German state ministers back industry call to delay 2026 offshore wind auctions
Clean Energy Wire
Ministers from Germany’s coastal states support an industry call to postpone the country’s 2026 offshore wind power auctions to give companies more time to prepare their bids. Christian Meyer and Tobias Goldschmidt, energy ministers of Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein, backed the idea to postpone the auctions from February to the final quarter of next year at an online debate hosted by offshore industry association BWO.
The two state ministers from the Green Party said the federal government must present new rules on the auction design soon after a tender earlier this year ended without receiving bids. Without postponing the 2026 auctions, the next round could also end without attracting any bids, warned minister Meyer. “This would be a fatal signal for the industry.”
At the same time, expansion targets for offshore wind “must remain in place and not be slowed down,” as recently suggested by federal economy minister Katherina Reiche. Reiche had commissioned a monitoring of the energy transition’s progress, which found great uncertainty regarding the rise of future electricity demand. If it were to increase slower than initially expected, it could put existing renewable power expansion targets into question, she argued.
The country plans to build 30 gigawatts of offshore wind turbine capacity by 2030, 40 GW by 2035 and 70 GW by 2045. Reducing these targets would pose risks for thousands of jobs in Lower Saxony and elsewhere, Meyer said. More offshore wind power would be needed to cover rising demand for electricity, for example for heat pumps, electric vehicles or for electrolysers producing hydrogen, the minister said. “The offshore industry must not move abroad,” the Green Party politician said.
Operators of offshore wind farms must pay for using areas assigned for energy production in Germany’s parts of the North and Baltic Seas. However, the most recent 2025 auction received no bids and not a single offshore turbine was connected to the grid in the first half of the year. Among other things, the industry has said that a reformed auction should include contracts for difference (CfDs) and power purchase agreements (PPAs) to ensure reliable investment conditions.
