In Germany 250 onshore turbines with a capacity of around 1300MW were installed in the first half of 2024, while approvals for new projects increased to 4800MW.
Deutsche WindGuard on behalf of the German Wind Energy Association (BWE) and VDMA Power Systems has produced the data, revealing that policy measures are resulting in the expansion of onshore wind.
New licences in the first half of the year rose by 32%, equal to 4.8GW of capacity, compared to the same period last year.
However, gross expansion is still below the 1.6GW added in the same period in 2023.
“New approvals and awards in the tender rounds are at a record level,” said BWE president Barbel Heidebroek.
Heidebroek added: “Further efforts are needed to minimise the gap between actual expansion and the envisaged political expansion path and thus trigger investment decisions.
“For example, the federal and state governments must continue to dismantle bureaucratic barriers and administrative obstacles.
“In addition, planning security is also needed for the financing of the projects.
“Abrupt volte-turns in EEG financing have the opposite effect.
“We see a continuing need for action in the pace of land designation and in the removal of implementation hurdles.
“With repowering, the complete replacement of old turbines with modern machines, performance can be increased more quickly.”
VDMA Power Systems managing director Dennis Rendschmidt said: “Against the backdrop of the necessary increase in expansion, we must maintain and strengthen sovereign supply chains in the wind industry.
“Technological resilience needs a European framework that increases demand, ensures competition on an equal footing and maximises production.
“The industry is ready to deliver. To ensure energy security in Europe, cybersecurity must be considered binding and easily verifiable – for example, by applying valid European regulation, such as NIS2.”
Both associations continued to call for simplification of approval procedures for heavy transportation and logistics in order to ensure delivery of components of the wind turbines to construction occurs as smoothly as possible.
In addition, they have urged for more efficient use of existing grid structure as well as measures and incentives to expand energy storage facilities and flexibly controllable consumption capacities.