By Riham Alkousaa
BERLIN (Reuters) - The German government must take into account expansion costs in its national ports strategy as more capacity is urgently needed to meet increased wind power demands in the country's energy transition plans, the BWE wind power association said.
Germany's Transport Ministry on Wednesday published the country's National Port Strategy, detailing around 140 federal and state measures necessary for expansion and maintenance and the governmental bodies responsible for that.
But the question of financing port expansions remained open. By law, the federal states are responsible for financing their ports, but they have been asking for federal money saying ports are critical infrastructure for the whole country.
In dispute is the financing of the expansion of the deep-water terminal of Cuxport in the state of Lower Saxony, which receives around 80% of the wind turbines rotor blades installed in Germany, according to BWE.
"It must be emphasized that the federal government is not living up to its responsibility regarding its most important goal of making ports sustainable hubs of the energy transition," BWE said in a statement.
Transport Minister Volker Wissing said the federal government was committed to its responsibility for ports, including financially.
"But what is important to us is: first the plan, then the money," Wissing said in a statement.
Berlin plans to ramp up wind power production with the aim of obtaining 80% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030, but the wind power industry has been complaining about port capacity to handle goods like rotor blades is running low and delays in 300 million euros financing for approved expansion plans.
Andreas Mummert of the Offshore Wind Energy Foundation said Germany could be short of up to 200 hectares of port space - the size of 270 football fields - capable of carrying heavy loads by 2029.
Germany has been heavily reliant on ports in the Netherlands and Denmark for the delivery of its off-shore wind turbine parts but the capacities there will also reach their limits with the countries' own ambitious wind power expansion plans, Mummert added.