The falling rate of onshore wind installation in Germany is jeopardising both the country’s and EU renewables targets, WindEurope warns.
Germany installed just 134MW of new onshore wind farms in the first quarter of 2019 – the country’s worst first quarter for onshore installations since 2000, the trade body said.
It added that the country is likely to install a total of just 1-2GW of onshore capacity this year, significantly down on the past five years when Germany installed an average of 4.3GW a year.
“This is well below what Germany needs to meet its own 65% renewable electricity target by 2030 and to deliver its share of the EU’s 32% renewable energy target,” said WindEurope.
It added that offshore wind will not fill the gap: Germany is due to build just 730MW a year up to 2030.
WindEurope blamed some of the slowdown on failed auction systems in 2017, when a lot of community projects won without a permit.
Many of these projects are still to be built due to more generous realisation timelines, the trade body said.
However, “permitting for new wind farms remains the underlying problem”, it said.
The process used to take just 10 months but is now taking over two years, WindEurope said.
“Public authorities are not applying deadlines and many wind farm projects are getting stuck in legal disputes,” the industry organisation added.
There is also a lack of staff to process the applications.
WindEurope chief executive Giles Dickson said: “Onshore wind energy in Germany is in deep trouble. The development of new wind farms has almost ground to a halt.
“The main problem is permitting – it’s got much slower, more complex and there aren’t enough civil servants to process the applications.
“It seriously undermines Germany’s ability to meet its 2030 renewables target and contribute to the EU target.
“And it’s affecting Germany’s wind turbine industrial base. Half of Europe’s 300,000 wind energy jobs are in Germany.
“But 10,000 have gone in Germany in the last five years. And this could get worse: there hasn’t been a single turbine order recorded in Germany in Q1 this year.
“The German government now needs to make clear how they’re going to reach their 65% renewables target for 2030. It needs an annual build-out of 5GW of onshore wind – and urgent action to speed up the permitting process.”
He said the government has a clear opportunity to work things out now through its ‘Public Acceptance Working Group’.
Dickson said: “The group should agree to identify zones ripe for new wind farms. And ensure restrictions on things like distance or height of turbines aren’t out of sync with the rest of Europe. There’s plenty of space available for new wind farms in Germany.
“And they can build them in industrial sites like the Dutch do or alongside motorways like in France and Belgium.
“Repowering the early wind farms that are coming to the end of their life will also help. Replacing old turbines with modern ones doubles the capacity with one third fewer turbines.
“These are the kind of measures that Germany needs to stay on track with the Energiewende. But if the ‘Acceptance Working Group’ can’t sort it out, then Germany’s Climate Cabinet will have to step in with a proper action plan.”