The wind industry in Germany had the second-best year in its history: In 2025, onshore wind turbines with a total capacity of 5,232 MW were newly installed. This represents an increase of 58 percent in new-build capacity compared to the previous year. Only the year 2017 had a somewhat higher figure, with a build-out of 5,524 MW. Since last year also saw 456 turbines decommissioned with an average of 23 years in operation, the net increase amounted to 4,602 MW. These figures were presented by the industry associations on Thursday.
An average new installation now reaches a nominal capacity of 5.46 MW. This is a doubling over the past ten years. This growth was made possible by an increase of the average rotor diameter from 104 to 151 meters since 2015. The towers have also grown taller; the hub height now averages 146 meters.
The frontrunner among the federal states in terms of additions was North Rhine-Westphalia, where 1,358 MW of new installations were erected, followed by Lower Saxony with 1,156 MW. The growth in capacity was below average in Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saxony-Anhalt and Schleswig-Holstein, reports the Wind and Solar Agency.
At the same time, the electricity price level on the exchange has recently been relatively high: last year the price averaged 8.9 euro cents per kilowatt-hour, whereas in the 2010s it was usually 3 to 4 cents. As a result, there has so far been no pronounced wave of shutdowns among the older plants that fall out of subsidies after 20 years.
Shutdown Threatened by Falling Prices
Currently, there are around 10,400 subsidized existing installations with a total capacity of 12,650 MW still in operation in Germany. Since the machines have long been depreciated, they can often continue operating without subsidies, as long as no major repairs are required. However, if wholesale electricity prices fall again significantly and the number of hours with negative electricity prices continues to rise, increasingly older plants could be forced to shut down.
The stock of onshore wind turbines in Germany currently stands at around 68,000 MW (68 GW). Despite the industry expecting a record build-out for 2026 of 8 to 8.5 GW, the “target path will not be reached,” says Dennis Rendschmidt, Managing Director of the machinery association VDMA Power Systems. This results from the goals of the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG): by 2030, 115 GW should be installed, which in the remaining five years would require a net annual increase of about 9 GW. That would be twice the 2025 value.
There would be enough projects for even higher build-out figures: Last year, Germany approved a record capacity of just over 20 GW. This is also due to authorities having worked relatively quickly lately. The approvals completed in 2025 took, on average, only 16.8 months. Two years earlier the period had been 25.9 months.
Conversely, however, the realization time for projects has grown longer. Recently, the period between approval and commissioning was a full 29 months — a new record. The previous year it had been 27 months, ten years earlier as little as 12.8 months. One reason for the long times to realization is the lack of grid capacity to connect the facilities, often causing delays. “Grid operators are in the bringing-into-service obligation,” says Bärbel Heidebroek, president of the Federal Wind Energy Association. This also means that grids must become smarter through greater digitalization.
Industry Laments Too Few Tender Volumes
In addition, the wind industry laments that tender volumes are too small from its point of view. To receive the guaranteed remunerations, a project must win a bid in one of the four EEG tenders held annually. In 2026, around 10.9 GW are to be auctioned, but there is already an approved capacity of 14.8 GW. It is therefore already foreseeable that in 2026 almost four GW of the already approved projects will not receive a bid, estimates Jürgen Quentin, advisor on energy economics and EEG at the Wind and Solar Agency.
Since the industry expects another 20 GW of approvals for 2026, by the end of the year projects totaling almost 24 GW could exist without a funding commitment. Industry lobbyist Heidebroek is therefore already calling for higher quotas in the tenders. But during this year, the playing field for the industry will be reshaped anyway: the federal government will revise the EEG, so that a number of changes to renewable energy support are likely for the coming year.
