The recent news of alleged “subsidy-free” offshore wind power in Germany has drawn a lot of international attention. Craig Morris spoke with Andreas Wagner, head of Germany’s Offshore Wind Foundation, not only about the reasons, which have been well reported, but about some downsides, which have not. Germany has just completed its first round of tenders for offshore wind, and the outcome came as a shock: one winning bid asked for a bonus of 6.0 cents/kWh on top of the wholesale rate, while the other three went for zero – meaning that those projects will make do with whatever wholesale power price is available (unless a power purchase agreement is signed, for which a buyer would need to be found). The New York Times did a good job of summarizing the main reasons behind the zero bids: The projects will not go online until possibly 2025, by which time offshore turbines will be different beasts. Denmark’s Dong Energy, which won three of the bids worth a total of 590 MW, speaks of “probably 13-15 MW” … Continue reading Germany to get free offshore wind! Wait, what?