In May, average wind levels finally returned to Germany. This followed several months of calm weather, which had significantly reduced wind turbine output. Nevertheless, the expansion of turbines is continuing and licences are being granted more quickly. “However, there are still some efficiency reserves that need to be realised“, says Patrick Lemcke-Braselmann, Co-CEO of aream Group SE.

In the first few months of the year, the wind levels in Germany were as low as they had been in the past 50 years. Meteorologists cite a series of high-pressure areas as the cause, which brought plenty of sunshine but little wind and drought. Wind turbine operators felt the impact.

However, the lull came to an end in May,when wind conditions finally returned to normal, even if they varied greatly from region to region in Germany. For the German aream wind turbines, this meant a target achievement of 99.5 per cent in May. However, the previous lull has a lasting effect: since the beginning of the year, aream turbines have only achieved around 71 per cent of their targets. “However, we can assume that these fluctuations will average out over the long term “, says Lemcke-Braselmann. After all, wind farms are planned for periods of at least 20 years.

Despite the lack of wind in the first few months, the expansion of onshore wind energy remains dynamic. The authorities have approved a significant number of installations and applications are being processed more efficiently. “Nevertheless, the industry is still struggling with overloaded authorities and a lot of bureaucracy in many federal states“, says Lemcke-Braselmann. Grid bottlenecks must still be avoided and storage capacities expanded. 

This would also benefit photovoltaic systems. The German plants in the aream portfolio capitalised on the favourable irradiation levels in the past month. However, curtailments of more than 660 MWh prevented higher values. The target achievement was 94 per cent. On the one hand, yields in Spain suffered from weak irradiation values. On the other hand, one plant was completely shut down at the beginning of the month following medium-voltage damage, meaning that almost half of the installed capacity was missing. As a result, only 47 per cent of the target value was achieved in May. The aream plants in Italy achieved 88 per cent of their target last month. With weak irradiation in some areas, repairs to two damages continued into the second half of the month, which reduced the yield by around 200 MWh.