Germany’s offshore wind power sector has surpassed the 1 GW milestone

At the end of last year, 258 offshore wind turbines – located in the country’s North and Baltic Seas – generated a total of 1,049.2 MW into the grid, according to the Deutsche WindGuard.

In 2014 alone, the offshore wind power sector installed 528.9 MW of installed capacity – more than doubling the amount from the previous year.

“Out at sea, we have now officially broken through the gigawatt barrier for installed capacity,” says Norbert Giese, board member of the German Offshore Wind Energy Foundation. “This corresponds to an investment volume of around 4 billion euros. In addition, turbine, foundation and grid technology exports are also in the billion-euro range.”

Last year’s capacity increase was more than symbolic, however. Giese says technological improvements and stable policy will continue to propel the offshore wind market.

Further, Giese expects up to 2 GW of offshore wind capacity to be connected to the grid this year, which would bring the country’s offshore wind installed capacity to 3 GW.