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Wind Energy in Germany

2021 wind energy numbers

With the new Federal Government formed in December 2021, wind energy continues to play a major role in the successful energy transition to renewable energy supply in Germany.

With the so-called “Easter Package”, the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK) reforms several important laws to massively speed up the expansion of renewable energies, particularly solar and wind power. It declares that for Germany, the build-up of renewable energies is of great public interest and plans to provide at least 80 % of its energy consumption from renewable sources by 2030. Research projects that are directly related to increasing the speed of the extension of wind energy production and deployment have come to the fore from 2022 on. Furthermore, the offshore expansion will be significantly increased in the future; by 2030, there shall be 30 GW of installed offshore capacity, 40 GW by 2035 and 70 GW by 2045 (starting from 7,8 GW in 2022).

To read more about German’s wind energy sector in 2021, read their chapter in the 2021 Annual Report.

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Megawatt

Total wind power capacity is 63,677 MW.
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Megawatt

Wind power capacity in Germany increased by 1,949 MW in 2021.
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Terawatt-time

Germany produces 111.734 TWh from wind energy, which accounts for 19.6% of the country’s electricity consumption.

National Targets

Against the backdrop of an escalating climate crisis and Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action Robert Habeck has presented a comprehensive immediate action package for energy in April 2022, the so-called “Easter Package”, which has been adopted in July 2022.

At the heart of the package is the principle that the use of renewable energy is in the overriding public interest and serves public security. The expansion of renewable energy on land and at sea will be raised to an entirely new level so that the gross consumption of electricity in Germany will be covered by at least 80 % from renewable energy sources by 2030. A comprehensive package of measures is being adopted to drive forward the expansion of renewables. For example, the participation of the municipalities in the onshore wind will be extended, and more low-wind sites will be developed. Furthermore, the expansion rates of land-based wind energy will be stepped up to 10 GW/year, so Germany’s installed onshore wind capacity should total around 115 GW in 2030.

Progress & Operational Details

Germany continues pursuing a very broad R&D programme (7th Energy Research Programme of the Federal Government) rather than focusing on a specific subject. Two of the main goals are to reduce the cost of energy and to accelerate the total amount of wind power capacities. To achieve this, several options are taken into account: Increase the turbine reliability, extension of turbine lifetime, enable higher wind turbine performance by using bigger rotors or increased hub heights, and identification of new sites for wind turbines. Equally to the building of new wind turbines, the decommissioning of disused wind turbines needs to be examined, e.g., in terms of recyclability and circularity. The Federal Minis[1]try for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK) has provided a funds flow of 82.87 million EUR (94.306 million USD) to fund 488 active and ongoing research projects in the field of wind energy in 2021. Additionally, 103 new research projects with a new funding amount of 54.031 million EUR (61.487 million USD), including a topping-up amount of 10 million EUR (11.38 million USD) for 19 of these 103 new projects, have been approved in 2021.

National RDD Priorities and Budget

WERAN plus WERAN plus project scientists have been able to prove that a radius of between six and seven kilometres between omnidirectional radio beacons and wind turbines is sufficient for an assessment in terms of aviation safety. Moreover, the open space surrounding the radio beacons is considered particularly useful since wind turbines, just like radio signals, need an unobstructed “view “in order to be able to sufficiently harness the wind. Scientists have developed a new method – the so-called “Doppler cross-bearing. “This method enables them to determine the location of potential disruptors and the intensity with which any given object is reflecting radio signals. The objects identified in this way can be localised on a map. On the basis of the measured data, a complete “clutter map” can be drawn up to make the disruptions visible. New wind energy installations can be added to the map, and it will be easier to tell how potential new installations will impact aviation safety. Also, it is possible to predict with great precision any potential disruptions to the radio signals from omnidirectional radio beacons. These new findings enable wind energy installations in the surroundings of omnidirectional radio beacons without posing a threat to aviation security.

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Vice Chair/Member Franciska Klein

f.klein@fz-juelich.de

Chair/Alternate Member Stephan Barth

stephan.barth@forwind.de

Alternate member Friederike Barenhorst

f.barenhorst@fz-juelich.de