The following part will provide an overview of the German on-shore wind energy market including the special characteristics of the market.
3.2.1 WIND ENERGY DEVELOPMENT IN GERMANY ONSHORE
The start of the commercial usage of wind energy in Germany took place in the early 1990s. Since then a strong positive de-Location specific
velopment took place which resulted in the highest additions since 2002 in 2014. Table 1 below shows the recent situation of the onshore market, status 31.12.2014. In 2014 a total ca-pacity of 4,750.26 MW and 1,766 wind turbines were installed.
Taking the dismantled turbines into account (364.35 MW and 544 turbines) a total capacity of 38,115.74 MW and a total number of 24,867 turbines were installed in Germany onshore status 31.12.2014.
Figure 4 shows the development of the German onshore wind energy market over time. It gets obvious that in the first years of wind energy utilisation in Germany the development was modest. But from 1996 until 2002 a strong acceleration of in-stalled capacity can be seen. After 2002 a declining trend of annual added capacity took place, which stopped in 2010.
From that point on a positive trend was initiated which for the time being culminated in the addition of 4,750 MW in 2014.
Status of Land-based Wind Energy
Development Capacity
[MW] Number [WTG]
Development 2014
Gross additions during 2014 4 750.26 1 766 Repowering share (non-binding) 1 147.88 413 Dismantling in 2014 (non-binding) 364.35 544
Cumulative 2014
Cumulative WTG portfolio
Status: 31 December 2014 38 115.74 24 867 Table 1:
Wind Energy Develop-ment in Germany On-shore (Status
31.12.2014)
Figure 4:
Historic Development of the German Onshore Wind Energy Market (Status 31.12.2014)
ket to take a closer look at the distribution of the installations across Germany.
Table 2 shows the states of Germany ranked according to the added new capacity in 2014. Out of the five top ranked states two are located in the north of Germany (Schleswig-Holstein and Lower Saxony). These two states have a long tradition re-garding wind energy due to their location in the north and good wind conditions. But also two states from the south of Germany (Rhineland-Palatinate and Bavaria), where wind en-ergy is a more recent trend, can be found under the top 5 countries with significant additions. This is also due to new turbine technology which allows an economically beneficial operation also in low wind speed region like the south of Ger-many. The fewest additions of the territorial states in 2014 are seen in Saxony and Baden-Wurttemberg.
Gross Addition in 2014
4 Rhineland-Palatinate 462.70 168 9.7%
5 Bavaria 410.00 154 8.6%
The trend towards wind energy usage in the south of Germany can also be seen in Figure 5. From a small share in 1992 the
steadily and has reached around 12% in 2014. The central part of Germany gained most capacity between 1993 and 2003. The initial dominant role of the North of Germany decreased until 2006 and is on a steady level since then.
For a better understanding of the specific German situation
Figure 6 depicts the different wind zones in Germany where wind zone 4 is characterised by very strong winds and wind zone 1 by very low wind speeds. It gets obvious that in the south of Germany significantly lower wind speeds than in the north are seen. To exploit this lower wind speeds specific low wind speed turbines are needed. A beneficial operation of WTGs even in these low wind speed regions is possible due to the location specific remuneration scheme.
Figure 5:
Distribution of the Germany wide installed cumulative capacity across the regions, Sta-tus 31.12.2014
For a better understanding and classification of
Figure 6, which uses the DIBt wind zone classification, Figure 7 below gives an overview how the DIBt wind zones and IEC wind classes correlate.
Figure 6:
Wind zones in Germany (DIN 1055-4)
Figure 7:
Comparison of DIBt wind zones and IEC wind classes
3.2.3 MARKET SHARES OF TURBINE MANUFACTURERS IN THE GERMAN ONSHORE MARKET
The German wind energy market is a well-established market in Europe and in the focus of a broad range of manufacturers.
Figure 8 shows the market shares in Germany for 2014.
The pie chart above shows that Enercon has a dominant mar-ket position in Germany with 43.1% marmar-ket share. Enercon is followed by Vestas with a market share of 23.7 % and Senvion with a market share of 14.8%. Out of the remaining 18.4 % of the market Nordex and GE achieved the biggest share.
Figure 8:
Market Shares in the German Onshore Wind Energy Market (Status 31.12.2014)
German onshore wind energy market is domi-nated by Enercon
3.2.4 IMPORTANT ACTORS IN THE GERMAN WIND ENERGY MARKET ONSHORE
The German onshore wind energy market is very well devel-oped in all areas. In the following the most important market participants and their characteristics are described.
Developer
In the German onshore wind energy market a broad range of developers are active. The range last from small local develop-ers to developdevelop-ers active on a European and/ or worldwide scale. But especially smaller regional projects are developed by local companies with a few employees. The developers of wind farms in the German onshore market are not necessarily similar to the operators of the wind farm. Projects which are ready for the installation of the turbines are also offered to the market.
