The year 2024 was a record year for German onshore wind energy, with a total of 2,405 onshore wind turbines with an output of 14,056MW approved.
In the Federal Network Agency’s tenders, 1890 turbines with a total capacity of 10,996MW were awarded.
Both values represent unprecedented highs and will lead to noticeably increasing expansion in the coming years, the German wind association BWE said.
At 635 turbines and 3251MW of output, the gross expansion in 2024 remains slightly below the level of the previous year and is therefore slightly below the forecast of the two associations, which had calculated up to 4000MW.
The total installed capacity increases to around 63,460MW.
This is the result of the evaluation commissioned by the BWE and VDMA Power Systems associations, which was carried out for the first time this year by the wind and solar specialist agency.
Dennis Rendschmidt, managing director of VDMA Power Systems, said: “The significantly increased number of approvals and surcharges illustrate the recovery of the German market and signal a new dynamic for the industry. This is a significant step in the right direction.
“The new federal government must manage to maintain this dynamic. Wind energy expansion must continue unabated because it secures our energy supply, reduces electricity costs and creates jobs.
“Despite this positive development, there is still a lot of catching up to do in order to reduce the gap between the actual expansion and the political expansion goals. Only by resolutely removing hurdles can approvals and awards be quickly transferred into realized projects.
“For example, requirements for large-capacity and heavy-duty transport must be standardized, the transport infrastructure modernized and network connections accelerated.”
BWE president Bärbel Heidebroek added: “The records for awards and new approvals illustrate the strong effectiveness of the reforms of recent years.
“Wind energy is thus further expanding its leading role as the most important energy source in the German electricity mix.
“This makes it all the more important to maintain the dynamic at a high level in the coming legislative period. There should now be no break-off edge.
“With the record results for 2024, the EEG’s expansion targets are within reach. The networks must now be prepared for this as quickly as possible.
“There is still a lot of room for improvement here. It must be possible to use the existing capacities more efficiently and, above all, more intelligently.
“The possibility of simultaneously connecting wind energy, photovoltaics and storage to individual grid connection points must now come as quickly as possible.
“The goal is a flexible, powerful and smart network. A network expansion offensive and the upgrading of the entire infrastructure are needed to enable the expansion and connection of these record volumes.”
For 2024, the associations forecast an expected expansion of 4.8 to 5.3GW, assuming the implementation speed remains unchanged.