from a decline in tourism and greater tax revenues are filling state coffers, Reccius writes. However, fishermen complain that safety zones around new turbines are limiting the size of their catch, he adds. There are currently 1,169 wind turbines operating in the North and Baltic Seas, which generated 5.4 gigawatts of electricity in the first half of this year. An additional 2 gigawatts of new capacity is to go online by 2025, the German Wind Energy Association (BWE) says.

Read the article in English here.

For background, read the article Wind industry calls for special auctions amid expansion slowdown and the dossier Offshore wind power in Germany.