Wind Power in Germany - Offshore Wind Power

Offshore Wind Power

See also: List of offshore wind farms in Germany, Alpha Ventus Offshore Wind Farm, Baltic 1 Offshore Wind Farm, BARD Offshore 1, and Borkum Riffgat

Offshore wind energy also has great potential in Germany. Wind speed at sea is 70 to 100% higher than onshore and much more constant. A new generation of 5 MW or larger wind turbines which are capable of making full use of the potential of wind power at sea has already been developed and prototypes are available. This makes it possible to operate offshore wind farms in a cost-effective way once the usual initial difficulties of new technologies have been overcome.

On 15 July 2009, the first offshore German windturbine completed construction. This turbine is the first of a total of 12 wind turbines for the alpha ventus offshore wind farm in the North Sea.

Following the 2011 Japanese nuclear accidents, Germany's federal government is working on a new plan for increasing renewable energy commercialization, with a particular focus on offshore wind farms. Under the plan large wind turbines will be erected far away from the coastlines, where the wind blows more consistently than it does on land, and where the enormous turbines won't bother the inhabitants. The plan aims to decrease Germany's dependence on energy derived from coal and nuclear power plants. The German government wants to see 7.6 GW installed by 2020 and as much as 26 GW by 2030.

A major challenge is the lack of sufficient network capacities for transmitting the power generated in the North Sea to the large industrial consumers in southern Germany.