The wind energy market in Germany is racing from one record to the next. Never before have so many permits for new turbines been issued as last year. Almost a third of electricity is now generated by wind power. Nevertheless, the industry is not a sure-fire success. This is not only because the market is often as volatile as the winds that blow. Growing competition from Asia is also putting pressure on companies. In their article, enomyc authors Dr. Stefan Frings and Viola Damberg take a look at the most important current developments and outline how suppliers can best equip themselves for the increasingly harsh winds of competition.
In recent years, the expansion of renewable energies in Germany has been driven forward at a rapid pace. Wind energy plays a decisive role in this. In 2024 alone, more than 2,400 new plants with a total capacity of 14 GW were approved nationwide—the highest figure ever recorded. At the same time, 4,400 approved turbines with a capacity of 24.9 GW were not connected to the grid at the beginning of 2025. One of the reasons for this is that more and more time is elapsing between the approval and commissioning of a wind farm. While the implementation period was initially around one year, it is now more than two years, with some projects taking almost eight years to complete.
An important cornerstone of the German electricity mix
Gross electricity generation in Germany totaled 512 billion kWh in 2023. More than 53 percent of this came from renewable energies. With 116.7 billion kWh from onshore and 23.9 billion kWh from offshore wind turbines, wind energy covered more than 27 percent of Germany's electricity generation in 2023. Onshore remains dominant, but offshore capacity is also set to rise to 30 GW by 2030 (as of 2024: 9.2 GW)
Electricity from wind is not only environmentally friendly and a key component in achieving Germany's climate targets, but has also long been economically competitive: at 4.3 to 9.2 cents/kWh onshore and 5.5 to 10.3 cents/kWh offshore, wind is significantly cheaper than conventional energy sources.
A few manufacturers dominate the market
In 2024, the largest onshore operators included companies such as EnBW (1,031 MW), wpd (around 1,500 turbines), Statkraft (over 600 MW), RWE (90 wind farms), and Vattenfall with a pipeline of 1.5 GW by 2028. These players are investing billions and setting new standards in project development, operations management, and direct marketing.
Vestas, Enercon, Nordex, GE Renewable Germany, and Siemens Gamesa dominate the turbine manufacturer market.
At the same time, Chinese market players are gaining in importance, including in Europe. After all, China builds more wind turbines annually than any other country and is aiming to expand into global markets. For example, Chinese supplier Ming Yang has signed a preliminary agreement to supply offshore wind turbines for the German North Sea wind farm “Waterkant.” The company is to supply 16 of the world's most powerful offshore wind turbines, each with a capacity of 16 to 18.5 megawatts. While European manufacturers are struggling with rising production costs and regulatory hurdles, Chinese wind energy companies are benefiting from government subsidies and targeted market strategies. Against this backdrop, calls for protective measures against growing Chinese competition in the European wind industry are growing louder.
Rotor blades, gearboxes, masts, and generators: increasing requirements are driving complexity
Wind turbines are becoming taller and more efficient, but also more complex. The average tower height is now over 200 meters. At the same time, rotor blades are growing to lengths of up to 100 meters – a test of endurance for materials and transport logistics.
The gearbox, which transmits the rotor drive to the generator in onshore turbines, remains a critical point. Maintenance costs and downtime risks make it a critical component. In repowering projects, i.e., when existing wind turbines are replaced with modern, more powerful technologies, direct gearless systems or modern pitch technology for load control are increasingly being used. Operators must invest in preventive maintenance and condition monitoring.
Political tailwind with pitfalls
New legal frameworks such as the Wind-an-Land-Gesetz (Onshore Wind Energy Act), the EEG 2023, the Pakt für Planungs- und Genehmigungsbeschleunigung (Pact for Planning and Approval Acceleration) and the Windenergieflächenbedarfsgesetz (Wind Energy Area Requirements Act) are creating the basis for more space and faster procedures, but implementation in the federal states remains sluggish.
The subsidy framework is also highly volatile. The switch to tender models, adjustments to the EEG, and local political resistance continue to cause uncertainty. This makes market access particularly difficult for smaller operators and cooperative projects.
Challenges along the value chain
In wind farm projects, many links in a chain must work together optimally: from project initiation and financing to component manufacturing (rotor blades, towers, gearboxes, generators) to logistics, installation, grid connection, and operation.
In addition, companies are confronted with a whole range of complex challenges. Inflation and raw material shortages are driving up material costs, especially for steel and composite materials. Transport, maintenance, and repair of the turbines are also becoming increasingly expensive. At the same time, feed-in tariffs are falling as a result of the switch from fixed tariffs to tender models. These uncertain economic conditions are creating additional price pressure and uncertain earnings forecasts.
Excessive regulation and bureaucracy are also increasingly proving to be a brake on growth in the wind energy sector. Lengthy approval processes, complex, multi-stage planning and coordination procedures involving numerous authorities, frequent changes to the legal framework (e.g., adjustments to the Renewable Energy Sources Act), as well as blockades by local stakeholders and market volatility in electricity prices make reliable planning difficult.
Technological hurdles—such as the integration of new technologies and digital control systems to optimize plant performance or the slow expansion of the grid infrastructure—are compounded by financial problems. Many project calculations prove to be unrealistic, for example because costs are underestimated and revenues are overestimated. A lack of liquidity reserves can quickly lead to financial bottlenecks. Many companies also have shortcomings in risk management and contract design.
Strategies for a resilient wind industry
To withstand the dynamic market conditions, we recommend the following measures, among others:
- Flexible energy and marketing management: Flexible power purchase agreements (PPAs) with variable pricing, targeted financing options, and storage solutions, as well as strategic partnerships with energy-intensive industries, reduce market volatility and optimize revenues.
- Greater efficiency through automation, modular manufacturing, purchasing cooperations, and digitalization. By shifting production capacities to lower-cost European regions, operators and suppliers can also improve their competitiveness vis-à-vis Asian manufacturers.
- Early involvement of experts: To accelerate planning and approval processes, we recommend running them in parallel. Focusing on repowering projects also protects against delays and creates planning security.
- Diversification of the supply chain, long-term supply contracts, strategic inventories, increased in-house production, strategic storage, and purchasing monitoring reduce dependencies and insolvency risks on the part of suppliers.
- Independent financing strategies: Through the increased use of PPAs, hybrid energy parks with wind, solar, and storage systems, and alternative financing models with a higher equity share, companies can become less dependent on government subsidies and regulatory fluctuations in the long term.
Rising costs, growing competition: Plant operators should act now
Wind power is a central pillar of the energy transition—and its importance will continue to grow. However, without decisive implementation, innovative technologies, partnership-based business models, and realistic project management, the current momentum could quickly fade.
Wind farm operators should therefore act now: through strategic planning, sound investments, and solid risk management, they will not only secure their market position but also actively contribute to a climate-friend