“Strong headwind”

The German wind power industry keeps jumping from one output and price record to another, but it is nevertheless headed for a slump in 2019 if policymakers do not intervene soon, Jürgen Geißinger, CEO of German turbine producer Senvion, says in a guest commentary in the Handelsblatt. The exemption for citizen energy cooperatives that allows them to submit bids in renewables auctions for projects that have not yet obtained a construction license means that it is not clear whether the successful bids will ever be implemented, Geißinger says. “The aim of fair and true competition has been reduced to absurdity this way”, he argues. To preserve the German wind industry’s competitiveness, policymakers must ramp up the expansion goals and introduce equal auction rules for all bidders, Geißinger says.

Find background in the article Booming German wind power sector fears 2019 cliff, and the factsheet From survey to harvest: How to build a wind farm in Germany.