Several companies are applying for sites for wind farms in the North and Baltic Seas. For the first time, the Federal Network Agency will determine who is allowed to work there by auction. According to her, the companies are refraining from government subsidies.
For the first time, the Federal Network Agency will use an auction to determine which companies are allowed to set up a wind farm at sea. This emerges from a report by the Bonn authorities. The background is a tender from December 31, 2023. Four areas for offshore wind farms in the North Sea and Baltic Sea were advertised. The authority reported that several zero-cent bids had been received for all four areas. This means that the companies forego state subsidies from the outset. This requires a so-called dynamic bidding process.
Authority President Klaus Müller called the results of the tender “good news for the energy transition in Germany.” It is gratifying that the companies do not need funding for the expansion of offshore wind energy. “The zero-cent bids make it clear that offshore wind energy is economically attractive,” says Müller.
The bidder with the highest bid is awarded the contract willingness to pay
The areas with a total output of 7000 megawatts for offshore wind turbines are located in the North Sea and Baltic Sea and have not been centrally examined. According to the Federal Network Agency, this means that there is no state preliminary investigation that would analyze, for example, the marine environment, the subsoil and wind and oceanographic conditions of the advertised areas. The bidder who is awarded the contract must carry out the relevant preliminary investigations before erecting a wind farm on his own responsibility.
The bidder who registers the lowest need for funding for a wind farm on the site is awarded the contract. If several bidders forgo a subsidy for an area and submit bids with a bid value of zero cents per kilowatt hour, a so-called dynamic bidding process will decide on the award for the first time. After that, the bidder with the highest willingness to pay will be awarded the contract, according to the Federal Network Agency’s website at the start of the tender. Bidders’ willingness to pay will now be determined by means of an online bidding process. An electronic auction is now planned “soon”.
Most of the proceeds go towards reducing electricity costs
“Most of the proceeds benefit consumers directly by reducing electricity costs,” says Müller. This applies to 90 percent of the funds raised. Five percent each flowed into marine conservation and the promotion of environmentally friendly fishing.
Three of the areas for offshore wind farms, each with a capacity of 2000 megawatts, are in the North Sea and one area with a capacity of 1000 megawatts is in the Baltic Sea. The areas in the North Sea are about 120 kilometers northwest of Heligoland and the area in the Baltic Sea is about 25 km off the island of Rügen. The commissioning of the wind farms is scheduled for 2030.
By 2045, at least 70 gigawatts should come from offshore wind farms
At the beginning of January, the federal government introduced the “More Wind Energy at Sea” Act. According to its own statements, this has created the conditions for advancing the expansion of offshore wind energy. The installed capacity of offshore wind energy is to increase to at least 30 gigawatts by 2030 and to at least 70 gigawatts by 2045.
According to the consulting firm Deutsche Windguard, 1,539 offshore wind turbines with a total capacity of 8.1 gigawatts were in operation in Germany at the end of 2022.