Despite the German government’s renewed commitment to meeting its CO2 emissions target by expanding wind energy, online weekly FOCUS here reports that wind energy appears to be on the verge of collapse and that “German climate targets are in danger.”

Bleak times for Germany’s wind industry. Photo. P. Gosselin

Lowest activity since ‘Energiewende’ began in 2000

FOCUS cites wind industry officials who say that the building of wind parks has reached the lowest point in 20 years. The industry associations are calling on the government to take action and for approval procedures for wind farms to be simplified and acceptance by residents increased.

Falling acceptance

Many German states have imposed strict setback rules to keep wind parks away from residential areas. For example, the 10H rules is in effect in Bavaria. Here, a wind turbines cannot be located near residents  at a distance that is closer than 10 times its height, making many wind projects in the south German state impossible.  The industry is pressuring governments to soften the rules.

Yet an online poll conducted by FOCUS shows that almost two thirds of respondents are not in favor or are undecided on reducing setback distances.

Protest against wind energy “booming these days”

Earlier in 2019, Germany’s centre-left Tagesspiegel here reported, “The protest against wind energy is booming these days” and according analysts, “about 1000 citizens’ initiatives are currently fighting against the wind industry in Germany” and that “they are very well networked”.

55% less turbines built in 2019

The lack of acceptance among the public — along with economic and technical obstacles — has put the brakes on wind park construction. FOCUS writes: “According to the industry associations Bundesverband Windenergie (BWE) and VDMA Power Systems, only 325 new wind turbines with 1078 megawatts were built in 2019. This was 55 percent less than in the previous year.”

Despite phony wind lobby surveys claiming that over 90% of Germans support an expansion of wind power (and only a 5% fringe oppose), German wind park projects have hit the brick wall of intense citizens’ protest.

German protesters demand a stop to the “madness” of the industrialization of nature. Image: proNatur Citizens Initiative. 

For example, German environmental protection group www.naturschutz-initiative here reports how the approval for three wind turbines in the Butzbach municipal forest granted by the Giessen Regional Council on 12 October 2018 has been deemed illegal.

According to their press release:

After the discussion meeting on 22 January 2020, the administrative court revoked the permit on 28 January 2020. The environmental association Naturschutzinitiative e.V. (NI) had taken legal action against the State of Hesse primarily because in its opinion the permit violates European law. For example, exceptions to the ban on killing wasp and buzzard were permitted which are not compatible with the European Birds Directive.”

Huge protester turnout in Odenwald

In the region of Odenwald/Rothenberg, a planned additional wind farm of 13 turbines, each 250 meters tall, on the ridge between Rothenberg and Beerfelden was met with fierce protest from 300 demonstrators, reports regional online site Fact.de here.

According to Fact.de, “It was a strong appearance of the young Rothenberg citizens’ initiative proNatur, with support from many parts of the Odenwald.

What’s really impressive: the proNatur citizens protest group had been founded just 6 days earlier!

Irmgard Neuer, spokeswoman of the citizens’ initiative said: “A good 300 people of all age groups had gathered at the gymnasium in Rothenberg with banners, drums, whistles and warning vests to loudly oppose the planned additional wind farm of enormous dimensions in the region.”

“No positive effect on nature”

One of the protest mobilizers, leader Vera Krug of Siedelsbrunn, admonished her fellow protesters “not to let up and to inform all fellow citizens about the negative effects of the industrialization of nature”.

“No destruction of nature ever has a positive effect on the climate”, Vera Krug stated.

Local citizens fear that the quality of life in the area would be severely damaged by the installation of 13 huge wind turbines “without any real benefit for the climate”.

Fact.de reports:

Before the demonstration at the village center broke up, ‘everyone agreed that the destruction of nature by wind industry plants should not be allowed either in the Odenwald or in any other forest’.”

Wind turbine proponents were surprised by the large protester turnout.

Bitter divisions in once peaceful communities

Wind energy opposition has become an extremely  polarizing issue in Germany, one that has led to bitter divisions in once peaceful communities, especially those in rural areas.

The issue of rural wind park industrialization has become such a hot topic that according to Fact.de: “Ruth Bender of the Wall Street Journal had traveled from Berlin to report on the demonstration. She stayed overnight at the local “Hirschen” and talked to several protagonists on site. The Südwestrundfunk (SWR) had also sent a camera team to Rothenberg for reporting.”

Germany’s Energiewende (transition to green energies) is driving up prices

by Holger Douglas
(Translated/edited by P. Gosselin)

For a long time, electricity prices have known only one direction: upwards! Ever faster, ever more clearly. Now the shock for many families: The Federal Government has presented official figures in an answer to an inquiry from the FDP Free Democrats parliamentary group in the Bundestag and announced the true extent of the electricity price increase.

320 euros extra annually per household

In the past ten years, the price of electricity for households and industry has risen by a third. According to the Augsburger Allgemeine, which quotes from the paper, the price of electricity rose by 35 percent between 2009 and 2019. For a typical household with 4,000 kWh per year, this means 320 euros in additional costs for electricity alone.

This is even more than the various comparison websites had previously calculated.

8% hike

BILD expresses how drastic it is: “The electricity price wave is sweeping over Germany! Now the energy giants Innogy, RheinEnergy and Vattenfall are also raising prices by eight percent”. Millions of households are affected.

Thus the electricity price is nowhere else as high as in Germany. One kilowatt hour of electricity now costs on average 30.03 euro cents. The experts at the Verivox comparison portal expect that prices will continue to rise this year, for a simple reason: Germany is paying for the transition to green energies.

With the so-called EEG feed-in levy, every electricity consumer pays for the feed-in of the unreliable and extremely expensive “renewable energies” and thus also for the destruction of the previously reliable and inexpensive power supply.

No way around subsidies

No sensible person would install wind turbines on a large scale in Germany. The yield of electricity is simply too low and too unreliable. If, yes, if it would not have to be propped up by money.

Money for nothing

According to the German government, wind turbine operators alone received a total of 635 million euros in compensation in 2018 because they were unable to feed their electricity into the grid because of the times it was not needed.

This “compensation” will be even more drastic in 2019, because in the first quarter alone there were strong winds; the wind turbines delivered so much electricity – but at inopportune moments, and so it could not be used, not even given away to neighboring countries.

“Anti-social”

FDP politician Sandra Weeser explained: “We have an extremely anti-social redistribution here. The weakest citizens would be burdened with the electricity price just as much as the strongest.”

Ms Weeser also sees the attractiveness of Germany as a business location at risk: “With our high wage cost level, we cannot keep increasing the production costs of electricity if we want to keep industry in the country.

“Gigantic redistribution machine”

The so-called EEG feed-in program continues to prove to be a gigantic redistribution machine. This is once again calling the profiteers onto the scene – as can be seen from the results of the solar tender of the Federal Network Agency. Tendered were 500 MW of capacity for solar plants, bids were submitted for a total of 1,344 MW. That is a 2.7-fold more than needed. In mid-January, the agency awarded the contract to “121 bids for a solar capacity of 501 MW to be erected”.

Unsteady supply means inefficient use of backup plants

This means: even more photovoltaic systems for ridiculously low hours of use and even higher EEG fees. And even more CO2 emissions from those conventional power plants that have to supply electricity when the sun does not shine because Germany still does not want to go without electricity. The very frequent, inefficient start-up and shut-down processes of these large power plants on standby also cause additional CO2 emissions. This increases operating costs.