German Energy Plan Helps Offshore Wind Over Land-Based Turbines

Germany’s energy legislation would benefit offshore wind farms over land-based ones under a government proposal aimed at limiting the cost of new sources of renewable energy as it scraps its nuclear power plants.

Offshore wind park owners will see their guaranteed above market rates decrease starting in 2018, three years later than the government had planned, the Environment Ministry said in a draft law published on its website yesterday. Onshore turbine operators will see the aid they receive slide by an additional 1.5 percent in 2012, according to the document.