Germany’s Onshore Wind Industry Slump Set to Drag into 2020

(Bloomberg) -- Germany’s onshore wind industry, once the nation’s flagship technology in the switch to clean power, will stay in the doldrums for a third year as project approvals sputter.

Europe’s biggest wind market will probably add just 1.4 to 1.8 gigawatts of new onshore capacity this year, the BWE wind and VDMA machine-maker lobby groups said on Tuesday. The forecast is slightly more what was added in 2019, a year marking the weakest expansion in two decades.

The gloomy forecast underlines expectations that Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government won’t come up with a solution soon to counter a wave of local-level delays in wind project approvals. The setbacks pose a risk to Germany’s clean-energy targets and power security as coal plants and nuclear reactors close.

As much as 10 gigawatts of capacity is wrapped up in projects that are in approval limbo, and the expected improvement in capacity growth this year shows only minor progress in unblocking delays, according to BWE.

The government has pledged to amend rules that support the legal challenges to new projects.

This year’s additional onshore capacity is still just a third of what Germany needs to achieve in annual growth to ensure the nation meets its 2030 clean power target of 65%, said the groups. Clean energy had a 43% share in the power mix last year.

To contact the reporter on this story: Brian Parkin in Berlin at bparkin@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Reed Landberg at landberg@bloomberg.net, Andrew Reierson, Jonathan Tirone

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.