Germany is the third largest user of wind power worldwide, it accounted for 8% of their total electric power in 2011 and that number is only expected to rise. Plans for the building of large offshore wind farms promise to make use of strong ocean wind currents. So far there are close to 22,000 individual turbines on German federal land. In addition to providing a good deal of energy, around 70,000 Germans are employed in the wind power industry. Because of massive amounts of federal funding for research the cost of manufacturing German wind turbines has decreased rapidly in the last decade leading many large German companies to export their products very profitably. Companies such as NorDex, Repower and Enercon have began to dominate world markets for wind power because of the rising demand both foreign and domestic. This successful commercialization of wind power proves that renewable energies can prove to be profitable. The main concerns in regards to wind power is its adverse effects on bird populations and general unsightliness of the turbines; the German government hopes to resolve these issues by focusing upon offshore projects where turbines will be out of sight. With the recent investments into wind power the Germans hope to lessen their dependence on coal and nuclear power.
a map of German wind farms
Sources:
- http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-13592208
- http://www.germany.info/Vertretung/usa/en/__pr/GIC/2012/04/13Renewables.html
- http://yearbook.enerdata.net/energy-consumption-data.html
- http://www.volker-quaschning.de/datserv/ren-Strom-D/index_e.php
Very cool. You say that those German companies are beginning to control the world market what kind of influence do they have on the United States yet if any?
German “clean energy” companies are being subsidized by the government therefore they have a dramatic advantage over companies in other countries. There is still much development to be done to make renewable energy production cheap and lucrative. It is currently difficult to make lots of money off of these because it is a new industry. Germany has not found a huge market for their solar or wind power in America as of yet considering our current energy market is mostly reliant upon natural gas. It has however been finding interested buyers in Europe and Asia.