Demand for wind energy in Germany has risen in the past half year, engineering federation VDMA said Wednesday.
Demand for wind energy in Germany has risen in the past half year, engineering federation VDMA said Wednesday.

According to a survey of manufacturers, 414 new wind turbines with a capacity of 1,004 megawatts, were installed in Germany in the first six months of 2012, an increase of around 26% on the year, VDMA said in a joint statement with Bundesverband WindEnergie, or BWE.

By mid 2012, a total of 22,664 plants with a capacity of 10,016 megawatts were installed in Germany , they added.  

Following the accidents in Japan 's Fukushima Daiichi reactors, the German government last year decided to accelerate its planned nuclear exit and shut-down nearly half of the country's reactors.

"The data shows that we're taking the right track with onshore wind energy," BWE President Hermann Albers said.

"With wind energy as a key component, we can replace nuclear energy cost efficiently," he added, noting however that a stable framework was needed to do so.

Off-shore however, only nine new plants with a capacity of 45 megawatts went on-line the past half year, which is less than forecast.

BWE noted that at the end of June, three off-shore wind parks were in the process of being built, and until year-end, the construction of off-shore projects with a total capacity of 2,000 megawatts, at a cost of 7.5 million euros, will have begun.

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