Germany has begun the first of two new tender packages for offshore wind farm development sites. The German Federal Network Agency (Bundesnetzagentur) put four areas in the North Sea and Baltic Sea up for tender for offshore wind turbines on January 31, with bids due by June 1.
The North Sea has three offshore wind farm areas, each with a capacity of 2GW, and the Baltic Sea has one area with a capacity of 1GW. The North Sea areas are approximately 75 miles northwest of Helgoland, and the Baltic Sea areas are approximately 15 miles off the island of Rügen. The wind farms are set to begin operations in 2030.The government has not conducted preliminary investigations of the areas in order to expedite the process and get the areas into development. Instead, the contract winners will be responsible for conducting preliminary investigations prior to the construction of a wind farm.By March 1, 2023, the Federal Network Agency will also issue new tenders for offshore wind energy. The second tender package will be for areas with a total output of 1,800MW.