Deep dive offshore wind energy
Turbine size
The wind turbines newly installed in German waters have become increasingly larger and more powerful over the past few years. The rotor diameter of new turbines has increased significantly since 2010 (see the figure below, 12-month moving averages). The electrical output of newly installed wind turbines has more than doubled, from around 5 megawatts to approximately 13 megawatts most recently.
This increase in the size of newly installed plants is also reflected in the installed base (left figure). While the early years were still heavily dominated by individual plants, a trend has emerged since 2016 away from plants under 5 megawatts and toward increasingly larger plants. Today, plants with a capacity of over 5 MW make up the majority of the total installed capacity. Very large plants with capacities exceeding 11 MW now dominate monthly new installations (right figure).