Eight prime ministers, including Olaf Lies, Markus Söder and Cem Özdemir, are calling for corrections to the offshore wind energy law in a letter to Economics Minister Katherina Reiche.
Eight prime ministers have sent a letter to Economics Minister Katherina Reiche and are calling for significant changes to the offshore wind energy law because they see a threat to German industry.
They criticize the fact that there is currently no return option for offshore wind projects that cannot be implemented, which could block areas and grid capacities.
The prime ministers are pushing for rapid legal reform so that there will be tenders again in 2027 and the volume will be caught up by the end of 2030 in order to secure the expansion and the associated jobs.
Berlin. In a letter to Economics Minister Katherina Reiche (CDU), eight prime ministers are calling for significant corrections to the offshore wind energy law. The state leaders, including Olaf Lies (SPD, Lower Saxony), Markus Söder (CSU, Bavaria), Daniel Günther (CDU, Schleswig-Holstein) and Cem Özdemir (Greens, Baden-Württemberg), warn of a fatally wrong decision to the detriment of German industry. The letter is available to the Handelsblatt.
“The signatory countries see an urgent need for action in the further legislative process,” write the Prime Minister. Together, they are deeply concerned “that in an already geopolitically challenging competitive environment, incorrect regulatory and industrial policy decisions promote deindustrialization.”
If tenders for wind power on the high seas were canceled, projects were not realized or there was no planning security, this would not only affect individual wind farms. This endangers investments in production capacities, skilled workers, ports, supply chains and technological expertise in Germany.
“A possible thread break in offshore wind energy would immediately become an industrial policy risk for Germany.” This is precisely why “a reliable and continuous expansion path is of central importance,” says the letter, which was also signed by Anke Rehlinger (SPD, Saarland), Peter Tschentscher (SPD, Hamburg), Manuela Schwesig (SPD, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania) and Andreas Bovenschulte (SPD, Bremen).
Offshore wind power is in a difficult phase in Germany. Not a single new wind farm has been launched off the North or Baltic Sea coasts in this country for two years. Postponed tenders, delayed grid connections and uncertain projects: The order books of many suppliers are empty - and things could become even more difficult.
In previous years, energy companies had sometimes offered billions in auctions of usable lake areas by the Federal Network Agency in order to secure areas. Last year, however, interest in tenders for offshore wind areas in the German part of the North and Baltic Seas fell sharply.
The main reason: From the industry's perspective, the areas are not attractive and the planned development density is too high. In addition, high material costs and delayed network connections are causing problems for companies.
As a result, some projects on expensively acquired land are hardly profitable for developers. Probably also because network expansion is not keeping pace.
An amendment to the law in late summer could have given the industry a new perspective in times of crisis: with a regulation that the land auctioned for billions of euros would first be returned and then reallocated as quickly as possible. In this way, a “rupture of the thread” in the expansion of wind energy could be avoided.
In fact, at the beginning of September, the Federal Cabinet passed a draft law to optimize and secure the expansion of wind energy at sea. The goal of at least 70 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind energy remains unchanged until 2045; tenders for between 2,000 and 4,800 megawatts are planned annually. The operating life of offshore wind farms will be increased from 25 to 35 years, which is intended to promote economic efficiency.
But the draft of the WindSeeG from Reich's ministry does not provide for a return of the land. Rather, it says: “A unilateral return of surcharges is still not planned.” This is intended to ensure the “binding nature of the tendering process”.
The Prime Minister thinks this is a mistake. Projects that can no longer be implemented should not block areas and network capacities: “What is necessary is a unique, clearly conditioned and legally secure return option with a timely new tender, in which the preparatory work carried out remains usable,” they write.
Subsidized projects would also have to be able to be built. “This requires mechanisms that adequately take into account the sharp increase in financing, material and project costs.”
In addition, Reiche's draft does not currently provide for so-called contracts for difference as a primary standard, as is now common in almost all other countries. A so-called “Contract for Difference”, or CfD for short, guarantees operators a fixed price for the electricity generated. This price is determined in an auction. If the market price is lower, the state makes up the difference; if it is higher, it skims off the excess revenue.
However, in Reiche's new law, CfDs only come into play if a first round of tenders without state protection is unsuccessful. The prime ministers also believe that this is a mistake. "The planned two-stage structure is harmful and should be deleted without replacement. Only a pure CfD model will prevent the current situation of projects being awarded but not built from being repeated," it says in their letter.
The Prime Ministers are also pushing for speed in the legislative process. The 2026 tender must not be canceled without replacement. Their volume must also be made up by the end of 2030 at the latest. “The reform must be passed so quickly that successful tenders are possible again in 2027.”
“The framework conditions for offshore electricity generation are much more than an energy policy question,” says Lower Saxony’s Prime Minister Lies. “They are a key industrial policy decision for the future of Germany as a business location.”
The fact that eight heads of government from different parties and from all regions of Germany are turning to the Federal Minister with a joint appeal shows “how great the need for action is”.
According to an analysis by the market research company Wind Research on behalf of the Federal Association of Offshore Wind Energy (BWO), 23,000 of the current 49,000 jobs will be at risk in the next four years alone if expansion continues to stall. In the same period, the loss of sales will amount to 24 billion euros, also because a large part of the added value will then move abroad. The first suppliers have already announced job cuts.
“If nothing happens in the next few months, we will see a situation like that in the solar industry,” warned Siemens Energy CEO Vinod Philip recently in an interview with Handelsblatt. – also at his company. The turbine manufacturer is one of the global market leaders in the wind industry.
Almost 900 companies are active in the offshore industry throughout Germany. This doesn’t just include turbine builders and foundation manufacturers. Network operators such as 50Hertz, maintenance specialists such as Deutsche Windtechnik, drive technology companies such as Flender and logistics providers such as BLG and Rhenus are also active along the value chain. “This will have very noticeable consequences for all companies in the supply chain,” says Philip.
