German offshore auction ends in fiasco, with no bids submitted

Germany held its second offshore wind auction of the year in early August. The latest round, however, brought significant disappointment: developers did not submit a single project to the auction. The German auction system, in which developers compete to pay the state rather than receive support, bidding for the right to build and operate an offshore wind farm, has long been criticised by industry associations. They have long warned of the risk of waning investor interest, which fell to an all-time low in the latest auction.

Offshore wind farms are expected to become one of the pillars of Germany’s energy sector in the future. In recent years, however, the sector has been going through a difficult period, as rising development costs for these projects and changes to support systems not only in Germany but also in other European countries have fuelled concerns about the future pace of new wind farm construction.

Even in Germany, recent auctions have seen interest slump, with initial pledges of billions for auctioned sites falling to just a few hundred million euros or less. The latest auction, however, shows that the risks are too high for wind farm developers in the current market. Germany has now experienced, for the first time in its history, a situation in which investor interest has fallen to its lowest possible level.

“The first-ever case of no bids in an offshore wind auction, following the sharp decline in interest in the June 2025 auction, shows that the risks for offshore wind farm developers have increased significantly in recent years,” Kerstin Andreae, head of the German Association of Energy and Water Industries (BDEW), said according to Clean Energy Wire.

According to Andreae, current plans would also place wind farms too close together, negatively affecting their output as they would cast shadows on one another. She said this was another reason for developers’ waning interest.

Stefan Thimm, chief executive of the German Offshore Wind Energy Foundation, also commented on the failure of the latest offshore auction in Germany. He said the industry had been warning of this risk for years and that legal requirements failed to take current conditions into account.

“The result sends a clear message: Germany’s offshore wind market is currently unattractive to investors. The federal government is therefore wasting an opportunity to create significant value and jobs in Germany and Europe,” Thimm said.