Das green led Ministry of Economy decreed an ambitious expansion program for the Federal Republic of Germany in the area of wind energy. On the high seas, the capacity of wind farms in the North and Baltic Seas is expected to almost quadruple by 2030, from almost eight to 30 gigawatts. Onshore, the capacity of wind farms is expected to more than double to 115 gigawatts by 2030. With the growth rates of the past two years, the onshore target would be reached in around 28 years, while the target at sea would only be reached in the last quarter of this century.
Klaus Meier, head of the large wind farm project developer wpd from Bremen, still sounds relaxed. “Yes, the goal on land is achievable, and we will also achieve it.” Former Greens member of the Bundestag Kerstin Andreae, who is now the chairwoman of the main management at the , expressed much more alarm Federal Association of Energy and Water Management (BDEW) ist:
“We need this duplication on land, but as of today we still have a gap between what we actually want and what is actually being realized.” Both spoke at the “Better Future Conference” in the panel “Is the energy transition going really starting now?”
The expansion does not seem to suffer from technical or financial difficulties. “The limiting factor is the approval process,” diagnosed Stefan Schaible, Global Managing Partner of the Management consultancy Roland Berger, at the event. In an international comparison, Germany is not in such a bad place when it comes to the length of the procedure, “but in view of the level of ambition that we have, we have to do something massive”.
Public interest
Wind power lobbyist Andreae takes a similar view. With the amendment of the Renewable Energy Sources Act last year, wind turbines were classified as being of outstanding public interest, but Andreae still has a lot to do in terms of implementation. “It stands and falls with the question of whether there is an attitude of success right down to the last office, that you really want it, that you shorten the time processes, that the permits are made available quickly.”
The long approval times are not just a question of attitude. Wind power project planner Klaus Meier sees the state authorities simply at the edge of their capacity. “We see the lack of staff, which we also have in one or the other place, more pronounced there,” says the Bremen entrepreneur. In addition, the goal of supplying renewable energy competes with a whole range of other goals.
Business editor Daniel Wetzel (l.) discusses with Kerstin Andreae (BDEW), Stefan Schaible (Roland Berger) and Klaus Meier (wpd)
Source: Philip Nürnberger
In particular, the protection of nature and species causes enormous difficulties for the wind farm planners, like all other infrastructure entrepreneurs. The unique experience of renewable energy advocates, however, is that they often come face to face with interest groups that were once their allies.
Habeck’s Economics Ministry has eliminated a number of pitfalls by giving priority to wind power at federal level. “But at some point you have reached the lowlands of the plain, where the state governments and municipal concerns come into play,” says Andreae. Federalism and the division of administrative powers with the municipalities lead to a large number of local regulations.
Species protection as an obstacle
Andreae rated the protection of species as an obstacle to the expansion of wind capacity and called for uniform rules. “It is very important that we follow the principle of protecting the species, not the individual,” emphasized the association official.
It was also partly an appeal to the factor in the power game surrounding wind power that has not yet been mentioned: the citizen. Especially in nature and species conservation, many objections come from the population or from local organizations. For wind farm planner Klaus Meier, dialogue with those affected is therefore daily business and an absolute must.
“A wind energy project never just causes joy in a community,” he emphasized, “then a lot of discussions are necessary.” His company wpd makes the appropriate effort: The plans are not only displayed for inspection in the town halls, but also in Presented and discussed at public meetings. A clear acceptance gap from northern Germany to southern Germany can be observed.
In areas where wind farms already exist, the reservations are less than in those where the plants still have to be built in the future. Due to the higher wind yield on the coasts and in the north German interior, previous parks were preferably built there. “We also prefer to build on the North Sea coast than in the mountains,” says Meier, “for a long time the focus was not on the south of the republic because the systems were not economical.”
change of landscape
Now the conversation with the citizens would have to be sought there, because even if an economical operation in Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg is more difficult to reach, wind farms would have to be built there as well. “The decisive point is that we have to take people with us,” added Kerstin Andreae, “because the question of how we can make our energy supply clean, safe and sustainable depends on whether the population participates or not.”
After all, the wind farms undoubtedly represent a change in the landscape, as the wind power representatives openly admit. “We’re changing the landscape, and that’s why we have to talk about it. But that’s what I’m missing in the euphoria at the moment,” warned Klaus Meier, representing the practice. Now is the right time to say what that means for the country’s development.
It is already clear that the “savings” will not progress to the same extent as the capacity increases. The future plants will in fact be more than twice as efficient as those currently in operation. So fewer plants have to be built to meet the targets. However, these wind turbines will be much larger and therefore more conspicuous. This also explains the relaxed attitude of the wind farm builder Klaus Meier in view of the ambitious expansion plans of the politicians.
However, there is no getting around the basic question behind all this. “Are we prepared if we build three 260-meter high turbines in Germany every day?” says Meier. The government and opposition must answer this question for themselves so that the expansion of wind power can survive a change of government. “It would be important to be able to do this over several legislative periods”, demanded Klaus Meier, “because constant changes are the worst thing you can do in the energy market”.