“This is a clear signal that the government wants to see wind energy moving faster in Germany,” said Hermann Albers, Vice-President of the BWE (German Wind Energy Association). He is confident that the new policy will help to achieve the BWE target for 2015 to cover nearly 15% of current German consumption by wind power.

Fritz Vahrenholt, Chief Executive of REpower, expects a cost reduction of offshore wind farms by 30% as a result of the new law. “It means that offshore wind power and conventional power plants on land are on equal terms,” he said.

The new law is supposed to provide grid connection to projects which have begun construction prior to the end of 2011. Operators of offshore wind farms will experience a substantial cost relief as the grid connection represents a large part (20-30%) of the investments in offshore wind power projects.