The German market for offshore wind energy projects broke through the gigawatt barrier last year. By 31 December 2014, 258 offshore wind turbines in the German North and Baltic Seas with a total capacity of 1,049.2MW were connected to the grid.
According to the survey, conducted by Deutsche WindGuard on behalf of VDMA Power Systems, the German Wind Energy Association (BWE), the Wind Energy Agency (WAB) and the German Offshore Wind Energy Foundation (SOW), 142 offshore wind turbines providing a capacity of 528.9MW were newly connected to the grid. This represents more than a doubling of the capacity increase of the previous year. In addition to the grid-connected offshore wind turbines, the construction of a further 268 turbines with a capacity of 1,218.1MW was completed in 2014, but these had not been fully grid-connected by the end of the year. The cumulated capacity of the 285 offshore turbines installed by the end of 2014 but not hooked up to the grid amounts to 1,303.1MW. And another 220 foundations have been already put in position.
