Wind energy: BSH and DWD search for locations for offshore wind farms

The offshore wind capacity in the German part of the North Sea and Baltic Sea is to be massively expanded by 2045. The Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency (BSH) and the German Meteorological Service (DWD) are looking for suitable locations for future wind farms.

The BSH and DWD have commissioned Fugro Norway to carry out a measurement campaign as part of the Meteorological and Oceanographic Reference Measurements (MeteOR) project. The geodata company will collect data in an area around 280 kilometers off the German North Sea coast for at least three years. This data will be used to identify wind farm areas on the edge of the German Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).

To this end, Fugro is installing two of its Seawatch measuring buoys in the target area. The company is also anchoring two measuring systems on the seabed. These measure swell, ocean current, temperature, salinity, pressure and oxygen content. The buoys are also equipped with lidar sensors that record wind speeds up to a height of 250 meters. This is the typical height of current offshore wind turbines.

"With the 'MeteOR' campaign, the BSH is establishing a crucial basis for the efficient development of offshore wind farms in offshore areas of the German North Sea, thereby making a significant contribution to the energy transition", explains BSH President Helge Heegewaldt.

Data collection began with winter storms

As the BSH has only just announced, data collection began back in December. Shortly after the systems were installed, the first storms hit the North Sea. Wind speeds of more than 90 kilometers per hour at a height of 160 meters and maximum wave heights of 11 meters were measured.

At the end of last year, the installed offshore wind capacity in German waters amounted to just under 10 gigawatts. The Wind Energy at Sea Act, which will be amended in 2022, stipulates a significant expansion: capacity is to increase to 30 gigawatts by 2030 and 40 gigawatts by 2035. By 2045, the capacity should then be 70 gigawatts.

According to BSH, this will require wind farms to be built up to 350 kilometers off the German North Sea coast. However, data on the prevailing wind and sea conditions in these offshore areas has so far been lacking. "This data is essential for the assessment of the meteorological and oceanographic conditions in the preliminary survey and provides crucial information for the further planning of the expansion of offshore wind energy in Germany," says Johannes Hahn, technical coordinator of the meteorological and oceanographic preliminary survey at the BSH.

(wpl)