German Transport Minister Wolfgang Tiefensee says the government plans to build 30 offshore wind farms in the Baltic and North seas and is aiming to generate 25 000 MW of electricity from wind by 2030.

Wind energy, which has had significant support in Germany for a long time, already makes up 7% of the country's electricity consumption.

Germany's lower house of parliament recently passed a law aimed at increasing the amount of electricity generated by renewable sources to 30% from the current 14% by 2020, in order to combat climate change.

The country's coalition government will honour a decision to close the country's 17 nuclear power plants by 2020 despite opposition from Chancellor Angela Merkel.