State-backed surge in Germany's offshore wind capacity needed to reach targets - think tank
Clean Energy Wire
Think tank Agora Energiewende has outlined a number of possible solutions that could speed up the expansion of offshore wind power in Germany. Supply bottlenecks and price increases are currently delaying offshore expansion, which could result in Germany missing its ambitious 2030 target of 30 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind power capacity, a recent industry estimate found.
In order to get offshore expansion back on track, Agora Energiewende in a newly published paper proposes better financing programmes via state development bank KfW to develop production capacities. The think tank also recommends increasing tender volumes after 2030 to 5 to 6 GW a year, rather than the planned 4 GW, in order to provide greater planning security and make it worthwhile for manufacturers, suppliers and ports to expand capacities. In addition, it calls for bidders to pay 15 percent of their bid in the first 12 months after a contract is awarded, which should increase the likelihood of the project being realised. In order to develop needed port capacities for the transport and storage of turbines, a new levy of 5 percent of the bid should be introduced. Such a levy would have brought in around 150 million euros in the recent tender in June.
New regulations are also needed for the rapid re-allocation of offshore space in the event of a project being cancelled. "In order to clear the backlog, it is now important to strengthen the supply chains for offshore facilities and secure investments,” said Simon Müller, director of Agora Energiewende Deutschland. “In this way, expansion can be accelerated so that we can achieve the expansion targets and at the same time build up key industries for climate neutrality in a targeted manner."
Germany has made offshore wind power a key pillar of its plans for an almost fully renewable electricity supply by 2035. The highly reliable renewable power source is also expected to play an important role in the production of green hydrogen in the future.
