Onshore wind power expansion slows down

After a record 2017, Germany saw an “expected” decrease in onshore wind power expansion in the first half of 2018, said German Wind Energy Association (BWE) and industry association VDMA Power Systems at a press conference in Berlin. The “market slump” was planned into Germany’s auction system, but it is no longer appropriate considering the new government coalition has set the goal of a 65 percent share of renewables in power production by 2030, write the organisations in a press release. “Now, we quickly need to implement part of the special auctions mentioned in the coalition agreement to reduce the looming expansion gap in 2019,” said Matthias Zelinger, managing director of VDMA Power Systems. In the first half of 2018, 497 onshore wind turbines with a total capacity of 1,626 megawatt (MW) were added in Germany, a decrease of 29 percent compared to expansion in the same period last year. By 30 June 2018, a total of 29,071 onshore wind power facilities with a total capacity of 52,282 MW were in operation in Germany. For the whole year 2018, BWE and VDMA expect 3,300-3,500 MW of additional onshore wind power capacity.

Find the press release in German here.

For background, read the CLEW dossier Onshore wind power in Germany.

Note: The Clean Energy Wire will publish an article on this topic later today.