Germany's offshore wind expansion could clash with neighbours' buildout plans - report

Germany’s plans for a rapid expansion of offshore wind energy at the end of the decade could clash with similar plans of its neighbours around the North Sea, the country’s section of the World Energy Council (WEC) has warned. “The majority of the expansion in Germany is meant to take place in 2029 and 2030. This poses major challenges for the industry. Not least because neighbouring European countries are also focusing their expansion on the end of the decade,” the organisation said, adding that Germany wants to expand its offshore capacity to 30 gigawatts (GW) by 2030, to at least 40 GW by 2035, and to 70 GW by 2045, while the European Union (EU) is aiming for 300 GW by 2050. Germany currently has around 8.5 GW of installed offshore capacity, putting it in third place behind China, which boasts nearly half of global capacity, and the UK and Northern Ireland with around 15 GW, according to the WEC.

"The global expansion of offshore wind energy is both a challenge and an opportunity," said WEC director Carsten Rolle. While the industry has “enormous growth potential,” it also faces significant hurdles, according to the council. “The industry is highly globalised and particularly affected by geopolitical developments,” said Lara Schech, who is in charge of offshore development at German utility EnBW and authored a council report on the state of the offshore industry. “Increases in the cost of raw materials and bottlenecks in production and transport capacities are having a major impact. A temporary lack of expansion prospects due to fluctuating political support has also led to a loss of vertical integration in Germany,” Schech said. The Council called for a reliable expansion path that offers investment security and an auction regime that ensures sustainable European value creation. "Through strategic trade agreements and the promotion of domestic upstream production for critical raw materials, the EU can further strengthen the resilience of its supply chains,” Rolle said, adding that expanding and upgrading port infrastructure was also an urgent task, given that offshore projects and turbines are becoming ever larger.