Zero Bids, One Very Expensive Wake-Up Call

Germany cancels 2026 offshore wind tenders and plans a CfD auction redesign after Europe's first zero-bid failure

21 May 2026

Germany's offshore wind programme faces its most significant regulatory reset in years. On 28 January 2026, the federal cabinet approved a legal amendment cancelling all offshore wind tenders scheduled for this year. Two North Sea sites, N-10.1 and N-10.2, totalling 2.5 GW, move to 2027.

The proximate cause was an auction failure with no precedent. August 2025 saw Germany's offshore wind tender close without a single bid, the first in the country's energy history. Developers declined to participate under a framework that offered no price floor, leaving projects fully exposed to wholesale electricity price swings with no revenue protection.

Industry bodies responded in concert. BWO, Germany's offshore wind association, joined by BDEW, VDMA, and grid operators 50Hertz, TenneT, and Amprion, called for a move to two-sided Contracts for Difference, the revenue model already standard in the UK, France, Belgium, and Ireland. Under a CfD, developers receive a guaranteed strike price indexed to market rates; when wholesale prices fall short, they receive the difference; when prices exceed it, payments return to consumers. Studies cited by BWO suggest this structure could reduce offshore generation costs by up to 30 per cent.

Further legal amendments to Germany's Offshore Wind Energy Act are required, and EU state aid clearance must precede any 2027 auction under a new CfD regime. Hans Sohn, BWO's head of policy, welcomed the delay but attached a condition: "We need a new auction design based on bilateral CfDs with indexation." Running a 2027 tender under the unreformed model would almost certainly repeat the same outcome.

National targets call for 30 GW of installed offshore capacity by 2030, rising to 70 GW by 2045. With 2026 capacity now absent from the pipeline, early 2030s delivery schedules face measurable pressure. Supply chain manufacturers, already stretched by component shortages, need firm contract visibility to plan production runs. A credible CfD framework in 2027 would reopen one of Europe's largest offshore wind markets. That window is narrowing.