Grid operator 50Hertz will have key parts of an offshore converter platform built in Germany, awarding the work to the NEPTUN shipyard in Rostock-Warnemuende. The German Offshore Wind Energy Association (BWO) welcomed the decision as a signal for domestic industrial value creation and supply-chain resilience.
According to 50Hertz, the production and service contracts could total around EUR 2.5 billion, mostly in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The project is expected to create more than 500 new jobs at the companies and suppliers involved.
Converter platforms are critical infrastructure for offshore wind, converting the electricity generated at sea for transmission to shore. The BWO said reviving domestic maritime manufacturing capacity strengthens the resilience of the offshore wind supply chain, reduces dependencies and secures industrial capability for the further build-out of wind power in the North and Baltic Seas.
BWO managing director Stefan Thimm said the order shows the potential of offshore wind for industrial value creation, employment and innovation, and called it a confirmation of industrial-policy efforts by the federal and state governments. The state governments of Lower Saxony and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania have repeatedly pushed for stronger shipyard sites.
The association tied the award to its wider reform demands, arguing that industrial value creation needs a reliable project pipeline. The BWO is pressing for an indexed two-sided contracts-for-difference model and a legally regulated option to return offshore sites that are no longer viable under current economic conditions, as part of the planned amendment to Germany’s Offshore Wind Energy Act.
