Germany drives bumper year for European offshore wind in 2015, installing three times more capacity than current leader, the UK

Europe’s offshore wind power industry has set a record for its biggest ever year just six months into 2015.

The biggest factor was a huge jump in turbines in German waters connecting to the grid, with Germany installing three times more electricity-generating capacity than the continent’s current leader, the UK.

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In the first half of the year, 584 offshore wind turbines were connected, adding 2.3GW of capacity to the European electricity grid, according to new data from the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA). In total there is now 10GW of connected offshore wind, enough to power about seven million homes.



The newly connected capacity is over 50% more than was connected in the whole of 2014. But the EWEA says it expects a slower growth rate in the next 12-18 months, as a new investment cycle begins and many projects already in the pipeline begin construction.

“2015 is shaping up to be a bumper year for offshore wind,” said Kristian Ruby, the trade body’s chief policy officer. “There are three key drivers for the market this year; exponential growth in Germany, larger capacity turbines in the water and a number of projects [becoming] either fully grid connected or partially completed.”

“This year, we are going to see Germany deploy more offshore wind than the UK for the first time.” said Ruby. “It’s a real statement of intent from Germany as the energiewende (energy transition) continues to kick in. However, it is certainly too early to say that Germany will overtake the UK [before] 2020.”

Since January, Germany has installed 1.7GW, the UK 0.5GW and the Netherlands 0.1GW. In UK waters, 102 turbines were installed in the Humber Gateway, Westermost Rough and Gwynt y Môr projects.

Offshore turbines benefit from stronger winds and fewer difficulties with planning permission than onshore projects. But the heavy foundations, more difficult maintenance and grid connection cables needed make offshore wind more expensive, though costs are falling.

The UK government frequently cites its global leadership in offshore wind as evidence of its green ambitions. The UK still has about double the installed capacity of Germany, but continued German expansion could see that gap erased. The manufacturing of turbines was dominated by Germany’s Siemens, with 57% of the new capacity added in 2015.



UK ministers recently announced the end of subsidies for onshore wind farms, and the government intends to cut support for solar and biomass energy. The moves harmed the confidence of renewable energy investors but to date ministers have not indicated they will reduce subsidies for offshore wind.

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Amber Rudd, energy and climate change secretary, said: “Thanks to government support the UK is the world leader in offshore wind energy – it’s part of our long term plan to foster enterprise, innovation and create jobs as we decarbonise at the lowest cost to hardworking bill payers. We want to help technologies stand on their own two feet, not encourage a reliance on public subsidies.”

Offshore wind farms are big business, with European projects worth €7.1bn (£5bn) getting final investment approval in the first half of 2015. Another €10bn is expected to be invested in offshore wind farms in the next 18 months, providing 2.2GW of capacity, according to the EWEA.

The average turbine size increased from 3.5MW in 2014 to 4.2MW in the first half of 2015 as developers preferred more powerful machines. Orders are also starting to be seen for very large 8MW turbines.

Over 9o% of the world’s offshore wind power is installed in northern Europe, with two demonstration projects off of China the next largest projects.