Tender calls show more offshore wind

New tender calls show EU countries pressing ahead to add more offshore wind

Several EU Member States have increased their offshore wind ambitions – with some also making joint vows to install massive amounts of new capacity by 2030 and beyond – and invitations to tender released in October show Germany, Ireland, and the Netherlands are actively working to prepare the stage for the buildout of new offshore wind farms.

Germany, which recently launched a tender related to geophysical (seismic) investigations for three areas in the North Sea totalling 3.5 GW of potential capacity, is now looking for contractors who will perform geophysical and hydrographic surveys for offshore wind farms within zones 2 and 3 of the German Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). The three areas from the previous tender are also located in zone 3.

The two zones comprise several areas that have been designated for offshore wind development, as well as areas that are currently under review under the country’s site development plan. This year, Germany established an expansion target of at least 30 GW of offshore wind capacity by 2030, at least 40 GW by 2035, and at least 70 GW by 2045.

In May, the country was announced as one of the four EU Member States that agreed on a joint offshore wind target of having at least 65 GW of generation capacity installed by 2030 and at least 150 GW by 2050 as part of a drive to speed up the phaseout of fossil fuels and to minimise reliance on energy imports from Russia. Germany’s co-signatory of the Esbjerg Declaration, the Netherlands, has also recently upped its offshore wind goal for 2050 to 70 GW, based on the assumption that 50 GW could be installed by 2040.

Electricity consumption

The Dutch Government is currently working towards having 21 GW of offshore wind up and running by the end of this decade, which is about

Eneco Luchterduinen offshore wind farm in the Netherlands. Photo by Eneco

75 per cent of the current electricity consumption in the Netherlands. The Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) has now issued a tender for the development of an integrated ground model for the Nederwiek Zuid Wind Farm Zone to allow for a preliminary foundation design. Nederwiek Zuid is one of the eight new zones the Dutch Government identified for the buildout of additional offshore wind capacity earlier this year. The area is scheduled to be auctioned off in the second quarter of 2025, at the same time as IJmuiden Ver Noord V and VI zones.

Both Germany and the Netherlands are members of the North Seas Energy Cooperation (NSEC), whose nine member countries recently agreed to reach at least 260 GW of offshore wind capacity by 2050, which represent more than 85 per cent of the EU-wide ambition of reaching 300 GW by 2050.

At a ministerial meeting in Dublin this September, under the Irish co-presidency of NSEC, the energy ministers of the nine countries have, for the first time, agreed on aggregate, non-binding offshore renewable energy targets for the maritime area of the entire NSEC region.

Renewables ambition

Ireland also increased its offshore wind target this year, raising it from 5 GW to 7 GW by 2030, after reaching an agreement on Sectoral Emissions Ceilings that set maximum limits on greenhouse gas emissions for each sector of the Irish economy to the end of the decade. The country, which currently has only one offshore wind farm in operation, is also moving forward on its new Offshore Renewable Energy Development Plan (OREDP II), which will update the original OREDP published in 2014 and will support Ireland’s increased offshore renewables ambition beyond 2030 of up to 30 GW.

Irish Ministry for the Environment, Climate and Communications (MECC) has now launched a tender looking for a service provider (or consortia) who can bring the requisite expert citizen engagement, creative communications, and project management expertise to deliver a high-impact hybrid in-person and online public consultation on Ireland’s longterm Offshore Renewable Energy Development Plan II.

It is anticipated the consultation will launch at the end of 2022, or in January 2023, with consultation events held in January/February. OREDP II is expected to inform the identification and designation of candidate areas for future offshore renewable energy development under the new Irish offshore wind consenting regime established by the Maritime Area Planning (MAP) Bill.

The MAP Bill, passed in December 2021, facilitated the establishment of Ireland’s new Maritime Area Consent (MAC) regime, under which the first wave of offshore wind farms has already been invited to apply for development permits. The new marine planning and permitting system is said to simplify and accelerate offshore wind deployment in Ireland as it replaces the previous system which was more complex and lengthy.