German Gov’t Proposes Changes to Offshore Wind Act, Industry Says CfD Mechanism Should Not Be ‘Fallback Option’

Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWE) has opened consultation on a draft amendment to the Wind Energy at Sea Act (WindSeeG), proposing changes to the country’s offshore wind tender system, including bilateral Contracts for Difference (CfDs) and a longer standard operating period for new wind farms.

The draft legislation, presented on 10 August, retains Germany’s target of at least 70 GW of offshore wind capacity by 2045 and proposes annual tenders ranging from 2 GW to 4.8 GW.

The proposed changes come after a 2.5 GW tender for the N-10.1 and N-10.2 sites attracted no bids in August 2025, and the government subsequently postponed the next tender for the two sites to 2027.

The German Offshore Wind Energy Association (BWO) has welcomed the inclusion of bilateral CfDs in the draft, but said the proposed mechanism should be available as part of the tender design rather than being a “fallback option”, only activated if a project fails to attract a developer willing to proceed without price hedging.

BWO and other industry organisations had already called for CfDs as part of a reform of Germany’s offshore wind auctions. In November 2025, the associations also called for long-term power purchase agreements (PPAs) and an extension of the operating period for new offshore wind farms to 35 years, which the new amendment now includes.

The latest amendment would also establish opportunities for cross-border offshore wind projects.

BWO also criticised the draft for not including a mechanism allowing projects awarded in the 2023–2025 tender rounds to be returned to the government and re-tendered. The association proposed such a mechanism in May, arguing that projects which are no longer economically viable could otherwise remain tied up for years and prevent the use of their grid connection capacity and offshore areas.

The association’s proposal relates to projects awarded during those tender rounds that have not yet reached a final investment decision and would allow developers to voluntarily return projects under defined conditions, including forfeiting payments already made, being excluded from bidding again for the same areas and making preliminary project studies available for future development.

In January, BWO and other industry organisations warned that the failed 2025 tender and delays to grid connections were putting future investment and Germany’s 2030 expansion target at risk.

In June, the Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency (BSH) proposed changes to the design of several offshore wind areas, including N-10.1 and N-10.2, ahead of their planned re-tender in 2027.

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