Wind farm construction in Germany continues to falter, making targets highly uncertain

Germany has continued to struggle in recent years to build more wind farms, putting government targets at risk not only for this year. Wind farms are the backbone of the country’s Energiewende, particularly for renewable electricity generation in winter. After only a fraction of the planned capacity additions for this year came online in the first half of the year, the German Environment Agency has issued a warning.

Germany has bet on wind power as its largest source of electricity so far, especially onshore wind farms. Compared with solar power plants, it offers one key advantage: it usually generates more electricity in winter than in summer. Last year, onshore wind farms were Germany’s largest source of electricity, accounting for roughly a quarter of generation. Including offshore wind turbines, wind power’s share reached around 31%.

Wind power, however, has fallen on hard times in Germany in recent years, as the country lacks projects. The result is a persistent shortage of projects in auctions, leaving no competition at all. This also means there is no pressure to bring prices down, which typically remain at the maximum level developers are allowed to bid in auctions.

A lack of projects puts targets at risk

The situation is not improving significantly this year either. The German Environment Agency has warned that Germany risks missing its wind farm construction target for this year. According to the agency, just 900 MW of onshore wind capacity came online in the first half of the year, bringing total installed capacity to just under 62 GW. Germany is targeting a total of 69 GW by the end of this year.

Germany has no interim targets for offshore wind power, only a target of 30 GW by 2030. According to the agency, 400 MW of capacity came online in the first half of the year, bringing total installed capacity to 8.9 GW. Germany could also miss its 2030 target by around 3 GW, Montel reported.

By contrast, the situation for solar power plants is much better, with installed capacity increasing by 7.5 GW so far this year. By the end of June, Germany had 88 GW of solar photovoltaic capacity, exceeding its target of 84 GW for this year.