'Important test' as Germany tells offshore wind to bust grid link capacity
Tender for 1GW site in North Sea for first time includes requirement to 'overplant' area by up to a fifth of grid link capacity
Germany has for the first time kicked off an offshore wind tender in which installed megawatts must exceed grid connection capacity, described as an "important test" for the sector there.
Interested parties had until Monday to hand in bids for the pilot project at the 1GW N-9.4 site that stretches across 146 square metres in the North Sea and has not been pre-developed by the state.
Installed capacity at the far-offshore site should exceed grid connection capacity by 10-20%, also called ‘overplanting’. The measure is seen as a test for greater system efficiency, as it should allow more days on which the wind farm can run at the full capacity of the grid connection.
“N-9.4 marks the start of an important practical test for the further development of offshore wind planning with overplanting,” said Stefan Thimm, managing director of Germany’s Offshore Wind Federation (BWO), which represents operators for wind at sea.
“We are committed to greater flexibility in the overplanting rules, but also hope for numerous qualified bids and genuine competition for the area.”
Overplanting had also been an option in last year's 3GW Danish offshore wind tender, which, however, failed to attract bidders.
Commissioning of Germany's N-9.4 site is planned for 2032.
Germany’s federal grids agency (BNetzA) is slated to announce the winner of the tender in the coming four to eight weeks, although there is no fixed date for that.
The auction also has the option of a so-called dynamic bidding process - if all bids handed in were zero-subsidy bids, then a second auction will be held at which bidders can offer to pay the state money for the right to build the wind farm.
The wind industry has strongly objected to this 'negative bidding' component, but the BWO said, given the changed market environment in Europe, there may not be any zero-cent bids anymore at this tender.
The agency this year will also auction off two sites (N-10-1 and N-10.2) with a combined capacity of 2.5GW later this year that have been pre-developed.