German government, coastal states reach agreement for offshore wind expansion
Clean Energy Wire
Germany's federal government, regulators, coastal states and transmission system operators have reached an agreement to expand wind power capacity in the North and Baltic Seas from its previous target of 15 gigawatts (GW) to 20 GW by 2030, the economy ministry announced Tuesday. As part of the agreement, the coastal states are expected to quickly complete approval procedures, with transmission system operators set to promptly commission offshore transmission lines in order to be able to immediately distribute electricity from future wind farms.
The offshore agreement implements a requirement from the government’s 2030 climate package to conclude a binding agreement with the coastal states and transmission system operators as a prerequisite to raise the offshore target to 20 GW, from about 7.5 GW from nearly 1,500 offshore turbines in 2019 which contributed about four percent to Germany's gross power consumption.
