While German wind turbine manufacturers have become active in nearly all markets in the world, in Germany it is facing a profound upheaval. Now that renewable, decentralised energy transition technology has become a major pillar for power generation in this industrial nation. Matthias Zelinger, Managing Director of the Power Systems trade association and VDMA (German Mechanical Engineering Industry Association) gives PES the benefit of his insight.
Since the beginning of the year the federal government has started organising the expansion of new installations by implementing a tendering system, following a major, international trend. This increases competition and cost pressure, along the process chain. At the same time, they are striving to achieve fair conditions on the world market and develop a new integrated energy system in Germany.
The expansion of wind energy in Germany was very successful over the last three years. 2016 saw a capacity increase of approximately 4,600 megawatts onshore and 800 megawatts offshore. With more than two gigawatts going online, 2015 was a record year for offshore wind energy.
The reason for this great leap was in fact due to a delay: the completion of a number of offshore grid connection points in 2015 meant that an unusually large number of wind turbines that had been installed over the previous year could finally feed into the grid. Land-based wind energy achieved a record year in 2014 thanks to a variety of concurrently occurring effects.