Financing/ Banks
The majority of the German onshore wind farms are financed via project financing. Therefore every wind farm is a newly es-tablished single company with the legal status of a GmbH & Co.
KG in most cases. The financing is based on the envisaged fu-ture cash flow and the main collaterals are the wind turbines.
Project financing for onshore wind energy projects is provided by a broad range of German banks and saving banks and addi-tionally supported by the reconstruction loan corporation (KfW) with a special loan programme.
Manufacturers
A broad range of manufacturers, as shown above, is active on the German onshore wind energy market. But as outlined above the market is dominated by Enercon. The different manufacturers apply different strategies regarding vertical in-tegration. Some, like Enercon, show a high degree of vertical integration whereas others, like Nordex, are operating with a low degree of vertical integration. However, a general trend towards an increase of vertical integration can be identified.
This becomes apparent by the increase number of manufactur-ers who produce for instance their own rotor blades.
A special characteristic of the German onshore market gets obvious via the broad range of technological specification for the different regions and therefore wind conditions, but also regarding used technologies. The installed turbines differ
re-garding their W/m21 ratio, hub height, rotor diameter, gear or gearless and the used generator design. A tendency which can be identified in the field of generators is a shift towards syn-chronous generators, because these generators are best suited to meet increasing grid requirements. The broad range of specifications underlines that the different components are specifically designed for the turbine technology which is ap-plied in the different parts of Germany.
TSO/ DSO
The transmission and distribution system operators (TSO &
DSO) play a very important role in the German wind energy market, because they are responsible to connect the WTG to the grid and the remuneration of the produced energy. The market is divided into four supraregional TSOs (50Hz, Ampri-on, TransNet BW and TenneT) and around 800 local DSOs.
Operators of wind farms
The operators of the wind farm are not necessarily similar to the developer of the wind farm. In the onshore market the op-erators range from single farmers to big utilities.
Insurance companies
A broad range of national and international insurance compa-nies are active in the German onshore wind energy market.
Due to the long experience these companies have in the on-shore market all technical risk can be covered by insurance.
Regulatory authorities
Onshore wind energy projects need approval by the Federal Immission Control Act (Bundesimmissionsschutzgesetz-BImSchG). In line with the act environmental impact studies need to be provided. In addition noise and sound emissions have to be taken into account and it has to be proven that spe-cific limits will not be exceeded. The usual time frame for the development of a wind energy project lies between three and five years. But the recent tendency, due to an increase in ad-ministrative requirements, goes towards five years.
3.2.5 WORKING PLACE CULTURE
active in the wind energy field, especially service provider and developer, are small and medium sized companies. In most of the companies a very flat hierarchy level prevails. This means that also managers at the executive level are easy accessible by their employees and are also involved in the operational work.
3.2.6 GENERAL PROJECT DEVELOPMENT PROCESS
For a better understanding and classification of the market en-try strategies described in 3.5 into the general project devel-opment process the normal process of a wind farm develop-ment will be described below.
The three steps of wind farm development are Identification of a suitable Location, Micro siting and the Approval procedure.
The first step is to identify a suitable site for the planned wind farm. The most important factor when looking for a site for a the location is designated as a preferred area for wind energy utilisation in the regional planning programme. Afterwards negotiations with the owner of the site have to be carried out.
The legal framework conditions which have to be considered when it comes to the identification of a suitable wind farm site are described below:
Town and Country Planning Code (BauGB): Since 1997 WTG are privileged building projects in the outside section, if no public interest is opposed to it and an ample public infrastruc-ture provision is assured.
Regional development plan: Regional planning determina-tion of suitable, reserved and preferred areas for the usage of wind energy; if respective requirements regarding the plan-ning concept are fulfilled BauGB §35 para. 3 Sentence 3 could lead to an exclusion of WTG outside of concentration areas.
Land utilisation plan: Display of specific areas for wind ener-gy; Guideline for the general degree of building coverage Lay-out plan: Includes the possibility to set detailed sur-rounding conditions for the degree of building coverage.
Taking the regulatory framework into account the wind condi-tions and the required distance to residential areas, technical infrastructure, legally significant areas regarding nature con-servation and to the possible grid connection point have to be taken into account.
After the mentioned criteria are taken into account and a suit-able site has been identified the second step is micro siting.
Micro siting mainly refers to the question how the turbines are distributed inside the identified zone. The required distances between the different WTGs and to residential areas etc. need to be taken into account here.
After the location is set the sound and shadow emissions of the turbine have to be calculated. This is required for every ap-proval procedure and is usually conducted by an impartial ex-pert. If the forecast imply that the values exceed the allowed values a sound reduced operation or a stop of operation of the turbine can be requested by the approval authority. To meet the sound requirements it is also possible to change the loca-tion of the turbines with the aim to increase the distance to residential areas.
Another important point which is required by the approval authorities is the an environmental impact assessment
If the approval is granted according to BImSchG the installa-tion of the wind farm can be initiated.
