Bremerhaven, 05 September 2019 - In the first half of 2019, Germany has experienced a negative record in the construction of onshore wind turbines since the year 2000: Only 35 turbines were newly built. Protracted approval procedures and questions of acceptance are often the reason for the slow expansion. The result is a weakening of the wind industry, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises, and job losses. Today, representatives of the industry were selectively invited to Berlin by Federal Economics Minister Peter Altmaier to "exchange views on the situation of onshore wind energy".
The capping of domestic wind energy expansion will place a considerable burden on the wind industry. In particular, jobs in small and medium-sized enterprises, the pioneers of the industry, are acutely endangered or have already been lost. According to the Agency for Renewable Energies, a total of 160,000 people were employed in the wind industry in 2016. In the onshore sector there were about 133,000; in the offshore sector about 27,000. A study published by wind:research in 2019 shows about 24,350 employees in the offshore sector for the year 2018, which corresponds to a decrease of more than 2,500 employees. A further decline can be expected this year due to corporate insolvencies. According to a German Bundestag inquiry, almost 22,000 jobs were lost in the onshore sector between 2016 and 2017. The answer of the German government to the small inquiry would mean an even more drastic decline for the offshore sector than the figures of wind:research. Between 2016 and 2017 more than 4,000 offshore jobs would have been lost.
As an industry network for wind energy on land and at sea and with 260 company members, including more than 50 in Bremen and around 30 in Bremerhaven, the WAB is therefore strongly committed to raising the expansion paths for onshore and offshore wind energy immediately and in the long term. Should the wind summit lead to more wind energy on land and at sea, the energy policy goals can also be achieved by 2030 and beyond. In this way, the 2,290 jobs in the offshore wind industry in Bremen alone and 4,390 offshore jobs in Lower Saxony can be secured and expanded in the future.
Taking into account the development of new storage technologies (P2X) and sector coupling, the WAB calls for an expansion path of 35 gigawatts by 2035 in the field of offshore wind power. With an expansion path of 40 GW, the number of employees could be increased to 35,000 jobs according to wind:research. In addition, a special contribution of up to 2 GW should be made as soon as possible, as agreed in the coalition agreement and again demanded jointly by all offshore associations this week. The commissioning of the projects within the scope of the special contribution could only begin in 2023.
The WAB is working hard to ensure that the importance of the wind industry sector is finally recognised in Berlin. While the Federal Cabinet is providing billions in aid for the regions affected by the coal withdrawal in order to develop the regions into modern energy and economic regions, the job losses in the wind power sector seem to receive little attention. If Berlin considers that the number of direct jobs in the lignite industry was about 20,800 at the beginning of 2016 according to a study by the Öko-Institut Berlin, the loss of up to 25,000 jobs in the wind industry should weigh heavily.
In particular, the issue of acceptance for the onshore wind industry should be at the forefront of the political discussion. In addition, the approval procedures should be accelerated and the regulations on air traffic control should be reviewed with regard to onshore wind energy.
"It has to be clear that the wind industry offers great potential for local value creation and thus for the creation and safeguarding of local jobs," says Heike Winkler, WAB Interim Managing Director, and explains: "The wind summit initiated by the Federal Ministry of Economics does not do justice to the current situation, which also means insolvencies, job cuts and declining value creation for the domestic wind industry, and underlines that the topic of value creation in the context of wind has still not arrived in Berlin. Especially against the background of the high acceptance of the energy turnaround, it is obvious to actively shape the dialogue with the population and all relevant actors, especially the innovative small and medium-sized enterprises. The labour market opportunities represented by the wind industry in Germany should taken into account.
"The energy system transformation can only be successfully if there is a clear roadmap and the population can understand how it will be implemented financially. Many acceptance issues with regard to the expansion of onshore wind energy and in the context of grid expansion can only be positively influenced by transparency, participation in value creation and associated jobs," explains Irina Lucke, Chairwoman of the Executive Board of WAB e.V. "In view of the decline in jobs in fossil industry sectors, the newly created jobs in the wind industry are becoming increasingly important," Lucke continues.