Transmission system operator TenneT transmitted around 29 terawatt hours (TWh)) of wind energy from the German and Dutch North Sea to land in 2022. In the Netherlands, 7.91 TWh were fed into the grid.
In purely arithmetical terms, this total for both countries means that the annual demand of around nine million households can be covered with green energy (at 3250 kWh annual consumption/household).
The Netherlands
The capacity of offshore wind farms in the Dutch North Sea was 3220 MW on the reporting date of 31.12.2022. In the Netherlands, the transmission capacity of TenneT’s offshore grid connections amounts to 3757 MW (previous year 1503 MW). These transmitted 7.91 TWh in 2022 (previous year 4.71 TWh).
The strong increase compared to the previous year is mainly due to the commissioning of TenneT’s offshore grid connection systems Hollands Kust (zuid) Alpha and Beta as well as corresponding additions to the offshore wind farms in 2022. The onshore wind energy capacity in the Netherlands was 7303 MW in 2022, generating 5.14 TWh of wind energy.
“The North Sea has been reliably and stably supplying a large share of wind power in the Netherlands and Germany for years. It is therefore right and important to tap the potential of the North Sea as a wind power source for the Netherlands, Germany and Europe even better in the future. TenneT now provides a total of more than ten gigawatts of grid connection capacity in the Dutch and German North Sea. In order to achieve the ambitious climate policy goals, everyone must pull together and work in partnership. It is essential to think of the energy transition in European terms, to stimulate the market accordingly and to set important incentives by politicians, as well as in the industry itself. TenneT is leading the way here, for example with the large-scale tenders launched last year for the future offshore grid connections with the new transmission capacity size of two gigawatts per system.”
TenneT COO Tim Meyerjürgens
Germany
In Germany, 21.13 TWh was fed into the national grid: four percent above the previous year’s value of 20.3 TWh. Total onshore and offshore wind power generation in Germany reached 125.28 TWh in 2022 (previous year 114.37 TWh). The share of North Sea electricity in 2022 was around 16.9 percent, just under one percentage point below the previous year (17.8 percent).
In the German North Sea, the maximum value of feed-in capacity from offshore wind farms in 2022 was measured at 6255 megawatts (MW) on 22 November. The capacity expansion of offshore wind farms in the German North Sea was 7036 MW on the reporting date of 31 December 2022, 357 MW higher than in the previous year (6679 MW).TenneT’s offshore transmission capacity is 7132 MW in the German North Sea.
Wind turbines in the Baltic Sea (50Hertz grid area) generated 3.62 terawatt hours in 2022 (previous year 3.7 TWh), so Germany’s total offshore generation in this period was 24.75 terawatt hours (of which North Sea 21.13 TWh).
Adding 100.53 terawatt hours) of onshore wind energy generated, the total yield in Germany comes to 125.28 terawatt hours) (previous year 88.5 TWh). Source: TenneT
