According to the latest data published by the German wind power association BWE and mechanical engineering umbrella group VDMA, 579 new wind turbines with a total capacity of 1,892 MW were installed in the first half of this year, bringing the total for the country just above 43.5 GW.
This figure is, however, net – the turbines repowered have been subtracted. The gross figure is 726 new turbines with a capacity of 2,053 MW, putting the average turbine size at 2.82 MW. In contrast, 143 old turbines with a collective capacity of 161 MW were dismantled – an average of 1.13 MW per turbine.
In either case, the new installation numbers break the previous record for gross installations of 1,723 MW in the first half of 2014, which was also a record year. In light of the current pipeline, between 4,000 and 4,400 MW net could be installed this year, according to the two organizations.
Amazingly, Baden-Württemberg – a southern German state that has been a straggler historically – saw 186 MW installed, enough to put it ahead of coastal Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, which came in at only 130 MW. Nonetheless, Baden-Württemberg still performs poorly overall with only 880 MW installed.
The backlog of projects in Bavaria, where the 10H rule have brought new projects to a standstill, also sufficed for 174 MW in the first six months of this year. The new straggler is Saxony, where a single 2.35 MW turbine was installed.
It’s likely that wind power will make up around 16% of German power supply this year, up from less than 14% last year.
The boom could continue for a few years. Projects with permits granted in 2016 and completed by 2018 are still eligible for feed-in tariffs.
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