Revenues from German offshore wind tenders slump – media

The results of Germany's latest offshore wind power auction indicate that revenues are on a sharp decline, reported energy and climate newsletter Tagesspiegel Background. German energy company RWE secured two sites for parks in the North Sea with a total capacity of four gigawatt (GW), and will pay a total bid price of 250 million euros, it said in a press release. The Federal Network Agency (BNetzA) awarded the rights for the remaining site (1.5 GW) to Hamburg-based Waterekke Energy GmbH, but did not disclose the price. There were only five bids for the three sites.

Investors in other recent offshore auctions submitted much higher bids, with three billion euros for 2.5 GW earlier this year, and 12.6 billion euros for 7 GW in a tender last year. The latest auction result is a "warning signal", said Stefan Thimm, managing director of offshore wind association BWO, who argued that spatial planning meant auctioned sites would have "very few full load hours". Tagesspiegel explained that the "shadow effect" of wind farms is an issue for investors. One wind farm could block another when an area is densely developed.

RWE said offshore construction on its two parks could start in 2029 and 2030, with full commissioning planned for 2031 and 2032, respectively. The company said it will explore the possibility of developing the offshore projects together with France’s TotalEnergies. The projects have a legal right to be connected to the grid, so RWE does not carry the costs. Grid operators pass on the costs for this to electricity consumers via grid fees.

Offshore wind energy is becoming a key pillar of Germany's clean energy future and the government plans to increase capacity from 8.5 GW in 2023 to reach a minimum of 30 GW by 2030, 40 GW by 2035 and 70 GW by 2045. RWE already operates 19 offshore wind farms, including six off the German coast, and plans to triple its global offshore wind capacity from 3.3 GW today to 10 GW by 2030.