Germany issues offshore wind development plan until 2030

January 23 (Renewables Now) - Germany’s Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency (BSH) on Friday issued the area development plan for offshore wind projects which lays the foundation for achieving the 30 GW capacity target by 2030.

The plan defines areas in the exclusive economic zone of the North Sea and Baltic Sea which will host offshore wind farms in future. It also determines how and when these areas will be tendered, when the wind parks should be connected to the power grid and sets the technical principles for the connection lines.

The area development plan was released after four consultation rounds in which authorities and the public were invited to comment and express their opinions on the plan.

With the early implementation of the higher offshore expansion goals in the area development plan, the BSH is making an important contribution to the energy transition, said Nico Nolte from BSH.

Germany needs to install about 22 GW of turbines at sea within eight years in order to achieve its 30 GW target by the end of this decade. At the end of 2022, the country had a total of 8.1 GW of wind parks in operation in the North Sea and the Baltic Sea.