Germany’s wind sector, its number one source of electric power generation, set new records in 2024. Over 2,400 new onshore wind turbines capable of generating some 14 gigawatts were green-lit, according to the latest report by the German Wind Energy Association and VDMA Power Systems, the association for power plant engineering.
Heralding the achievement as “a significant step in the right direction”, VDMA managing director Dennis Rendschmidt cautioned that no matter who wins the 23 February federal election, the government needs to sustain “this momentum”.
However, Alice Weidel, co-leader of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), the party that has been second in recent polls, disagrees and insists that renewable energy is unreliable and should be replaced by nuclear power.
AfD’s election campaign has been resolutely challenging Germany’s energy policies — especially those related to wind power. Weidel, the party’s candidate for chancellor, has told the German broadcaster ZDF that “fluctuating” renewable energy doesn’t work ” when the wind doesn’t blow and the sun doesn’t shine”. At her party’s recent congress, she called for the removal of Germany’s “windmills of shame”, demanding the country boost the use of planet-heating fossil fuels, Russian gas included, and restore nuclear power as part of a “sustainable, serious energy mix”.
“A return to nuclear power in Germany is not plausible or helpful, in terms of climate protection — nor would it be economical”, according to Wolf-Peter Schill, an energy expert at the German Institute for Economic Research in Berlin, who noted that Germany had shut down and dismantled its last three reactors almost two years ago. “They cannot simply be put back into operation”, he added, pointing out that building new plants would require far too much time to contribute effectively to climate goals.
Experts calculate that doing away with Germany’s 30,000-plus wind turbines would cost the country dearly in decommissioning fees, expropriation and compensation payments. On top of that would come additional costs arising from making up the energy shortfall, given that Germany would have to increase its electricity imports, a move that would raise overall electricity prices for consumers and businesses.
While allowing that a massive increase in solar energy could, to some extent, help replace wind power, energy expert Schill stressed that photovoltaic panels were not always the best option to replace wind turbines given Germany’s dark winters. Without wind or solar energy, the only realistic option for power generation in Germany “is fossil fuels,” he told DW.
Burning fossil fuels for heating and industry are key causes of the rising global temperatures linked to extreme weather events around the world.
Renewables supply nearly two-thirds of Germany’s electricity. The latest data released by the Bundesnetzagentur, the federal energy regulator, in early January showed that 59% of Germany’s electricity in 2024 came from renewable sources, up from 56% in 2023. Slightly more than half of that came from wind.
Robert Habeck, Germany’s climate and economic affairs minister, attributed the gains to efforts by the centre-left SPD/Greens/FDP coalition government to “simplify” and speed up the permit process for wind and solar installations over the last two years.
Schill said the decisions made by the outgoing government have set the stage for “much stronger growth” for wind energy, potentially putting Germany on track to hit its target of 115 gigawatts of installed capacity for onshore wind power by 2030. The larger, more advanced wind turbines now being built to replace older power stations could help raise renewables to as much as 80% of the country’s total energy supply. Therefore, it would be “absurd”, Schill said, if the next government failed to capitalize on the boost given to the renewables sector.
“This AfD take, to not only put the brakes on wind power but even to dismantle it, goes completely in the wrong direction”. He stressed that the reason wind power plays such a significant role in attaining climate neutrality is “precisely because it is cheap”. Moreover, according to Schill, the fact that many wind turbine manufacturers are based in Germany and Europe also gave the industry an edge. “Unlike other energy technologies, for example photovoltaics, where we are extremely dependent on imports from China, this is not the case with wind power”, he said. “From a resilience perspective, wind power has many advantages.”
Increasing the share of renewable energy in electricity generation could help reduce German energy prices, which currently are among the highest in the world. A 2024 study by the Fraunhofer Institute which calculated the average cost of electricity generation over a power plant’s lifetime showed costs for varying kinds of solar and wind power were at the lower end of the scale (from €0.41 to €0.225 per kilowatt hour), gas, coal and nuclear power being higher (€0.109 to €0.49 per kilowatt hour), with nuclear the most expensive.
