Offshore wind jobs in Germany hit 31,500 despite bottlenecks, industry says
Clean Energy Wire
The offshore wind energy sector employed the equivalent of 31,500 full-time jobs (49,000 jobs overall) and added 14.6 billion euros to the German economy in 2025, according to new research commissioned by the German Offshore Wind Energy Association (BWO).
Crucially, these jobs and money were felt throughout the value chain, from planning and construction, to operation and day-to-day management, the analysis conducted by wind:research found. Much of the economic benefit was felt far from the shore, with landlocked industrial heavyweight state North Rhine-Westphalia home to the most jobs (6,300), followed by southern state Baden-Württemburg (5,300) and northern coastal state Lower Saxony (3,500).
BWO said the positive impact on the job market happened despite bottlenecks to the rollout of offshore wind energy, in particular regarding grid connections. Operators currently face delays of over three years for connecting new projects to the grid, the lobby group said.
The analysis estimates that by 2045 the sector could employ 120,000 people, if the country is to meet its target of expanding offshore wind capacity to 70 gigawatts (GW). Lowering its ambitions to 60 GW of offshore wind by 2045 could cost the country 50,000 jobs, BWO estimates.
“Anyone who questions the expansion of offshore wind energy is not only jeopardising the energy supply, but also tens of thousands of jobs and industrial prospects in Germany,” said Stefan Thimm, managing director of BWO. “Lowering the expansion targets would weaken the value chain and drive investment abroad,” he added.
Germany currently has a total of 1,800 turbines with a combined capacity of 9.74 GW in operation in its territorial waters. This is still far from the government’s 2030 capacity target of 30 GW. Offshore wind’s contribution to Germany’s power production mix reached 5.2 percent in 2025.