Dutch and German power transmission system operator (TSO) TenneT has nearly achieved the German federal government's expansion target of having 6,500 MW of offshore wind capacity by 2020. It has connected 11 offshore grid connection systems with a joint capacity of 6,232 MW to the domestic grid. Besides, TenneT even expects to overtake this objective shortly, with the completion of the BorWin3 infrastructure in 2019, reaching a total of 7,132 MW of transmission capacity in operation in the North Sea in late 2019. The addition of the DolWin6 connection system will raise the available transmission capacity in the North Sea to 8,032 MW at the end of 2023.
TenneT also reports that the wind power transmitted from the North Sea through its network amounted to 16.7 TWh in 2018, which is a record compared to the previous year's value of 16 TWh (+4.9%). The North Sea contribution to the total German wind power output stood at nearly 16% in 2017. According to TenneT, Baltic Sea wind parks generated 2.3 TWh in 2018 (1.4 TWh in 2017). Their power generation is growing at a very quick pace (+63% year-on-year). Overall, Germany’s total offshore wind generation amounted to 19 TWh in 2018.
According to TenneT, German onshore wind parks generated more than 87 TWh of electricity in 2018, bringing the 2018 total German wind power generation to 106 TWh (-0.1% year-on-year, from 107 TWh in 2017).