Only one new wind turbine in Saxony so far in 2024 - five dismantled

Saxony has made little progress in the expansion of wind energy so far this year. According to the German Wind Energy Association, a total of one new wind turbine with an output of around 6 megawatts has been installed since the beginning of the year. At the same time, 5 turbines with the same combined capacity have been dismantled. This means that there has been no increase in the total output of wind energy in Bavaria.

In the Germany-wide ranking, this puts Saxony in 11th place - only ahead of Thuringia, Berlin, Hamburg, Bremen and Saarland, where no new turbines were built according to the data. The leader in the state comparison is North Rhine-Westphalia. There, minus the dismantling, 249 megawatts more capacity was created.

250 new wind turbines nationwide

Overall, the expansion of wind energy in Germany came to a bit of a standstill in the first half of the year. According to the figures, 250 new wind turbines with a total capacity of around 1.3 gigawatts were erected nationwide - 19 percent less than in the same period last year. However, the number of newly approved wind turbines that have not yet been realized rose by 32 percent to 847.

This positive development in particular should be taken into account, says Bärbel Heidebroek, President of the German Wind Energy Association. There is a lot of potential for expansion. Regarding the decline in expansion in the first half of the year, she pointed out that there were very strong winds in April, which meant that cranes could not be erected and there were technical problems on construction sites.

In addition, there were problems with the transportation of rotor blades due to a closure on the A27 freeway near Cuxhaven. Most of the rotor blades for wind turbines arrive via the port there and are then transported inland.