Confidence in the German wind market has dipped to its lowest level, according to the result of a new survey.
The WEtix research, published by WindEnergy Hamburg, found pessimism in the onshore market is three times as bad as recorded earlier this year.
In offshore, the study, which assessed the opinions of over 5000 industry professionals, found that opinions have dropped into negative territory.
“One reason behind the poor mood in the German wind industry appears to be the changed economic conditions. The global assessment of the mood in the market sees the current business environment for the onshore wind energy industry in all global regions more critically than last spring,” said WindEnergy Hamburg.
“In Germany in particular, the survey reflects the political debate revolving around the minimum distance between wind turbines and human habitation: the rating of the business environment has dropped by 50per cent, with respondents generally drawing a negative picture.”
The mood in the international wind market is meanwhile more optimistic, although attitudes have stabilised after years of growing positive sentiment.
“Expectations regarding the development of the international wind industry over the coming two years are not quite as optimistic as they were in previous surveys,” said WindEurope.
“The ratings of the onshore wind market in North America, Asia and the rest of the world reveal a slight decline, and a much stronger drop for Europe, but they clearly remain within the positive quadrant.
“By contrast, the upward trend in the North American and Asian offshore wind markets continues, with expectations regarding the future market situation showing a slight drop only in Europe and the rest of the world.”