Injection charges for offshore wind

Commissioned by Bundesverband Windenergie Offshore e.V. (BWO)

Ingmar Schlecht, Silvana Tiedemann, Jonathan Mühlenpfordt, Lion Hirth

2026

Germany’s regulator plans to charge generators for grid costs from 2029, aiming to relieve consumers and incentivize grid-friendly behavior. For the offshore wind association BWO, we find neither is met: as the state largely sets sites, connections, and capacity, the charge cannot steer behavior and raises CfD bids, burdening the federal budget. What was meant to relieve consumers thus becomes grid financing by detour – at higher overall cost. This report was originally published in German.