Wind power in Germany - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

In 2010, the installed capacity of wind power in Germany was 27.2 GW

-Science and technology:* .gw, the Internet top-level domain of Guinea-Bissau* Gateway * GateWorld* The symbol for GigaWatt, a unit for measuring electric power, equal to 109 watts* Global warming...

. Wind power currently produces about seven percent of Germany’s total electrical power. More than 21,607 wind turbines are located in the German federal area and the country has plans to build more wind turbines. As of 2011, Germany's federal government is working on a new plan for increasing renewable energy commercialization

Renewable energy commercialization

Renewable energy commercialization involves the deployment of three generations of renewable energy technologies dating back more than 100 years. First-generation technologies, which are already mature and economically competitive, include biomass, hydroelectricity, geothermal power and heat...

, with a particular focus on offshore wind farms.

Overview

As of 2010, Wind power in Germany provides over 96,100 people with jobs and German wind energy systems are also exported. The Fuhrländer Wind Turbine Laasow

Fuhrländer Wind Turbine Laasow

Fuhrländer Wind Turbine Laasow is a wind turbine, built in 2006 near the village of Laasow, Brandenburg, Germany. It consists of a 160 metre lattice tower, which carries a rotor 90 metres in diameter. It is the tallest wind turbine in the world...

, built in 2006 near the village of Laasow, Brandenburg, is the tallest wind turbine in the world. Also most other of the tallest wind turbines in the world are situated in Germany, see List of wind turbines.

At Germany, there are also most of the most powerful wind turbines in the world, the Enercon E-126

Enercon E-126

The Enercon E-126 is the largest wind turbine model build to date, manufactured by the German wind turbine producer Enercon. With a hub height of , rotor diameter of and a total height of , this large model can generate up to of power per turbine. The nameplate capacity was changed from to ...

.

However, the economics of wind power in Germany are under close scrutiny and there are other issues which deserve consideration. These include the effect of wind turbines on the landscape, the effect on the bird population, and the effect on the tourist industry.

Repowering

Repowering is the process of replacing older power stations with newer ones that either have a greater nameplate capacity or more efficiency which results in a net increase of power generated.-Wind power:...

, the replacement of first-generation wind turbines with modern multi-megawatt machines, is occurring in Germany. Modern turbines make better use of available wind energy and so more wind power can come from the same area of land. Modern turbines also offer much better grid integration since they use a connection method similar to conventional power plants.

Offshore wind power

Offshore wind energy also has great potential in Germany. Wind speed at sea is 70 to 100% higher than onshore and much more constant. A new generation of 5 MW or larger wind turbines which are capable of making full use of the potential of wind power at sea has already been developed and prototypes are available. This makes it possible to operate offshore wind farms in a cost-effective way once the usual initial difficulties of new technologies have been overcome.

On July 15 of 2009, the first offshore German windturbine completed construction. This turbine is the first of a total of 12 wind turbines for the alpha ventus

Alpha ventus

Alpha ventus is Germany's first offshore wind farm. It is situated in the North Sea north of the island of Borkum.-History:...

offshore wind farm in the North Sea.

Following the 2011 Japanese nuclear accidents

2011 Japanese nuclear accidents

This is a list of articles describing aspects of the nuclear shut-downs, failures, and nuclear meltdowns triggered by the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.-Fukushima nuclear power plants:* Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant...

, Germany's federal government is working on a new plan for increasing renewable energy commercialization

Renewable energy commercialization

, with a particular focus on offshore wind farms. Under the plan large wind turbine

Wind turbine

A wind turbine is a device that converts kinetic energy from the wind into mechanical energy. If the mechanical energy is used to produce electricity, the device may be called a wind generator or wind charger. If the mechanical energy is used to drive machinery, such as for grinding grain or...

s will be erected far away from the coastlines, where the wind blows more consistently than it does on land, and where the enormous turbines won't bother the inhabitants. The plan aims to decrease Germany's dependence on energy derived from coal and nuclear power plants.

Statistics

Increases in installed wind power capacity and generation in recent years is shown in the table below:

Year	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000
Installed Capacity (MW)	55	106	174	326	618	1,121	1,549	2,080	2,877	4,439	6,097
Generation (GW·h)	71	100	275	600	909	1,500	2,032	2,966	4,489	5,528	7,550
% of total electricity consumption	0.3		0.4		0.5		0.8		1.0		1.3

Year	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010
Installed Capacity (MW)	6,097	8,750	11,989	14,604	16,623	18,390	20,579	22,194	23,836	25,716	27,204
Generation (GW·h)	7,550	10,509	15,786	18,713	25,509	27,229	30,710	39,713	40,574	38,639	36,500
% of total electricity consumption	1.3	1.8	2.7	3.1	4.2	4.4	5.0	6.4	6.6	6.7	6.0

States

In Saxony-Anhalt

Saxony-Anhalt

Saxony-Anhalt is a landlocked state of Germany. Its capital is Magdeburg and it is surrounded by the German states of Lower Saxony, Brandenburg, Saxony, and Thuringia.Saxony-Anhalt covers an area of...

52.1 % of electricity was produced with wind power in 2010.

Share of the potential annual energy yield of the net electrical energy consumption in 2010:

State	No. Turbines	Installed Capacity [MW]	Share in the net electrical energy consumption [%]
Saxony-Anhalt	2,304	3,509.16	52.1
Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania	1,356	1,549.10	45.4
Schleswig-Holstein	2,675	3,014.98	44.1
Brandenburg	2,952	4,400.78	42.8
Lower Saxony	5,365	6,664.24	25.1
Thuringia	581	754.18	12.3
Rhineland-Palatinate	1,086	1,421.43	8.6
Kingdom of Saxony	821	943.27	8.5
Bremen (state)	67	120.84	4.1
North Rhine-Westphalia	2,820	2,928.11	4.0
Hesse	613	587.77	2.5
Saarland	80	111.40	2.4
Kingdom of Bavaria	412	521.38	1.0
Baden-Württemberg	368	467.08	0.9
Hamburg	61	50.68	0.6
Berlin	1	2.00	0.0
offshore North Sea North Sea In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...	24	120.00
offshore Baltic Sea Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is a brackish mediterranean sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and...	21	48.30
Germany Total	21,607	27,214.70	9.4