Wind power expansion in Germany accelerating but still off 2030 target path

The speed of Germany’s onshore wind power expansion is accelerating, but it is still too slow to put the country on track towards its 2030 capacity targets, the German Wind Energy Federation (BWE) and engineering industry association VDMA have said. In the first half of 2023, 331 wind turbines with a combined capacity of 1.6 gigawatts (GW) were built. The figure represents 65 percent of the total expansion in the previous year. The total buildout this year is likely to reach between 2.7 GW and 3.2 GW, the industry groups estimate. BWE and VDMA said the government’s efforts in recent months had helped to further the expansion of wind power but was still not enough to reach the target of up to 10 GW annual additions from 2025. “Missing the onshore wind power expansion targets can have consequences for the progress in other sectors. Heat pumps, electric mobility and green hydrogen can only play a role in reaching the climate targets if onshore wind stays on its expansion path and thus provides sufficient green electricity,” the organisations argued. The expansion of wind power in Germany was, once again, concentrated on a few states in the northern half of the country, and the average duration for obtaining all construction permits slightly increased to 24.5 months, they added.

The government - as part of its bid to achieve 80 percent renewables in the country’s electricity mix – is aiming for a capacity of 115 GW by 2030, from just under 60 GW in mid-2023. Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Germany will have to build up to five onshore wind turbines per day to meet the target for its most important renewable power source.