2011 WIND INDUSTRY in gERMany - Wind-Energy-Market

Economic reportOnshore – the domestic marketbecomes a pioneer market againThe German market maintains its outstanding position as a domestic and referencemarket for turbine manufacturers and their suppliers in Europe. German manufacturersare able to draw on two decades of experience in establishing and expanding windenergy. The home market remains a showcase for the world leaders in technology. Theearly construction of the first wind farms means that Germany has now become one ofthe pioneers in the area of repowering.In 2010, the German wind turbine marketfell by 19 % as a consequence of the economicand financial crises. In addition,many suitable wind farm sites are alreadyspoken for. Nevertheless, the onshore marketin Germany continues to be considerablylarger than the market for turbines atsea: of the 1,551 MW of newly installedwind capacity in 2010, just 108 MW camefrom offshore turbines.Although areas for constructing wind farmson land are restricted, the significance ofrepowering will increase in the next fewyears – that is replacing smaller, technicallyoutdated wind turbines with biggerand more powerful, modern plants. Withthe 2009 amendment to the EEG (GermanRenewable Energies Act), repowering hasbecome more attractive. Wind turbineoperators receive a repowering bonus of0.5 cents per kilowatt hour in addition totheir EEG remuneration. This allows significantlymore power to be generated withfewer turbines at established wind farmsites.In 2010, according to the investigations ofthe German Wind Energy Institute (DEWI),116 wind turbines with a total rated capacityof 56 MW were dismantled and replacedby 80 turbines with a total of 183 MW. It isconceivable that this type of activity willincrease in the next few years. Repoweringis particularly worthwhile for wind farmsthat were established at high-wind sites,such as on the North Sea and Baltic coasts,in the 1980s and 90s. The rated capacity ofa wind turbine in 1995 was 472 KW, todayit is touching on 2 MW.For the owners, it is often worth dismantling,selling and replacing turbines whenthey have served between 12 and 15 yearsof useful life. BWE estimates that by 2015at the latest, over 9,500 wind turbineswith a capacity of 6,000 MW will reachrepowering age. This equates to an investmentvolume of 40 billion euros.Following initial installations, there is anopportunity for Germany to become a pioneerand reference market for manufacturers,suppliers, planners and operators inthe area of repowering too. However, toachieve this it will be necessary to overcomereservations among local residentsand restrictions in building regulations. Forexample, height restrictions for turbines inmany municipalities prevent any usefulconversion of wind farms, as do minimumdistance requirements in some Germanstates.16 Wind industry in Germany