German wind power roars to new record in January Wind turbines fed over 10,000 GWh into the German grid, setting a new record.

Berlin (gtai) Wind turbines fed over 10,000 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of electricity into Germany’s grid in the first month of the year, setting a new record, the BDEW German Association of Energy and Water Industries and ZSW Centre for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research reported this morning. That is approximately one fifth of the annual production from wind in 2014.

Of the total 10,000 GWh generated from wind, 200 GWh were generated offshore, the organizations note. German offshore has a boom year ahead, with the German Engineering Association expecting installed capacity to reach 3 GW by the end of 2015, corresponding to an investment of 10 billion euros.

The previous record stood at approx. 9,600 GWh, which was set in December last year. For comparison, in January 2014, German wind turbines generated around 7,000 GWh.

Esther Frey, wind energy market expert at Germany Trade & Invest: “This record generation follows on the 4.75 GW of new wind capacity installed in Germany last year. There are a huge number of investments being made: Up to 4 GW of capacity is expected to be added this year. Wind tends to perform better in the winter months and January was a particularly windy month.”