Germany Marks Two Areas as Suitable for 2.5 GW Offshore Wind

January 28, 2025, by Adnan Memija

The German Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency (Bundesamt für Seeschifffahrt und Hydrographie; BSH) has marked two areas, N-10.1 and N-10.2, as suitable for the construction and operation of offshore wind farms.

On 28 January, BSH issued the 5th Ordinance on the Implementation of the Offshore Wind Energy Act (5th WindSeeV). Determining the suitability of the areas is a prerequisite for the Federal Network Agency (BNetzA) to issue a tender for areas for offshore energy in the exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

The N-10.1 and N-10.2 areas are located in the North Sea and together cover 182 square kilometres, which is twice the size of Sylt, according to BSH.

A total capacity of 2.5 GW, enough to supply nearly all households in Cologne, is planned to be installed on the two sites, said BSH.

The N-10.1 area covers 151 square kilometres and has the potential for developing an offshore wind farm with a total capacity of 2 GW. The area is around 110 kilometres from Juist, the closest German island. The closest Dutch island, Rottumerplaat, is about 115 kilometres away.

N-10.2 covers an area of 31 square kilometres and is planned to have an installed capacity of 500 MW. The area is positioned about 109 kilometres from Juist Island, and the distance to the nearest Dutch Rottumerplaat Island is approximately 113 kilometres.

Germany BSH N-10 — *Source: The Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency (BSH)*

According to the BSH area development plan from 2023, the two areas will be auctioned for offshore wind development in 2025. The deadline for bidding in the BNetzA’s tender is 1 August 2025.

In 2021, Akrocean won the tender to carry out meteorological measurements at the two sites in the N-10 area.

In other recent news coming from Germany, the transmission system operator (TSO) TenneT announced that it supplied about 20.8 TWh of wind energy from the North Sea to the mainland in 2024. This represents an increase of about eight per cent compared to the previous year, according to TenneT.

The installed capacity of offshore wind farms in the German North Sea was 7,387 MW as of 31 December 2024, increasing from 7,106 MW the previous year, according to TenneT.