German states lag behind national target for specifying areas for wind power

Germany's federal states trail far behind the government's target of designating two percent of the country's surface area to wind power, according to a survey by newswire dpa carried by Spiegel. Of Germany's 16 states, only three come close to achieving this objective, while many others have specified just a fraction of the target area. Only northern state Schleswig-Holstein, which borders Denmark and the North and Baltic seas, achieves around 2 percent, followed by the western states of Hessen (1.9 percent) and Saarland (1.8 percent). In contrast, eastern Saxony and economic powerhouse Western Baden-Württemberg are at the bottom of the list with 0.3 and 0.2 percent, respectively. Many states have only designated around one percent of their area, such as North-Rhine Westphalia (1.2 percent) and Bavaria (0.7 percent).

The rollout of renewable power is one of the central ambitions of Germany's federal government coalition composed of the Social Democrats (SPD), Greens, and Free Democrats (FDP) to further the country's landmark energy transition and become more independent of Russian fossil fuel imports. By 2030, Germany wants to generate 80 percent of its power use from renewables, and close to 100 percent by 2035. The plans imply a massive scale-up of wind and solar power, given that last year's renewable share was only slightly above 40 percent.