IN Brief:
- Germany connected 84 offshore turbines totalling 1,077MW during the first half of 2026.
- The operating fleet now comprises 1,764 turbines with 10.8GW of installed capacity.
- A further 17.5GW has been awarded without final investment decisions, increasing pressure for auction reform.
Bundesverband Windenergie Offshore and Germany’s principal wind industry organisations have recorded 1,077MW of new offshore capacity entering operation during the first half of 2026.
The additions comprise 84 turbines connected between January and June, taking Germany’s operating offshore fleet to 1,764 machines with an installed capacity of 10.8GW across the North Sea and Baltic Sea.
A further 22 turbines, representing 323MW, had been erected but were not yet operating at the end of the reporting period. Those machines are located within Borkum Riffgrund 3, He Dreiht, and Nordseecluster A, placing another substantial block of generation close to commissioning.
Beyond the equipment already installed, projects totalling 2.6GW have passed final investment decision and entered a defined delivery pipeline. A much larger 17.5GW has secured awards but has not yet received final investment approval.
Germany is targeting 30GW of offshore wind capacity by 2032, which will require sustained construction through the second half of the decade. Every additional generating project must be accompanied by offshore substations, converter platforms, export cables, landfall infrastructure, and reinforcement within the onshore transmission system.
Operating growth meets investment uncertainty
Strong first-half commissioning figures sit alongside a widening gap between awarded capacity and projects backed by committed capital. An award provides access to a development area, but turbine orders, vessel reservations, cable manufacturing, substation contracts, and financing follow only when the project reaches an investable position.
Germany’s offshore auction model has included negative bidding, under which developers offer payments for the right to develop seabed areas. Those payments become another project cost alongside turbines, foundations, electrical infrastructure, finance, construction risk, operations, and eventual decommissioning.
Higher borrowing costs, equipment inflation, supply-chain constraints, and changing wholesale-market expectations have altered the economics assumed when several developments entered the process. The absence of bids in an August 2025 round intensified the debate over whether the current structure can continue to produce financeable projects.
Reform proposals include indexed, two-sided Contracts for Difference, under which projects would receive support when the reference electricity price falls below an agreed strike price and return revenue when it rises above that level. Greater revenue predictability can reduce financing costs, although the contract must still allocate construction, curtailment, imbalance, availability, and network-delay risks.
Germany has already begun developing a revised framework for future offshore auctions, with developers and suppliers seeking sufficient clarity before preparing bids for the 2027 programme.
Indexation will require careful calibration because steel, copper, turbines, cables, vessels, and finance do not move uniformly in price. A mechanism that fails to reflect major cost movements can leave projects unfinanceable, while one that transfers too much risk away from developers can weaken competitive discipline.
Generation and transmission remain inseparable
More than a gigawatt of new turbines can enter commercial operation only when the complete electrical system is available. Offshore substations collect power from array cables, export systems move it towards shore, and onshore infrastructure transforms, controls, and routes the electricity into the wider grid.
Large North Sea developments increasingly rely on high-voltage direct-current connections over long distances. Converter platforms, submarine cables, landfall works, and onshore converter stations have their own design, manufacturing, installation, and commissioning programmes, often involving scarce factory capacity and specialist vessels.
Where generation and network schedules diverge, turbines may be mechanically complete but unable to export, or new transmission assets may operate below their intended utilisation. Contract interfaces must therefore coordinate energisation, protection, communications, compliance testing, and operational handover across equipment supplied by multiple companies.
The 323MW of erected but non-operational turbines illustrates the normal interval between mechanical completion and commercial service. Individual machines must be commissioned, array circuits energised, export systems tested, and the complete project demonstrated against network-code requirements before unrestricted output begins.
Germany’s offshore programme also carries a substantial industrial dimension. A stable project sequence supports investment in turbine factories, foundations, export cables, electrical equipment, ports, service bases, vessels, and technical labour, whereas an irregular auction timetable can leave expensive manufacturing and installation capacity underused.
Security requirements are becoming more demanding as offshore networks expand. Subsea cables, converter platforms, control systems, and communications links form part of critical national infrastructure and must withstand equipment failure, accidental damage, cyber intrusion, and deliberate interference.
Maintenance access introduces another constraint. Turbines and substations must remain serviceable through poor weather, while the availability of vessels, spare components, trained technicians, and remote diagnostic systems influences how quickly faults can be resolved.
Germany’s first-half additions demonstrate that its current project pipeline is producing operating assets at scale. Converting the remaining 17.5GW of awarded capacity into generation will require financeable auction terms, coordinated transmission schedules, and a supply chain capable of sustaining several complex programmes simultaneously.
