Germany's economy minister offers offshore wind site returns as 23,000 jobs hang in balance

Federal Economy Minister Katherina Reiche has agreed to let investors return already-auctioned offshore wind sites they cannot develop, responding to an emergency letter signed by eight state premiers who warned of a potential rupture in Germany's offshore wind expansion.

Reiche said that where individual projects prove economically unworkable, an "orderly return and re-tendering" would be made possible — without releasing companies from their financial obligations.

The minister acknowledged that in 2023 and 2024, offshore wind areas totalling roughly 16 gigawatts were awarded, but that "known economic and technical risks were not heeded or ignored" and that Germany's offshore wind auction system had shown "significant shortcomings". A gap had opened between bids made and projects actually built.

The eight state premiers had written to Reiche warning of "wrong regulatory and industrial-policy decisions". Their letter cited current figures: if expansion stalls further, around 23,000 of 49,000 jobs in the offshore wind industry could be lost over the next four years, with revenue losses of around 24 billion euros. The premiers demanded that affected wind areas be re-tendered swiftly, or else face billion-euro revenue shortfalls and large-scale job cuts. Some suppliers have already begun cutting staff, the letter noted.

Reiche said closing that gap was now the government's task and that projects needed to be placed on a sustainable footing — something she said had been neglected in earlier years.