BERLIN, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- The number of wind turbines installations has risen significantly in Germany, a joint report published on Thursday by the German Wind Energy Association (BWE) and the Association of German Manufacturers of Machinery and Industrial Equipment (VDMA) shows.
According to the report presented in Berlin, a record of 1,792 new wind turbines were installed on land in 2017 with a total power generation capacity of 5,333 Megawatt. The figures marked an increase of 15 percent compared to 2016.
BWE and VDMA estimated that 28,675 wind turbines were attached to German electricity networks at the start of 2018, as renewable energy sources increasingly contribute to domestic power generation. The number of maritime wind turbines had also increased substantially in 2017.
For the coming year, the authors of the report only expected new wind turbines with a lower capacity of around 3,500 Megawatt to be installed and urged the Federal Government to schedule additional tenders for wind energy production. Otherwise, policymakers would struggle to achieve the goal agreed in preliminary coalition talks by the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), Christian Social Union (CSU) and German Social Democrats (SPD) of generating 65 percent of Germany's electricity with renewable technologies by 2030.
The report cautioned that several older wind turbines would have to be dismantled around the year 2020, necessitating an urgent "repair" of the existing renewable energy legislation which included faster procedures for authorities to approve new capacity.
Similarly, the Green party (Gruene) parliamentarian and energy expert Julia Verlinden warned that a positive trend towards greater wind energy output in recent years was set to reverse in 2018. According to Verlinden, the Federal Government would shoulder the blame for this undesirable outcome because it had "drastically limited" the expansion of wind and solar power in recent renewable energy legislation. The Green politician consequently called on Berlin to act swiftly in establishing a new regulatory framework.
