Germany Could Solve Offshore Wind Liability Issue Soon

Germany is expecting to solve the liability issue in offshore wind sector by the end of this year, so the bill aiming to provide investment security for the industry could enter into force early in 2013.

Peter Altmaier, German Environment Minister, is quoted by Bloomberg as saying that he is hoping to pass a bill on liability for grid connection of offshore wind farms in order to remove the obstacles that brought investments to a standstill, while also jeopardizing a lot of working positions in the industry.

A draft bill dated 29 August 2012 and reviewed by the German parliament in October 2012, was endorsed by Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Cabinet. Although this bill improves planning visibility and allows affected transmission system operators to pass on the costs for delays in network connections to end consumers, some uncertainties regarding the application of the law still remained unsolved.

Recently, because of the uncertainties in the regulations and amendment process of the Energy Act underway, EnBW has decided to postpone the decision on EUR 1.5 billion investment in the North Sea Offshore Wind. RWE Innogy and E.ON had also delayed their investments.

Delays in connecting the wind farms to the grid have led some of the developers to seek compensation for cost overruns.

Minister Altmaier said: “I believe we have a chance to settle this in the coming days.”

[mappress]

Offshore WIND Staff, November 26, 2012; Image: RWE