“Don’t write off wind power”
Despite continuing subsidies for wind power, the technology is likely to prove very beneficial for regional economies in Germany in the long run, Steffen Höhne writes in a commentary for Mitteldeutsche Zeitung. In the eastern German federal state of Saxony-Anhalt alone, wind power has created about 23,000 jobs, “about the same level as the chemical or food industries,” Höhne says. Each job has been subsidised “with tens of thousands of euros” by power customers, and “it was worth it”, he argues. Wind and solar power “are likely to be among the big economic trends of the 21st century”, and will start to become profitable without public support, Höhne writes.
See the CLEW factsheet German onshore wind power – output, business and perspectives for more information.