Germany’s Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency (BSH) has approved the suitability of the N-3.5, N-3.6, and N-7.2 areas in the German exclusive economic zone of the North Sea for the development of offshore wind farms.
The three areas have a combined capacity of 1,880 MW.
The area N-7.2, located 85 kilometres northwest of the East Frisian Islands, is to be put out to tender and auctioned off by the Federal Network Agency (BNetzA) in 2022 in accordance with BSH’s area development plan.
The area covers 58 square kilometres and has a capacity of 980 MW scheduled to go into operation in 2027.
The areas N-3.5 and N-3.6 have a combined capacity of 900 MW which will be put out to tender and auctioned off by the BNetzA in 2023. The two areas cover 120 square kilometres some 40 kilometres north of the East Frisian Islands and are scheduled to become operational in 2028.
Germany’s current ruling coalition has raised the country’s offshore wind capacity targets to at least 30 GW by 2030, 40 GW by 2035, and 70 GW by 2045.
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Germany has 7,770 MW of installed offshore wind capacity and is currently the third in the world behind China and the UK.
In 2020, the country added 219 MW of offshore wind capacity and last year, for the first time in more than ten years, it did not install a single offshore wind turbine.