A report on Nasdaq last week suggested that Germany could produce 65% of its electricity with onshore wind if wind farms were erected on 2% of its total land. The statement was made by industry group Bundesverband WindEnergie (BEW), based on a commissioned study.
The study says wind energy alone could not meet baseload power demand (due to wind’s fluctuating output), but BEW President Hermann Albers said during a recent conference that onshore wind power could replace all of Germany’s nuclear power plants, and that combined renewable energies can replace nuclear power and some coal-fired power plants.
The study calculates that Germany’s wind power potential could reach 198 gigawatts, which would produce 390 terawatt-hours. The nuclear industry’s output was 140 terawatt hours in 2010. In the wake of Japan’s nuclear disaster, Germany has been the most pro-active country in putting nuclear plans on hold and unplugged seven older nuclear power stations.
The latest figures show that Germany’s wind power capacity was 27 gigawatts at the end of 2010. Bavaria in the south of the country has the biggest wind potential, currently underused with a production of only 500 MW installed capacity.
Article by Antonio Pasolini, a Brazilian writer and video art curator based in London, UK. He holds a BA in journalism and an MA in film and television.
