Germany must shed “bureaucratic corset” for renewables in next legislation package – wind industry

Having announced higher renewables targets and changes to the funding schemes under the Renewable Energy Act by Easter 2022, the German government now has to put land use regulations for onshore wind installations at the core of its so-called “summer package” of further legislative adjustments, the German Wind Energy Association (BWE) has said in a press release. The summer package should anchor the minimum target of covering two percent of Germany’s surface with wind turbines in the federal building code. “For 10 gigawatts (GW) of newly installed wind capacity per year, we need enough space," BWE president Hermann Albers said. The BWE asks for the whole permission process to be reorganised and deadlines tightened: To speed up planning procedures, nature conservation and species protection concerns should be handled according to a uniform national standard, for example by drawing up a nationwide list of birds at risk of collision with wind turbines. "The bureaucratic corset that is constricting expansion must be broken,” Albers said. He also stressed the need for simple repowering of existing wind power sites. “No other measure could unleash new capacity so quickly. We see potentials of up to 45 GW within the next few years," said Albers.

One of the biggest concerns of Germany’s energy transition is the slowed-down expansion of onshore wind in recent years. With its new and higher targets the government wants to reach a share of 100 percent renewables in power consumption by 2035, but red tape and an increasing lack of skilled labour are among the biggest hurdles to a speedy expansion of onshore wind energy.