Hartmut Wewetzer, Berlin-based journalist
Wind power supplies these pyramid-shaped houses designed by architect Gerard Schouten at Huizen (The Netherlands).
The fiercest opponent of wind energy, Prof. Otfried Wolfrum, and other economists argue that subsidized wind energy may be creating jobs now but will end up cutting down on them. If energy prices are not competitive in Germany, they say,some electricity firms will move their plants to countries where conditions are more favourable.
Germany is the world’s
top producer of energyfrom wind power. But whether more wind farms should be built
is sparking fierce debate
The north
German plain is looking different these days. Where once fields, meadows and forests
stretched as far as the eye could see, today the landscape is dotted with spectacular
windmills, some of which tower 100 metres or more above the ground.
The further north you go, the more there are. In East Friesland (Lower Saxony) and
on the west coast of Schleswig-Holstein (where windmills crowd the horizon) thousands
of small businesspeople (Germany’s association of wind energy producers has more
than 6,000 members) have built huge wind farms to produce electricity for the national
grid.
Since 1997, Germany has overtaken the United States as the world’s leading producer
of wind energy. It accounted for 700 of the 2,035 megawatts (MW) of new wind energy
capacity installed worldwide in 1998 (the equivalent of the output of two large nuclear
power plants). Each year, new records are set. In the first quarter of 1999 alone,
228 new wind turbines were hooked up to the national grid. The number of turbines
in Germany rose from about 6,200 in January 1999 to 7,200 by the end of that year
(3,750 MW).
But so far these devices produce only 1.3 per cent of Germany’s electricity. The
rest comes largely from fossil fuels (58 per cent), nuclear plants (36 per cent)
and hydropower (5 per cent). The wind energy association predicts that by 2020 about
25,000 wind turbines will be installed, producing 30 per cent of the country’s electricity.
Government sources say that some 30 billion Deutschmarks ($1.8 billion) will be spent
on strengthening the sector.
Wind power’s success in Germany is partly based on public and media approval. Germany
is the only Western country where nuclear power has, since the 1970s, met almost
unanimous and often violent opposition. The anti-nuclear movement led to the birth
of the Green party, which has been in government with the Social Democrats since
the end of 1998. This coalition wants a rapid shut-down of nuclear power stations,
although it has not yet reached an agreement with the energy distributors. If they
fail to agree, a law may be passed to restrict the life of nuclear plants to 30 years,
forcing the industry to close them one by one.
Global warming is another argument in favour of using wind power, a non-polluting
energy source. Germany has pledged to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 21 per
cent between 1990 and 2010. The public largely sees this as evidence of an “ecological
revolution” and a new civilization where humans are at peace with nature.
Subsidized wind
farming
The only problem–a
big one–is that wind energy is very expensive. Extracting one kilowatt/hour of energy
from the wind costs four times as much as using fossil fuels. So the political decision
to develop renewable energy, taken by the previous government and reaffirmed by the
present one, can only be applied if aid is available in the form of tax breaks for
firms producing wind energy, low-interest bank loans, subsidies from the state and
from provincial governments and favourable legislation.
The 1991 “integration law”, which is the key to the present system, obliges the electricity
distributors to buy wind energy at guaranteed prices (90 per cent of the price paid
by consumers), and this enables the wind farmers to make a profit.
But the growth of wind energy seems to be threatened by the opening up of the energy
market, which started in April 1998 and has sharpened competition and reduced the
price of electricity paid by consumers. This trend worries wind energy firms because
they sell their product at prices which are specifically tied to consumer prices.
With their profitability in jeopardy, they want more subsidies to protect themselves
against the ups and downs of the market.
Meanwhile, opposition to wind power is growing. A few years ago, it chiefly came
from the electricity distributors, who campaigned to have the 1991 law declared unconstitutional.
They failed but managed to get it amended to limit their obligation to buy wind energy,
which now comprises a maximum 5 per cent of the electricity they purchase. But in
some parts of northern Germany, this quota is not enough to absorb the output of
wind energy, and producers are looking for other outlets. A proposed new law would
be even more advantageous to renewable energy than its predecessor in that it would
abolish the 5 per cent rule.
The fiercest opponent of wind energy, Prof. Otfried Wolfrum, from Darmstadt, thinks
that to continue backing wind energy is “a disastrous stupidity for the environment,
for human beings and the economy”. The current policy, he says, will in the coming
years produce a loss of about 30 billion Deutschmarks (around $15 billion), which
consumers will pay for in the form of electricity costing more than it would if the
distributors were not forced to buy wind energy. He says wind farms are simply “a
licence to print money”.
He and other economists argue that subsidized wind energy may be creating jobs now
but will end up cutting down on them. (Unemployment in Germany is over 10 per cent.)
If energy prices are not competitive in Germany, they say, some electricity firms
will move their plants to countries where conditions are more favourable. On top
of this, these “appalling machines” are a blot on the landscape in important tourist
areas. Wolfrum, the founder of Germany’s League to Protect the Countryside, has made
himself spokesman for a citizens’ movement that is growing fastest in areas where
wind turbines are most common.
Wind energy has become the centre of a major battle in Germany. Wolfrum’s strong
attacks, contained in his book “Wind Energy, a False Alternative”, have provoked
an equally strong riposte. An influential member of the lower house of the German
parliament, Hermann Scheer, a wind energy lobbyist who received the 1999 Right Livelihood
Award, also known as the Alternative Nobel Prize, recently even accused Wolfrum of
using “fascist” arguments, which gives a good idea of how heated the debate has become.
Scheer, working with journalists and environmental campaigners, has published a reply
to his opponent’s book called Windy Protest.
Despite these polemics, the rapid development of wind energy seems set to continue.
In case public anxiety about harm to the countryside increases, wind energy entrepreneurs
are planning to build wind farms out at sea. The biggest is slated for a spot 35
km east of the Baltic island of Rügen and will comprise 200 turbines capable
of generating 1,000 megawatts. This is roughly the output of a big nuclear power
plant, says a spokesman for Winkra-Energy, the company concerned, “and from the shore,
you won’t be able to see a single windmill.”
