FILE - A speed rubber-boat passes along the over all 110 meters high offshore wind mills set up in the North Sea, 14 kilometers west of the small village of Blavand near Esbjerg, Denmark, on in this Oct. 30, 2002 file picture. Germany wants to create a web of power lines connecting the country’s offshore wind parks with those of its North Sea neighbors to smooth out bottlenecks in the European energy market. Governments in northwestern Europe are hoping that wind power at sea will provide a large share of their future clean energy needs. (AP Photo/Heribert Proepper)
FILE - A speed rubber-boat passes along the over all 110 meters high offshore wind mills set up in the North Sea, 14 kilometers west of the small village of Blavand near Esbjerg, Denmark, on in this Oct. 30, 2002 file picture. Germany wants to create a web of power lines connecting the country’s offshore wind parks with those of its North Sea neighbors to smooth out bottlenecks in the European energy market. Governments in northwestern Europe are hoping that wind power at sea will provide a large share of their future clean energy needs. (AP Photo/Heribert Proepper)
BERLIN (AP) — The German government said Monday that it wants to set up a new power line network to connect its own offshore wind parks with those of its North Sea neighbors in order to eliminate bottlenecks in the European energy market.
Governments in northwestern Europe are hoping that wind power at sea will provide a large share of their future clean energy needs. Germany in particular needs to boost offshore wind powered electricity generation to meet its ambitious goal of shutting down all coal powered plants and generating 80% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030.
One big problem at present is the lack of power lines, which results in bottlenecks that prevent wind park-generated electricity from reaching consumers and industries further inland.
Germany's economy minister, Robert Habeck, said that by building more interconnectors at sea, his country will be able to tap additional cheap electricity from offshore wind parks, including from European neighbors such as Denmark and the Netherlands.
This will also boost security of supply at times of high demand and allow Germany to export more renewable energy when it has a surplus, he said.
