Despite AfD criticism, German wind energy sees record year

Germany's leading source of electric power generation got a big boost in 2024, according to latest industry figures.

Regulators approved more than 2,400 new onshore wind turbines with a total output of around 14 gigawatts, a record high, said a new report from the German Wind Energy Association and VDMA Power Systems, the association for power plant engineering.

"This is a significant step in the right direction," said Dennis Rendschmidt, VDMA's managing director. He said the government must "maintain this momentum," no matter the outcome of the February 23 federal election.

But despite the positive figures, the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) has made vehement opposition to Germany's energy policies — and wind in particular — a key part of its election campaign. At the AfD's recent party congress, chancellor candidate Alice Weidel railed against "fluctuating" renewable energy, which she told German broadcaster ZDF didn't work "when the wind doesn't blow and the sun doesn't shine."

Speaking at the congress, Weidel vowed to tear down all of Germany's "windmills of shame." She called for Germany to boost the use of planet-heating fossil fuels, including Russian gas, and bring back nuclear power as part of a "sustainable, serious energy mix" — a plan which most experts have said is unrealistic.

Return to nuclear 'not plausible'

"A return to nuclear power in Germany is not plausible or helpful, in terms of climate protection — nor would it be economical," said Wolf-Peter Schill, an energy expert at the German Institute for Economic Research in Berlin, pointing out that Germany shut down its last three reactors nearly two years ago.

"[The reactors] have already been dismantled to such an extent that they cannot simply be put back into operation." Building new nuclear plants, he added, would take far too long to be any help in achieving climate goals.

Actually doing away with all of Germany's wind turbines, which today number more than 30,000, would, according to experts, cost the country dearly in decommissioning fees, expropriation and compensation payments. And that's without factoring in the costs related to making up the energy shortfall, as Germany would be forced to increase its electricity imports, driving up the price of electricity for consumers and businesses.

While Schill said a huge increase in solar energy could help to replace wind to some extent, he stressed that photovoltaic panels were not always the best option to replace wind turbines in Germany, especially in the dark winter months.

"If you don't want wind power or solar energy, then the only option is fossil fuels," he told DW. "I don't see any other realistic option for power generation in Germany." Burning fossil fuels for such things as heating and industry is the main driver of the rising global temperatures linked to extreme weather events around the world.

Renewables supply nearly two-thirds of Germany's electricity

Despite Weidel's claim that renewable energy was holding Germany back, the latest government figures appear to prove otherwise. 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, credited the growth to the moves made by the center-left SPD/Greens/FDP coalition government to "simplify and accelerate" the permitting 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. Larger, more advanced wind turbines are now being built to replace older power stations, and could help bring renewables up to around 80% of the country's total energy supply.

Schill said it would be "absurd" for the next government not 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."

Wind power has an edge in Germany

Increasing the share of renewable energy in electricity generation could help to bring down energy prices in Germany, which are among the highest in the world. Schill pointed out that wind power plays such a significant role in climate neutrality plans, "precisely because it is cheap."

A July 2024 study by the Fraunhofer Institute which calculated the average cost of electricity generation over a power plant's lifetime showed a marked difference between renewables and conventional power plants in Germany.

The costs for varying kinds of solar and wind power were at the lower end of the scale, ranging from €0.41 to €0.225 ($0.42 to $0.23) per kilowatt hour. Gas, coal and nuclear power tended to be higher, costing anywhere from €0.109 to €0.49 per kilowatt hour — with nuclear being the most expensive.

Energy costs were also a key point in Weidel's opposition to renewable energy. In her interview with ZDF, she emphasized the burden that wind was placing on the German economy, saying "our companies are no longer competitive due to high energy prices."

"There is no relevant future energy scenario that I know of that would not rely on a mix of [solar] and wind power," said Schill. And the renewables sector is itself a boost to the economy, as Kerstin Andreae, a former Greens lawmaker and chair of the German Association of Energy and Water Industries, said earlier this week.

"Wind power is not only a means of climate protection, but also contributes to economic stability by creating jobs and promoting investment," she said in a statement on January 13, adding that wind energy had also helped to ensure supply in times of energy shortages brought on by Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

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."

Edited by: Tamsin Walker