The German government cabinet has adopted a plan to accelerate the construction of offshore wind farms in the North Sea. This development will pave the way for the installation of some 25 GW of wind power capacity which is to come online by 2030.

As part of its plan to increase the stake of renewable energy in the country's total installed power generating capacity, Germany is pushing wind farms out towards the open sea, away from the shores. According to the adopted renewable energy strategy, Germany is to achieve 30% renewable energy capacity by 2020. This means the current 6% of power supplied by wind energy will have to be doubled by 2020 to reach a 12% stake in the overal power picture.

The new plan involved the creation of zones which are best suited for wind farm development, but coordinated with environmental protection and shipping industry interests. According to estimates made by the transport minister of Germany, Wolfgang Tiefensee, the country could have about 12 GW of offshore wind power installations by 2020, and create about 30,000 jobs in the process.

Another similar plan involving the use of offshore wind power locations in the Baltic Sea is to be approved sometime during the Autumn this year.

[via: Reuters]