German wind industry wants 'clarification' on state aid and says red tape must ease too
Sector and manufacturers' groups welcome vice chancellor's proposals but say other measures such as faster permits and clearer tendering rules needed
Germany’s wind industry welcomed proposals by vice chancellor Robert Habeck to grant state subsidies to the embattled sector to guarantee a faster expansion of renewables, but called for clarification on the nature of envisaged state aid and urged faster permitting and clearer tendering rules.
“From our point of view, the fact that the BMWK [Federal Economics and Climate Ministry] now also wants to support the industrial ramp-up economically is the right measure at the right time,” said Hermann Albers, president of Germany’s wind energy federation (BWE), which supports the wider wind sector.
“Far too much time still elapses from the application for approval to the actual commissioning of the plants.
“However, the government's expansion goals make a rapid increase in production capacities necessary. The fact that the federal government now wants to support manufacturers in building up these capacities is an important signal for planning and investment security in the industry.”
Germany should use the 18-months-period of the emergency measures also to boost repowering.
“It must be the target for 2023 to permit at least 10GW in new [wind power] capacity,” Albers demanded.
VDMA Power Systems, which represents wind turbine manufacturers, said it was positive that Habeck included the stakeholders in a dialogue on industrial capacities of the renewables sector, and stressed that businesses need a reliable market, in which more projects are approved and built.
“In some places, however, improvements still need to be made. There is still a need for further clarification, especially with regard to the measures to secure the production capacities of manufacturers and suppliers in the wind industry,” VDMA Power Systems managing director Dennis Rendschmidt said, however.
“This applies to the questions of guarantees and the design of the qualitative criteria in tenders.
“In addition, the development of infrastructure and logistics capacities as well as skilled workers must be supported more closely.”
Nordex starts 6MW serial production
While Habeck has realised the need for subsidies to aid the troubled wind sector, the industry is moving ahead with necessary production upgrades.
German wind turbine manufacturer Nordex despite financial difficulties yesterday pressed the start button for series production of nacelles of its new 6MW model at its Rostock assembly plant.
"In the long-term annual output of these large turbines alone is to amount to approx. 1GW here,” Nordex chief executive José Luis Blanco said during the celebration of the series start.
"We have invested some two million euros in redesigning the production system in Rostock."
The OEM already has received 1.1GW for the supply and installation of its new N163/6.X turbines, with orders coming from Germany, the Netherlands, Finland, Turkey and Estonia.
But while the market clearly is demanding more turbines and with it more output capacity, Nordex only last year had to close its blade production at the Rostock site amid financial woes – a fact illustrating the argument for state aid.
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