The offshore wind turbines in the North Sea, which are important for the energy transition, delivered less electricity last year than in the previous year due to bottlenecks in the onshore network. A total of 19.24 terawatt hours (TWh) of wind energy was transferred to land, the network operator Tennet told the German Press Agency. That is around nine percent less than in 2022.
In purely mathematical terms, the 19.24 TWh could cover the annual needs of around six million households. “Due to the still numerous bottlenecks in the onshore power grid, the large wind farms in the North Sea are increasingly having to be shut down,” said Tennet Managing Director Tim Meyerjürgens.
Another reason: There are hardly any large conventional power plants in the north that could be throttled down instead. “This not only affects the amount of electricity fed in, but also affects its price development.” Meyerjürgens called for a continued high pace in network expansion and the construction of large electricity highways “so that the North Sea’s potential as a wind power plant in Germany and Europe can be used efficiently as soon as possible.”
Better news from the Baltic Sea
Tennet put the total wind power generation on land and at sea in Germany at 148.97 TWh in 2023 – 26.18 TWh more than in the previous year. The share of North Sea electricity fell by around four percentage points to around 13 percent. According to Tennet, the wind turbines in the Baltic Sea – they are in the 50 Hertz network area – generated 4.17 TWh last year. That was 0.55 TWh more than in 2022.
The capacity of wind farms in the German North Sea increased by 70 megawatts to 7,106 megawatts last year. The highest feed-in value was measured on April 1st at 6,491 megawatts. In the Dutch North Sea, capacities increased from 3,220 to 5,622 megawatts. According to the information, Tennet transferred 11.54 TWh of electricity – 3.63 TWh more than in the previous year. The main reason for this was the commissioning of the Hollandse Kust (noord) offshore grid connection systems and the corresponding additions to the offshore wind farms.
