Germany boosted its offshore wind power capacity by 357 megawatts (MW) to 7,036 MW last year, inching towards a planned 30,000 MW by 2030, power grid operator TenneT said.
The German arm of the Dutch transmission group will play a key role in achieving the target, linking the majority of new wind farms to onshore high-voltage transmission grids, with a commitment to provide six 2,000 MW links by 2031. TenneT last year launched large-scale tenders for the six connections.
Berlin's goal is to generate 80% of electricity from the wind and the sun by 2030, a target that is more pressing after the drop in Russian fossil fuel exports to Germany last year.
Germany's Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency (BSH) earlier this month published new site allocations while additional offshore grid connections will be reflected in the first draft of a network development plan stretching to 2045 that is due to be published in March, TenneT said.
Overall, German power production from North Sea wind farms increased by 4% to 21.1 terawatt hours (TWh) last year, enough to supply 6.5 million households with green power, it said.
Baltic Sea turbines provided 3.6 TWh and onshore wind power generated 100.5 TWh, for a total wind supply of more than 125 TWh, TenneT's figures, which reflect subsidised power feed-in volumes, showed.
Germany is in talks to buy either a majority stake or all of TenneT, allowing it to work with its Dutch parent on the wider energy transition.
This would entail creating offshore networks encompassing a number countries which border the North Sea, and seeking ways to store some power delivered by offshore wind in the form of hydrogen, which could be generated by electrolysis plants.
(Reuters)