EU okays Germany’s proposal to construct 20 offshore wind farms

The European Commission has given approval to Germany to support the construction of 20 offshore wind farms in North Sea and Baltic Sea.

The commission has observed that the project would ‘further EU energy and environmental objectives without unduly distorting competition in the Single Market’.

Germany’s proposal to pay operators in form of a premium on top of the market price for electricity has been approved by the EU.

The size of the wind farms could range from 252MW to 688MW, with total output of 7GW of renewable energy generation capacity.

All of the wind farms are expected to start production in 2019, and the total investment cost will be €29.3bn.

The wind firms are expected to generate 28 terawatt-hours (TWh) of renewable electricity annually, amounting to almost 13% of Germany’s 2020 scenario for renewable energy given in the National Renewable Energy Action Plan (NREAP).

The commission assessed the projects under its Guidelines on State aid for environmental protection and energy, and declared that it will have a positive effect on competition in the country, as it will facilitate new electricity providers to enter the German generation market.