Paradigm shift for offshore wind energy
On April 13th, 2017, the German Federal Network Agency (Bundesnetzagentur) announced the results of the first auction for offshore wind projects.
Three offshore wind projects with a total capacity of 1,380 MW will not receive any subsidy on top of the wholesale electricity price. In the first auction round, the highest winning bid for an offshore wind energy project was 6.0 ct/kWh, the lowest was 0.0 ct/kWh. The dramatically lower prices reflect a rapid decline in industrial costs and a steep learning curve in the industry. The four successful bids are all for projects located in the North Sea, amounting to 1,490 MW and thus nearly the total volume of 1,550 MW available for the first auction.
The low prices seen in the first auction round impressively demonstrate that offshore wind energy can be a key cornerstone of Germany’s Energiewende. At the same time, politicians and the Federal Network Agency should take courageous steps to develop networks and implement sectoral coupling, in order to take advantage of the obvious opportunities of offshore wind energy.
Successful bids
Project name | Owner | Capacity | Price bit |
---|---|---|---|
OWP West | DONG Energy | 240 MW | 0.00 ct/kWh |
Borkum Riffgrund West 2 | DONG Energy | 240 MW | 0.00 ct/kWh |
Gode Wind 3 | DONG Energy | 110 MW | 6.00 ct/kWh |
He Dreiht | EnBW | 900 MW | 0.00 ct/kWh |
Second auction in 2018
The second auction for existing offshore wind farm projects will take place on April 1st, 2018. The volume up for auction will again be 1,550 MW, plus the remaining 60 MW not awarded in the first round. The total volume available in the second auction will therefore be 1,610 MW. This includes 500 MW to be awarded for offshore wind farms in the Baltic Sea built by 2021.
Learn more: press release from BNetzA
Learn more: press release from German Offshore Wind Energy Foundation, OWIA, AGOW
Learn more: press release from WindEurope