Modest Wind Power Expansion Recovery In Germany Fails To Allay Industry Fears
The construction of new wind turbines in Germany picked up slightly again in the first six months of 2020, but expansion figures are still far too low to bolster an industry that suffered two years of steeply declining growth.
As the latest wind power auctions again failed to attract enough new bidders, fears abound that Germany could struggle to provide the necessary wind power capacity to meet its climate targets and ambitions for green hydrogen production. The number of onshore wind turbines added in Germany doubled in the first half of 2020 with respect to the same period last year but still remains far too low to spark optimism in the wind power industry or put the country on track towards meeting its renewable power targets.
Between January and July, 178 turbines with a combined capacity of 591 megawatts (MW) were built in the country, compared to only 86 turbines in the first half of 2019, industry associations German Wind Energy Federation (BWE) and VDMA Power Systems said, adding that they expected a total of 1,500 MW to be added to the country’s energy system by the end of the year. The total number of onshore turbines currently in operation in Germany stood at 29,546 and their combined capacity was about 55,000 MW.
FAQs