Germany's wind capacity deployment slows down

According to European wind power assocaition Wind Europe, Germany is jeopardizing Europe's chance as well as its own chance to achieve the renewables targets set for 2030. Indeed, wind power capacity additions in Germany significantly slowed down in the first quarter of 2019 with only 134 MW of new onshore wind capacity installed. With this first data, it is expected that only 1 GW to 2 GW will be added to the German power grid in 2019, a considerable decline compared to the 4.3 GW/year added between 2013-2018. Offshore wind deployment is set not to surpass the 730 MW/year mark until 2030. If this trend continues it will become virtually impossible for Germany to reach its 65% renewable electricity target by 2030 and contribute to the EU’s 32% renewable energy target.

This slowdown in deployment is due to a failed auction system, which awarded in 2017 projects without permits, compromising deployment timelines. The process for permit acquirement has become longer and longer: it now takes 2 year instead of 10 months few years ago. With the increasing level of complexity in the permitting process and a lack of civil servants to process the applications, only 400 MW of new wind farm permits were awarded in the first quarter of 2019.

In addition to it, the latest wind power tender (organized in October 2018) was significantly undersubscribed: only 57 bids with a volume of 363 MW were awarded. The value of the submitted bids ranged between €5c/kWh and €6.3c/kWh, with an average bidding price of €6.26c/kWh.

Germany has an installed capacity of 208 GW (end-2018), made up of 82 GW thermal (of which 49 GW of coal and lignite, 22 GW of gas and almost 10 GW of biomass), 59 GW wind (of which 53 GW onshore and 6 GW offshore), and 46 GW solar PV. Germany ranks number 3 in the world for wind and number 4 for solar PV capacity.