Offshore wind power much more expensive than thought, amounts to €3.6 billion per year

The cost of building and operating wind farms is much higher than expected, outgoing Climate and Energy Minister Rob Jetten told the Tweede Kamer. Originally expected to cost 2 billion euros per year, these costs have now risen to 3.6 billion euros per year.

The main reason for the higher costs is the rise in interest rates on the capital market. These make the network operator TenneT's investments considerably more expensive. Interest costs are expected to "remain structurally higher," Jetten said. Should this turn out better than expected, financing costs could nevertheless be lower.

Contracts have also become more expensive due to high inflation. Furthermore, both raw material and labor costs have risen sharply. Another factor is that materials cannot be sourced from suppliers in risk countries such as China. As a result, the total investment for the offshore network is now estimated at 35.5 billion euros instead of 26 billion euros.

The higher cost of building the offshore grid could be reflected in higher grid tariffs to be paid by consumers and businesses. However, as the costs mentioned are "far in the future" and could also change again, it is currently not possible to state what this will mean specifically for the electricity bills of households, Jetten said.