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The potential for shared use of marine sites was discussed with various stakeholders including nature conservation, fisheries and the military, and solutions such as floating turbine systems were simulated.

© pixabay

Offshore wind energy is a crucial component of Germany’s plan for achieving climate neutrality by 2045. Olaf Scholz’s government has pledged to increase installed offshore wind power capacity from 7.8 to 70 GW to meet that goal. But a new study from the Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy Systems (IWES) suggests that the yield from wind farms in the German North and Baltic seas could exceed the target and reach 82 GW.

This could be realised through a combination of increasing the efficiency of existing wind plants and upgrading equipment, as well as developing new sites, including co-use sites. The study, commissioned by the Federal Association of Wind Farm Operators Offshore (BWO) and the Federal Association of Energy and Water Management (BDEW), modelled offshore wind energy potential in Germany’s marine Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).

Kerstin Andreae, CEO of BDEW, explains that adding more installed capacity does not automatically result in higher energy yield: "In parallel with the development of new sites, we must keep an eye on area efficiency - i.e. the yield per square kilometre,” she says in a BWO press release.

When Fraunhofer analysed yields, it found that full load hours (a measure of plant output and profitability) at certain sites fell well below yields at fully-developed wind farms. It concluded the use of larger, taller turbines would have a positive effect on future productivity, whether in new or existing installations.

The potential for shared use of marine sites was discussed with various stakeholders including nature conservation, fisheries and the military, and solutions such as floating turbine systems were simulated. The co-use model demonstrated a significant increase in full load hours. Overall, it was found that with a potential 81.6 GW of installed capacity, yields of up to 292.1 TWh could be achieved at around 3,580 full-load hours from wind farms in the EEZ.