• 24 new plants with 229 MW went into operation in the first half of the year
• Total capacity increased to 8.385 MW
• Positive trend in project implementation recognizable
• Closing the gap between growth targets and reality
• Future tender design must reduce the pressure on the supply chain and electricity prices

Berlin, Bremerhaven, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Rostock, July 25, 2023 -The industry associations of the German offshore wind industry and the Offshore Wind Energy Foundation today presented the growth figures for the first half of 2023. According to the figures prepared by the consulting company Deutsche WindGuard, 24 offshore wind turbines (OWEA) with a capacity of 229 megawatts (MW) were newly connected to the grid in Germany in the first six months of the year. A total of 1.563 offshore wind turbines with a total output of 8.385 MW are now in operation in the German North and Baltic Seas. The Arcadis Ost 1 project under construction continues to make progress and is expected to be operational before the end of the year.

“The offshore wind industry is expected to install an additional 2030 gigawatts (GW) of capacity at sea by 22. The development of the past few months is positive. After years of weak expansion, the industry is in the starting blocks to implement a large number of projects. The award values ​​of the last offshore tender show that offshore wind energy can make a strong contribution to decarbonization and the cost-effective provision of energy. However, the uncapped bidding component and the dynamic bidding process in the tender design leave too little scope for earnings in the manufacturing offshore wind industry. An adjustment of the immature qualitative criteria in the tenders is urgently needed in order to increase the probability of the projects being realized and to strengthen the European share of added value. The WindSeeG therefore urgently needs to be amended this year,” commented the industry organizations BWE, BWO, OFFSHORE-WINDENERGIE Foundation, VDMA Power Systems, WAB eV and WindEnergy Network eV on the current development.

“In order to be able to achieve the expansion goals, an industrial policy strategy is required. This must support the securing of capacity and the capacity building of the industry in order to be able to link the expansion targets required for energy policy and climate protection with added value. It must be essential to strengthen the European value chain of the offshore wind industry. In many places, the industry also makes financial advance payments and thus takes on an economic risk. Across industries, for example in shipbuilding, German shipyards for the construction of foundation structures, transformer and converter platforms, special ships for service and maintenance and for construction must be enabled to make their contribution to the energy transition. The capacity of the seaports including the hinterland connections and the capacities for inland transport are a recognizable bottleneck.

Solutions must also be developed for the security of the maritime critical infrastructure and its protection against sabotage. Furthermore, to protect the skilled workers, a rescue concept is required for locations further away from the coast. The offshore wind energy operators can finance this, but they cannot organize it on their own.

The offshore wind industry offers significantly increasing employment potential in the coming years. In order to be able to keep up in the competition for skilled workers, measures such as a training offensive to attract international skilled workers and targeted campaign work for academic and professional training are important. This requires immediate industry-specific training marketing, the introduction of English as the application language for recognition procedures and in the visa process in general, and an increase in the number of staff at the authorities for processing," the organizations demand.

At the beginning of the year, the associations had already criticized the fact that, according to the plans of the federal government, the expansion in the coming years should not take place more evenly, but in sometimes erratic jumps. This unnecessarily complicates the sustainable development of production capacities. The annual expansion needs to be sustained at a high level so that capacities can be utilized more evenly over the years. This should also be coordinated at European level if possible.

“In the Ostend Declaration, the nine countries bordering the North Sea underlined their self-commitment to the expansion targets for offshore wind energy. By 2030, 120 GW of offshore wind energy capacity is to be installed, by 2050 300 GW, plus the United Kingdom with a further 100 GW in perspective. The cooperation in the future generation of green hydrogen from offshore wind energy and in the expansion of the hydrogen infrastructure is to be strengthened. The non-binding targets agreed by the EU Member States for the Baltic Sea of ​​22,5 GW by 2030, 34,6 GW by 2040 and 46,8 GW by 2050 were reaffirmed.

In order to be able to achieve this expansion of wind energy at sea in the North Sea and Baltic Sea, the right course must be set immediately. Among other things, European harmonized prequalification criteria are needed for a resilient supply chain and targeted, qualitative tendering criteria for competitive differentiation. It is important to enable Europe's energy sovereignty and the decarbonization of energy-intensive industry as well as green shipping.

The offshore wind industry must finally be able to take its place in the energy transition as an economic engine: It is the foundation for a sovereign and industrially strong Europe,” the associations conclude.

Fact sheet "Status of offshore wind energy expansion for the first half of 2023” (PDF).