For a quarter of a century, HusumWind has hosted one of the World’s largest wind power conferences. This year the conference was held in Hamburg. As might be expected, there were some hard feelings. A PR professional approached my table of North American journalists, in a Hamburg restaurant. He points out that while there are only around 60 wind turbines installed in the city, there are more than 800 in Nordfriesland (which Husum is part of) and 3,100 in the federal state of Schleswig-Holstein (which Nordfriesland is part of). It did not take much to uncover the reasons for the switch in venues. More than 1,200 companies from 30 countries will be displaying their products and projects at this year’s event. Even the lady manning Husum’s booth admitted this was to large an event for Husum. Hamburg is the gateway for Germany’s offshore wind industry and a leading center for renewable technology.
Germany’s renewables have set a new record. According to the Fraunhofer institute, they produced about 81 TWh, or 31% of the nation’s electricity during the first half of 2014. Solar production is up 28%, wind 19% and biomass 7% over last year. Meanwhile, with the exception of nuclear energy, all conventional sources are produced less. The output from gas powered plants was half of what it had been in 2010 and brown coal powered plants are produced at a similar level to 2010-2012.
Germany has long been one of the world’s leading centers of the wind industry. Thus I welcomed an opportunity to question Esther Frey, renewable energies expert at Germany Trade & Invest (GTAI), about this technology’s effectiveness and future development. GTAI is the foreign trade and inward investment promotion agency of the Federal Republic of Germany. Ms Frey provided some valuable insight into some of the issues involved in developing Germany’s Wind Energy Potential.
Renewable sources contributed 27% of Germany’s domestic electricity in the first quarter. In windy Schleswig-Holstein, which obtained 90% of its energy from renewable sources in 2013, they hope to reach 100% this year. The role played by fossil fuels and the nuclear sectors is shrinking. Contrary to what naysayers have been predicting, Energiewende is very much alive and on-track in Germany.
