Germany’s ABO Wind has installed 1GW of wind capacity in the country since 1996 following the recent commissioning of two wind farms in Rhineland-Palatinate.
Since 1996, the developer has connected 445 wind turbines to German grid, equivalent to 1002.9MW of capacity, enough to provide electricity for 1.7 million households.
ABO Wind has further wind projects in development.
ABO Wind general manager Thomas Treiling said: “We are currently working on wind energy projects with a capacity of more than 1000MW at various stages of development throughout Germany.”
The company is also expanding into large-scale solar, having installed several small photovoltaic plants up to 750kW in size.
ABO Wind is seeking suitable sites for larger solar projects in Germany, including tracts of land next to motorways and railway lines as well as inferior agricultural sites.
By 2030, the German government intends to raise the contribution of renewables to the country’s electricity needs to 65%, from 36% today.
“Competent and experienced project developers like ABO Wind will make a significant contribution to achieving these goals and thus will help advance climate protection,” Treiling said.
He now urges politicians to take action. “Federal and state governments must create the conditions for more wind farms to be approved.”
In the past two years, many onshore wind projects have failed during the approval process, often due to nature conservation restrictions.
According to Treiling, it is necessary to balance out the requirements of species conservation with those of climate protection.
He also stressed the importance of a working group with members of the two political parties, the Christian Democratic Union and the Social Democratic Party, which is currently developing suggestions to strengthen the acceptance of wind energy in Germany.
“It would be helpful if local communities profited even more financially from wind energy in the future,” said Treiling.
On the other hand, he advised against aggravating the shortage of sites available for wind energy or making wind power more expensive through turbine height limits.