TenneT, the German arm of the bigger Dutch transmission network group of the same name, has increased offshore wind energy connection capacity to 7,132 megawatts.
"TenneT's current total of twelve operating offshore grid connection systems for the transmission of wind energy from the German North Sea to land alone now deliver a total capacity of 7,132 megawatts," said a press note.
In 2019, the transmission system operator TenneT has already met and even significantly exceeded the German government’s 2020 expansion targets for sustainable North Sea wind power. The federal government’s target for the North Sea and Baltic Sea for 2020 is a total of 6.5 gigawatts.
"We are pleased that we have already achieved the goal set by the federal government ahead of schedule," said TenneT Managing Director Tim Meyerjürgens, "and with the three other offshore grid connections currently being implemented, we will be capable of delivering 10,000 megawatts of transmission capacity from the North Sea in 2025 in Germany alone. We are pushing ahead with grid expansion on land just as rigorously, because this holistic approach is the key to a successful energy transition.”
The wind energy transmitted from the North Sea by TenneT reached a new record in 2019 at 20.21 terawatt hours (TWh). This would be enough, for example, to cover the annual consumption of more than six million households.
The 2019 result exceeded the previous year's value (16.75 TWh) by 20.7 percent. Measured against Germany’s total wind output (122.07 TWh, offshore and onshore counted together), the North Sea wind power yield achieved a healthy share of 16.6 percent in 2019.
The previous maximum infeed performance of North Sea offshore wind farms reached 6,077 MW on 5 December 2019. The capacity expansion for North Sea offshore wind farms was at 6,436 MW on 31 December 2019.
The wind turbines in the Baltic Sea (not within the TenneT grid area) generated 3.95 terawatt hours in 2019, which means Germany’s total offshore yield amounted to 24.16 terawatt hours. With an additional 97.91 terawatt hours of generated onshore wind energy, the total yield is thus 122.07 terawatt hours.)