German wind power sector welcomes government offshore terminal funding

By Emma-Victoria Farr

FRANKFURT (Reuters) -The German Offshore Wind Energy Foundation said the government's decision to help fund the expansion of an offshore terminal is important to achieve expansion goals for wind energy at sea.

In a statement late Friday, the foundation said it welcomed a government move to contribute to the costs of expanding the terminal at the port of Cuxhaven, on the North Sea coast.

The government has agreed to finance the 30-hectare (74 acres) expansion of the offshore terminal, together with the state of Lower Saxony and the private port industry, at a cost of around 300 million euros ($324.15 million), a government spokesperson said on Saturday.

"The expansion of the Cuxhaven port is a central project for the expansion of renewable energies," said Stefan Wenzel, parliamentary state secretary at the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action.

Germany's BWE power association on Wednesday called for the government to take expansion costs into account in its national ports strategy to meet the country's energy transition plans.

Transport Minister Volker Wissing this week said the federal government was committed to its responsibility for ports, including financially.

The German Offshore Wind Energy Foundation estimates that up to 200 hectares of additional heavy-duty area will be required by the end of the decade just for the construction of new offshore wind farms. This corresponds to 270 football fields, it said.

($1 = 0.9255 euros)

(Reporting by Emma-Victoria Farr; Editing by Mike Harrison)