New York looks to Germany for key offshore wind lessons
Clean Energy Wire
Germany and other European countries offer important lessons for the development of offshore wind in New York, according to the US state's Power Authority (NYPA). “We see great value in studying what European countries have learned about transmission and interconnection infrastructure. We can now apply those learnings to build cost-effective projects that benefit all New Yorkers,"said Gil C. Quiniones, NYPA’s president and CEO. NYPA said in a report that planning for scale and encouraging healthy competition have been key to the growth of offshore wind in the four countries studied: Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands and the UK. "Feed-in tariffs played a particularly important role in Germany and the Netherlands to help establish a nascent industry by guaranteeing a stable price for [offshore wind]. In contrast, PPA [power purchase agreement] auctions have led to more competitive pricing." It also said transparent, long-term, on and offshore grid planning removes barriers to entry, improves coordination and lowers costs, and that cross-border coordination has helped countries leverage planned transmission infrastructure.
New York has a target of 9 gigawatt (GW) offshore wind by 2035, while the four European countries have already collectively connected 16 GW of offshore wind to their grids. New York also wants to increase the share of renewable power to 70 percent by 2030 and cut energy-related greenhouse gas emissions by 85 percent from 1990 levels by 2050. By comparison, Germany is aiming for a 65 percent renewable share by 2030. It plans to cut emissions by 80 to 95 percent by 2050, but is currently discussing raising that target and instead aiming for climate neutrality by mid-century.
