Germany announces plans for 2.92 GW wind offshore tenders

According to draft plans released by the country's economics and energy ministry (BMWi) last week, Germany will hold two tenders for offshore wind capacity in 2017 for a total of 2.92 GW. 

Germany will carry out two tenders, each with capacity of 1.46 GW, on March 1 and December 1 next year.

The new tender plans represent a certain increase from around 2.4 GW of capacity envisaged in earlier plans.

Only companies with projects with license or in advanced stage of development will be able to participate in the auctions. The projects will be ready for installation between 2020 and 2024.

These tender processes are part of the draft offshore wind legislation, which is part of the proposed Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG) 2016.

According to the Act, Germany plans to exceed its target of 6.5 GW offshore wind by 2020 by reaching 7.7 GW by that date. 

However, as the 15GW target to be reached by 2030 has remained unchanged, Germany has reduced annual offshore wind installed capacity from 2020 onward from 800MW to 730MW.