Germany was once a leader among nations in wind energy progress, but after 2015 it reduced its investments in wind power, as it relied on herbal fuel imported from Russia.
“If the country had followed the same annual installation expansion trajectory as the rest of Europe, installed wind capacity would have been 32 gigawatts more until the end of 2021,” according to a new report, Helsinki Energy’s “Winds Not Harnessed. “and Clean Air Research Center.
“This additional wind force would have generated more electrical power than Germany’s remaining six nuclear power plants in 2021,” the report said, and would have replaced more fuel than Germany imported through Nord Stream Pipeline 1 before the source was cut off.
Had it continued with its initial speed of wind development, Germany could have stockpiled 23 billion euros spent on herbal fuel this year and avoided 5% of its energy-related greenhouse fuel emissions, according to the report. This volume of emissions is equivalent to all of Switzerland’s emissions last year.
“Instead,” the report says, “Germany is entering Europe’s first war winter in more than 70 years with less energy security than it had explained. “
“The installation of German wind capacity accelerated until 2015 before an era of stagnation. . . [ ] became a sharp decline in annual installations after 2017,” the CREA report says. Data source: BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2022.
Germany’s dependence on Russian fuel is linked to its resolve to close its nuclear power plants following the Fukushima nuclear crisis in 2011. But the CREA report argues that wind force could have replaced this fuel.
“Gas and wind force have other uses in the force system, so they are far from the best substitutes,” the report acknowledges. “However, in the electric power sector, where around a third of all fuel is used in Europe, wind power generation will upgrade fuel and coal in a proportion that depends on fuel charges and a number of other points: this is an undeniable result of the order of merit in which generation resources with the highest marginal charge are used. lastly. Excessive scenario of a physical shortage of fuel, fuel charges increase so much that upgraded fuel almost becomes fuel.
Until the war in Ukraine, the rate of herbal fuel skyrocketed, fuel enjoyed a more favorable economy than coal. Over the past 20 years, Germany has used more fuel as it has abandoned nuclear and coal power plants.
Had Germany invested in more wind power, “it could have particularly reduced Germany’s dependence on fossil fuel imports, thereby reducing Putin’s ability to blackmail the Federal Republic of Germany by cutting off fuel supplies,” the report says.
“Germany would have been less affected by Russia’s militarization of the energy industry and fluctuations in fossil fuels in the global market. “
The soft, thick blue line on the back shows Germany’s genuine investment in wind strength, which has stalled in 2015. The dark blue line at the most sensitive part shows the strength of the wind that Germany would now enjoy if it had followed the path of wind progression in the rest of Europe. Data sources: BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2022 and CREA.