Germany Counting on Wind Energy to Reduce Foreign Energy Reliance

Germany Putting More Wind Into Energy
Julio Godoy, IPS, Feb 15

Germany is blowing more wind into energy with the setting up of new offshore facilities. Germany already has the world's largest installed capacity for wind energy.

By the end of this year, German researchers will have installed a new facility in the North Sea, some 80 km west of the island of Sylt. The experimental facility will provide crucial data on conditions a wind turbine must satisfy to function efficiently on the high seas. ...

Germany has an installed wind energy capacity of 20.6 megawatts, that comes from 18,685 wind turbines installed on the mainland. This represented 5.7 percent of all electricity generated in the country last year. ...

Research on offshore wind turbines is becoming essential for further development of wind energy, given the scarcity of sites for mainland turbines. Besides, offshore wind facilities are estimated to provide 40 percent more energy than similar installations on land. ...

About 40 German offshore projects are being planned, with about half awaiting environmental approval by the German government. They are expected to be functional by 2030, and provide up to 25,000 megawatts of electricity. ...

German development of wind energy is driven heavily by moves to cut its reliance on foreign sources for energy. Germany imports all of its uranium for its nuclear power plants, and more than 83 percent of its natural gas.