Comprehensive Meteorological and Oceanographic Data for Germany's Offshore Wind Expansion - Recent Developments and Applications

Germany’s offshore wind capacity is expected to expand rapidly from todays about 10 GW to 70 GW by 2045. Achieving this ambitious target requires robust, high‑quality meteorological and oceanographic data to characterize site conditions and thus to reduce uncertainties in planning and operation. Under the Offshore Wind Energy Act, new offshore wind sites are tendered by the Federal Network Agency, in cooperation with the Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency (BSH) and with support from the German Meteorological Service (DWD).

This contribution presents an overview of the meteorological and oceanographic datasets and recent advancements supporting Germany’s offshore wind development. Each site is typically characterized by one‑year floating LiDAR and oceanographic campaigns, providing wind profiles up to a height of about 250 m, wave heights and other sea state parameters, vertical profiles of sea water currents, and a large variety of further parameters. These in-situ observations are complemented by long-term reanalysis and hindcast model datasets, notably the new ICON-DREAM-EU reanalysis developed by DWD. The comparison and evaluation of these observational and model data allows for robust assessments of the long-term meteorological and oceanographic conditions and forms the basis for the comprehensive reports generated for each site. All data, reports, and derived products are publicly accessible via BSH’s PINTA portal – https://pinta.bsh.de.

The primary stakeholders of these data and reports are offshore wind developers, who rely on accurate wind and wave statistics for their energy yield calculations, design and risk assessment impacting the overall business case. In addition, the data provide a valuable reference for the evaluation and advancement of atmospheric and oceanographic models.

Recent analyses highlight the added value of these products: (i) a reanalysis‑based identification of weather windows, that is periods when atmospheric and oceanographic conditions remain below operational limits for offshore vessels, supporting logistics and operations; (ii) generation of a multi‑year, wake‑corrected reference time series (virtual met mast) from the one‑year LiDAR campaigns, with plans to incorporate future measurements; and (iii) the development of integrated meteorological and oceanographic measurement campaigns supporting site pre‑investigations in increasingly remote areas. Selected examples of these developments will be presented.