German offshore wind farms delivered 11.64 terawatt hours (TWh) of electricity to the grid in the first half of 2019, a 28.8% increase compared to the same period last year when the wind farms delivered 9.04TWh of electricity.
The wind energy transmitted from the North Sea to land by the transmission grid operator TenneT rose to 9.51TWh in the first half of 2019, a 16% increase compared to 8.17TWh generated in the first half of 2018.
The wind turbines in the Baltic Sea, not operated by TenneT, generated 2.13TWh in the first half of 2019, a 145% increase compared to 0.87TWh delivered in the first half of 2018, mainly due to the commissioning of the Arkona and the Wikinger wind farms.
The current maximum infeed performance of offshore wind farms in the North Sea reached 4,989MW on 24 March 2019. The capacity expansion of the offshore wind farms in the North Sea amounted to 5,577MW on 30 June 2019. TenneT’s offshore transmission capacity is 6,232MW.
“We see the share of electricity transmission from the North Sea stable at around 15 percent of the total wind power generation in Germany, which reached almost 64 terawatt hours in the first half of 2019,” said TenneT COO Tim Meyerjürgens .
With the connections currently planned and under construction, TenneT will increase the offshore transmission capacity in the German part of the North Sea to almost 9GW by 2024.
Commenting on the current offshore expansion rate in Europe, Meyerjürgens said: “According to all international studies and scenarios, the current roll-out rate of offshore wind in Europe is not sufficient to achieve the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement for Europe. An accelerated and large-scale roll-out is necessary.”
In this context, TenneT has just presented a feasibility study by the North Sea Wind Power Hub consortium on the implementation of wind power hubs in the North Sea.
“A future internationally coordinated approach could implement the connection and integration of a roll-out of large-scale offshore wind energy more effectively and at considerably lower costs of up to 30 percent than with continued individual national planning,” said Meyerjürgens.
Since the North Sea has a great potential for offshore wind energy, the implementation of 180GW of offshore wind by 2045 could be achieved through the consortium’s approach, according to TenneT.