German Energy Transition #4
Series
German Energy Transition #4
A Fresh Breeze for Seaports: How Offshore Wind Boosts Local Maritime Economies in Germany
Much of Europe is betting on offshore wind as a way of transforming its energy system into one which will be almost entirely based on renewable energies. Europe - and Germany - have seen a large influx of investment in this sector over the past years, and the quest for becoming the leading supply and manufacturing region is well underway - with seaports leading the way.
Germany has set itself ambitious offshore targets - it wants to reach 10 GW (equivalent to about nine nuclear plants) or 25% of its electricity supply by 2025 - with most of the energy to come from offshore wind farms located in the North and Baltic Seas. For sure, much of this energy transition has to come from a bottom up. Less prosperous regions and communities are increasingly realizing their potential in this quest. Seaports are the new player in town and prospects for continuous growth are favorable as they profit from an increased public infrastructure budget and a large amount of foreign direct investment.
Click here to read A Fresh Breeze for Seaports (5 pages, pdf, 1.45MB)
Rebecca Bertram is Program Director for the Climate Network at the Heinrich Böll Foundation.
This paper is part six of a six-part series on the German Energy Transition (Energiewende). The authors are experts on different issues such as renewable energies, rural communities, social movements, and nuclear power. Click the titles below to read the more of the series.
1- Angst or Arithmetic? Why Germans are so skeptical about nuclear energy
by Paul Hockenos
2- German Solar Bubble? Look again!
by Craig Morris
3- Revitalizing Rural Communitites through the Renewable Energy Cooperative
by Amanda Bilek
4- A Fresh Breeze for Seaports: How offshore wind boosts maritime economies in Germany
by Rebecca Bertram
5- Transatlantic Exchange: Why California is to blame for the "Energiewende"
by Paul Hockenos
6- German Energy Freedom: Moving beyond energy independence to energy democracy
by Craig Morris