IN Brief:
- Germany’s draft WindSeeG reform retains the target of at least 70GW of offshore wind capacity by 2045.
- Proposed changes include two-sided CfDs, annual tenders of 2GW to 4.8GW, and a 35-year standard operating period.
- Consultation will determine whether the revised auction structure provides sufficient certainty for developers, investors, and the offshore supply chain.
Germany has opened consultation on an overhaul of its offshore wind framework, putting revenue support, auction volumes, and longer operating periods at the centre of the next phase of North Sea and Baltic development.
The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy is proposing changes to the Wind Energy at Sea Act, or WindSeeG, while retaining the statutory goal of at least 70GW of offshore wind capacity by 2045. The draft envisages annual tenders ranging from 2GW to 4.8GW, introduces a route to two-sided contracts for difference, and would extend the standard operating period for new offshore wind farms from 25 to 35 years.
The revenue-support proposal is likely to draw particular scrutiny because it changes how long-term market risk could be divided between project owners and the state. Under a two-sided CfD, a project receives support when the relevant market price falls below an agreed strike price and pays money back when it rises above that level, reducing exposure to wholesale electricity volatility while limiting windfall revenues during periods of high prices.
The German proposal does not simply replace the existing auction structure with CfDs. The draft sets out a two-stage route in which supported arrangements would become available if an initial process does not produce a developer willing to proceed without that revenue protection. Offshore industry representatives have already questioned that sequence, arguing that predictable support should be embedded more directly in procurement rather than introduced only after an unsupported process fails.
That argument sits against an increasingly difficult investment backdrop. Offshore wind requires multibillion-euro commitments across turbines, foundations, array and export cables, substations, installation vessels, ports, grid connections, and long-term maintenance, while development periods stretch across several years. Interest rates, equipment costs, electricity-price forecasts, and construction risk can all move substantially between an auction award and financial close.
Germany’s current legislation sets offshore expansion goals of at least 30GW by 2030, 40GW by 2035, and 70GW by 2045. Retaining the long-term target while revising the auction framework indicates that the immediate policy problem is increasingly one of delivery conditions rather than headline ambition.
The proposed annual tender range of 2GW to 4.8GW could provide manufacturers and infrastructure suppliers with a clearer view of the order pipeline if projects awarded through the process subsequently reach construction. Turbine factories, foundation producers, cable manufacturers, heavy-lift vessel operators, ports, and service bases all require enough forward visibility to justify capacity investments of their own.
Earlier German reform proposals had already brought bilateral CfDs, cross-border cooperation, and possible routes for previously awarded projects back onto the policy agenda. Publication of the draft legislation moves that debate into a more defined phase, adding proposed annual volumes and the 35-year standard operating period to the framework now under consultation.
The longer operating term alters project economics in a different way from revenue support. Allowing a wind farm to operate for 35 years provides more time over which its initial capital cost can be recovered, but the additional decade also places greater weight on turbine degradation, major component replacement, cable condition, foundation life, offshore substation maintenance, and the continuing availability of spares and specialist service capacity.
Assets designed around a 35-year life will consequently need inspection and maintenance strategies that extend well beyond the original warranty periods of many individual components. Lifetime-extension assessments, corrosion management, drivetrain condition, blade repairs, electrical equipment replacement, and offshore logistics will determine how much of the additional permitted life is commercially usable.
The draft also provides for cross-border cooperation projects, an increasingly relevant issue as North Sea countries examine hybrid connections and offshore infrastructure capable of supporting both generation and electricity trading between national markets. Such projects can improve utilisation of offshore networks, but they require agreement on support arrangements, market rules, grid codes, planning, and the allocation of infrastructure costs between participating countries.
The consultation will therefore turn on considerably more than whether Germany uses CfDs in principle. The sequence between supported and unsupported bidding, the treatment of existing projects, annual auction volumes, operating periods, and the relationship between generation awards and offshore grid delivery will all affect whether developers can turn awarded capacity into financeable construction programmes.
Germany still has at least 70GW of offshore wind written into its 2045 framework. The practical test for the revised WindSeeG will be how much of the capacity passing through future auctions reaches financial close, equipment orders, construction, and eventually the grid.
