Wind energy: expansion rate has increased significantly at the start of 2025

The local wind energy sector is feeling more buoyancy under its wings again. In the first three months of this year, wind turbines with a capacity of 995 megawatts (MW) were newly commissioned in Germany. This is the highest figure since 2018 and around two and a half times as much as three years ago. In the first quarter, the economic sector thus already achieved around a third of the previous year's total expansion. This is according to the latest analysis of the expansion and approval situation for onshore wind energy published by the German Wind and Solar Agency.

According to the industry report, the authorities approved more than 4 gigawatts (GW) of new capacity in the first quarter than ever before in one spring. At the same time, the beginning of 2025 is already the third quarter in a row in which this mark for new approvals has been exceeded. The repowering share, i.e. the share of refurbished old turbines in the capacity newly commissioned in spring 2025, is 29%. Despite the large number of permit applications, the average processing time has fallen again and is now 18.7 months on average.

As in the previous year, North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) is once again the leader among the federal states in terms of newly approved capacity: over 1.7 GW was approved there in the first quarter, which corresponds to a share of more than 40% of newly approved capacity nationwide. Lower Saxony follows in second place with just under 800 MW. NRW is also ahead in terms of new installations with more than 340 MW. Lower Saxony is again in second place with 266 MW, followed by Brandenburg with 148 MW. This brings the total number of wind turbines nationwide after the first quarter to 28,830 wind turbines with a cumulative capacity of over 64 GW.

Urgent appeal to the planned federal government

The Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG) target of installing new wind turbines with a capacity of just under 8 GW by 2025 is unlikely to be achieved despite the emerging trend reversal. Things might not look different until 2026 – if politicians play along. There are currently permits for wind turbines with a cumulative capacity of around 28 GW, almost 19 GW of which have already been awarded in a tendering round.

"In view of the very positive development of wind energy, we are urgently appealing to the incoming federal government to stay on course now", emphasized Bärbel Heidebroek, President of the German Wind Energy Association. It is important to stabilize the ramp-up through "accelerated grid expansion and the creation of flexibility". During the black-red coalition negotiations, the CDU and CSU had questioned the obligation introduced by the coalition government, according to which all federal states must make at least two percent of suitable areas available for wind farms by 2032. The coalition agreement now states that this target should be "evaluated".

The discussion about area targets and the speed of expansion "is not expedient and leads to uncertainty", Heidebroek counters. "The industry needs planning security and the German economy needs CO₂-neutral and affordable electricity from wind turbines."

(nen)