Renewable Energy in Germany Going to Get a Boost from Wind Energy Superhighway

May 25th, 2011 by Zachary Shahan

I was in Germany a little more than a week ago and can tell you from what I saw that Germany (or, at least, Northeast Germany) is a wind turbine paradise. Wind turbines are everywhere it seems (between cities that is).

Germany is the clear wind power leader in Europe with 27,214 MW of installed wind power capacity. (Spain is second with 20,676 MW installed.)

But, even in Germany, wind power could benefit from a better transmission network. Of course, German leaders recognize that and are doing something about it — they are planning to build a wind energy superhighway.

German Wind Energy Superhighway to Connect North & South

“Germany is planning an energy superhighway from north to south to connect its growing wind energy supply with high energy demand regions. Both onshore and offshore wind energy is so far generated primarily in northern Germany, whereas energy consumption is highest in southern and western regions.”

Offshore wind power, in particular, is a high-growth focus of the country. As I reported a couple weeks ago, it is streamlining the approval of offshore wind farms now in order to help that growth along.

“With the goal of 25 GW of electricity from offshore installations by 2030, wind could replace 20 nuclear power stations. This year Germany’s KfW Banking Group is expected to initiate a special program for offshore wind, making EUR 5 billion credit available for the construction of Germany’s first ten offshore parks.” Germany’s first Baltic Sea wind farm went online earlier this month. The 48-MW wind farm — Baltic 1 — will created enough electricity for up to 50,000 homes.

A wind energy superhighway will help make good use of this wind farm and the many more that are planned, efficiently bringing the electricity produced to the locations that need it most.

Nice to see Germany continuing its renewable energy legacy. Hope we will catch up in the U.S. someday.

h/t Crisp Green

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Photo via jjay69









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