
807 million for wind power that was not produced
... but could have been produced. This is about advance payments that neither the system operators nor the principle of wind power can do anything about.
The claim
Germans pay 807 million euros for wind power that was not produced in 2021.
Our conclusion
The wind would actually have been there. However, slow network expansion prevented everything from being fed into the grid. In the south of Germany, where renewable electricity is urgently needed, the expansion of wind power is a “total failure”.
Wind power: There are a few reasons why wind turbines don't turn, even if there is just enough wind: species protection, ice on the rotors, maintenance or repairs. Sometimes there is too much wind, which could damage older systems. But we are interested in another case, when there is actually nothing wrong with it and the wind turbines still don't work.
The crux of the matter is network expansion
The main reason for wind power that can be produced but not fed into the grid is the slow expansion of the grid: to prevent overloads, wind turbines are taken off the grid. A request from Dietmar Bartsch to the Federal Ministry of Economics revealed a new high in compensation payments in 2021: 807.1 million euros for around 5,800 gigawatt hours of electricity not fed in. The Germany editorial network reported in detail.
However, that is not the only reason: operators of systems with an output of over 100 kilowatts have had to sell their electricity through direct marketers on the electricity exchange since 2016. And they have the right to take wind turbines off the grid if market prices are too low. mdr.de quotes the energy economist Paul Lehmann from the Leipzig Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research:
Because there are of course also phases where the electricity price is negative. But then from an economic perspective I would also say that it doesn't make sense to feed the electricity in at that moment, regardless of what source it comes from. Because that means that there is too much supply on the market and not enough demand.
Paul Lehmann to mdr.de
Wind power: lost, compensated, demanded
93 percent of the compensation from 2021 went to operators of wind turbines, especially in northern Germany. PV systems accounted for just over 5%, reports Merkur . This also shows very well that the main problem is the lack of power lines. The criticism is therefore primarily directed against the current Federal Minister of Economics:
It is “unacceptable” that electricity customers are being asked to pay through increasing network fees. Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck (Greens) must “finally” get the sluggish network expansion going and protect consumers from such costs.
Merkur quotes parliamentary group leader Dietmar Bartsch
But it should not be forgotten that Habeck had repeatedly called for wind power to be expanded where it was needed. At the WindEnergy trade fair in Hamburg in September, his appeal was addressed to the federal states: finally pick up the pace! He was referring in particular to the southern federal states, which have so far missed the energy transition. Wolfram Axthelms , head of the Federal Wind Energy Association, even spoke of a “total failure”.
Sources:
RND , ARD , MDR , AEE , Merkur
More fact checks: Falling network frequency: Europe close to blackout?
Notes:
1) This content reflects the current state of affairs at the time of publication
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The reproduction of individual images, screenshots, embeds or video sequences serves to discuss the topic. 2) Individual articles (not fact checks) were created using machine help and
were carefully checked by the Mimikama editorial team before publication. ( Reason )
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