The realisation of offshore wind park projects in Germany - political environment, legal framework and bankability implications

According to the German government's new energy concept that was recently introduced, renewable energies shall replace fossil and nuclear energy sources step-by-step. The offshore wind energy sector plays a key role in this new energy strategy, and shall contribute the major share of renewable energy to the future German energy mix. The purpose of this study is to examine and evaluate the applicable conditions that have to be considered by project developers and investors when realising an offshore wind park project in Germany. Firstly, it analyses the political environment for the offshore wind energy sector in Germany. Secondly, it gives an overview of the most relevant German legal statutes determining, inter alia, the establishment of wind energy priority areas, the applicable German feed-in tariff scheme, and the necessary approval process for offshore wind parks to be erected in the German exclusive economic zone. Thirdly, those potential bankability issues and financing challenges are discussed that an offshore wind park project planner might be exposed to when trying to secure a debt financing for such a sophisticated and capital-intensive project.

Steffen Blomberg, LL.M, was born in Chemnitz, Germany, in 1979. He received a finance degree from the Humboldt University of Berlin, in 2005. Subsequently, he started working for KfW IPEX-Bank GmbH, a German banking institution that provides international export and project financing solutions to companies, mainly focussing on industries such as power & renewables, oil & gas and transportation. While studying for a part-time master of laws degree at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University of Frankfurt am Main, from 2009 until 2011, the author focussed on current subjects like renewable energy finance and the offshore wind energy sector in particular. Those topics became even more important in Germany after the nuclear disaster at the power plant in Fukushima, in 2011, and the subsequent political turnaround of the German government's energy strategy (faster phase-out of nuclear energy and main focus on renewable and especially offshore wind energy). The author wrote this study to give an overview of the main political, legal and financial aspects to be considered for the realisation of an offshore wind park project in Germany.