Wind power expansion in Germany too slow – report
Clean Energy Wire
Long approval procedures and insufficient land designation mean the expansion of wind power capacity across Germany is too slow to meet climate targets, a report by the federal and state cooperation committee found. The committee, tasked with monitoring renewable energy expansion targets and implementation status in Germany’s 16 states, with particular focus on onshore wind, found that as of the end of December 2021, a share of 0.81 to 0.91 percent of Germany’s land had been designated for wind turbines, adding that available land for renewables varies widely between states. According to the Onshore Wind Power Act, two percent of Germany’s land area is to be designated for wind turbines by 2032, but to achieve this states must increase land availability in future, the report found.
According to the report, which focused on the year 2021, expansion of onshore wind and photovoltaic (PV) installations largely followed a north-south divide. Around three-quarters of new onshore wind turbines were built in the northern states Lower Saxony, Brandenburg, North Rhine-Westphalia and Schleswig-Holstein. Planning approval duration also varies widely between states, the report noted, with procedures from submission to completed documentation lasting an average 27 months in Hesse and just under seven months in Schleswig-Holstein.
Germany aims to massively expand wind and solar power across the country. Following amendments to the Renewable Energy Act (EEG) 2021, Germany aims for a 80 percent share of renewable energies in gross electricity consumption by 2030. In 2021, the share was about 42 percent.
