During today’s visit to the island of Rügen, Christian Pegel, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern’s Minister for Energy, Infrastructure and Regional Development, went to Juliusruh, where he discussed the current political developments in the offshore wind energy with industry representatives.
The economy talks about offshore wind energy, held in the afternoon, focused on the latest issue: the amendment to the Renewable Energy Act (EEG), which was the topic of the energy summit held last Tuesday in Berlin.
Signals from the capital were positively received. Funding rates for offshore wind will not be significantly reduced and more plants can be built, than it was intended by the draft of the Department of Energy. In addition, up to 1.5 gigawatts more network capacity is to be approved.
“The Federal Government has responded to our key demands. I think it was a good compromise. Now it is time to clarify the last details before the draft is adopted in the Cabinet next week,” Minister Pegel said.
In addition to the EEG amendment, the Minister discussed the importance of offshore wind power for the region and the location of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern with respect to business, as well as current and future Baltic Sea projects. Currently, EnBW’s Baltic 2 offshore wind farm is being built from the ferry port. As of 2015, the Wikinger wind farm project, developed by the Spanish energy group Iberdrola, will kick off.
In addition to the economic talks, “Maritime Spring Ball of the Economy” will be held for the fourth time in the evening in Juliusruh, where major representatives from the industry will gather.
Offshore WIND Staff, April 4, 2014; Image: Jonas Rogowski