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Germany opens 7 GW tender for North and Baltic Sea wind farms

By: Tom Russell 01/02/2023 BNetzA

General Windfarms

Germany's Federal Network Agency (Bundesnetzagentur or BNetzA) has put four areas in the North Sea and Baltic Sea with a total output of 7,000 MW for offshore wind turbines up for tender.

Three areas for offshore wind farms, each with an output of 2,000 MW , are in the North Sea and one area for an output of 1,000 MW is in the Baltic Sea. The areas in the North Sea are about 120 km northwest of Heligoland and the area in the Baltic Sea is about 25 km off the island of Rügen. The expected commissioning of the wind farms is scheduled for 2030.

In order to meet its offshore wind expansion target of 30 GW Germany is now tendering areas for which the winning bidders awarded the sites are responsible to carry out the preliminary investigations ahead of construction. This includes the marine environment, the subsoil and wind and oceanographic conditions. The areas are therefore referred to as non-centrally pre-examined areas.

According to BNetzA, the tender will be awarded to the bidder who registers the lowest need for funding. If several bidders forgo funding for an area and submit zero subsidy bids, a "dynamic bidding process" will decide on the award for the first time. The bidder with the highest willingness to pay is then awarded the contract. It will be conducted in an auction form with multiple bidding rounds with increasing bid levels. BNetzA stated that 90 percent of the proceeds from the dynamic bidding process flow into reducing electricity costs, 5 percent each into marine conservation and the promotion of environmentally friendly fishing.

Bids must be submitted by 1 June 2023. After the bids have been checked, the award procedure has been carried out and, if necessary , the dynamic bid procedure has been carried out, the bidders will be informed of the decision and the tender results will be published.

The successful bidder has the right to apply to the Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency for planning approval for the development of the areas with an offshore wind farm. In addition, they are entitled to the connection of the wind farm to be built to the power grid in order to transport the electricity generated in the wind turbines at sea.

In addition to the tenders announced today, the BNetzA revealed it will launch further tenders for offshore wind energy by 1 March 2023. These tenders relate to areas with a total output of 1,800 MW that have been centrally pre-examined by the Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency .

"The tenders are an important step towards achieving the offshore expansion target of 30 GW by 2030," says Klaus Müller, President of the Federal Network Agency. "The capacity tendered today exceeds the previous annual tender volumes for offshore wind energy many times over."

Germany has over 7.6 GW of offshore wind energy in operation, with six project with a combined capacity of 3.1 GW having received consent authorisation stage of development or already in construction. The country is currently targeting of 30 GW of offshore wind by 2030. This goal was included in the government's coalition agreement and made legally binding in the recently amended Wind Offshore Act (WindSeeG). It also included an increase of expansion targets of least 40 GW by 2035; and to at least 70 GW by 2040.

Last month, in an effort to help meet the nation's offshore wind targets, the Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency of Germany published the area development plan (FEP) 2023 together with environmental reports as part of the strategic environmental assessment. With the area FEP, the BSH defines areas in the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of the North Sea and Baltic Sea on which future offshore wind farms will be erected. At the same time, it determines how and when these areas are to be put out to tender, when the wind farms are to be connected to the onshore power grid and it regulates the technical principles for the connection lines.

For more information on offshore wind farms worldwide, click here.

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Germany opens 7 GW tender for North and Baltic Sea wind farms

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