German coordinator for the Maritime Industry and State Secretary for Economy and Energy, Uwe Beckmeyer, yesterday opened the “OffWEA” specialist conference “The Future of Offshore Wind Energy According to the EEG amendment 2014” in Berlin.
The specialist conference was organized by Stiftung Offshore-Windenergie, under the Federal Ministry of Economy and Energy’s “Technical support of the Federal Government in developing and implementing a strategy for wind farms in the North Sea and Baltic Sea (OffWEA)”.
In his speech, Mr. Beckmeyer said that more than 3,000 megawatts of offshore wind capacity will be installed in German North and Baltic Seas in 2015.
“This is a remarkable success. With the experience subsequently gained, we can estimate future risks in contracts, construction processes or network connections much better. In the field of offshore wind energy, we have reached the phase of industrialization and thus the part of the learning curve in which significant cost reductions are possible.”
“After the amendment to the EEG, the course for the upcoming second phase of the offshore wind energy must be set properly, especially the design of tendering process for the period from 2017. We will publish a market analysis in 2015, as a basis for further discussion. The process should be conducted transparently with all interested parties.”
The OffWEA specialist conference was attended by representatives of manufacturers, suppliers, investors and operators as well as organizations and countries.
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Offshore WIND Staff; Image: BARD (Illustration)