How wind power grew in Germany
The 3 MW Growian turbine began running in 1983 at Kaiser-Wilhelm-Koog. It was then the largest in the world, but it ran for only about 450 hours and was dismantled in 1988. Germany's first wind farm, Windenergiepark Westküste, was commissioned on 24 August 1987 with 30 turbines totalling about 1 MW. The first German offshore turbine went up off Rostock in 2006, and Alpha Ventus, the first farm on the high seas, was opened officially in 2010.
A feed-in law passed in December 1990 took effect on 1 January 1991. It obliged grid operators to take wind power at a fixed rate, when Germany had about 62 MW of wind. The Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG) replaced it in 2000. After the switch to auctions, onshore permits in the first half of the year fell from 2,113 MW in 2016 to 644 MW in 2017. Enercon, Vestas and Nordex supplied 34%, 32% and 30% of new onshore capacity in the first half of 2026.
At the end of September 2026 Germany had 71,267 MW of wind onshore and 11,539 MW offshore, about 82.8 GW in all. Wind generated 134 TWh in 2025. The EEG sets an onshore path of 115 GW by 2030. Offshore is behind: the legal goal of 30 GW by 2030 can no longer be met in time, and a tender in August 2025 drew no bids.
Sources: BDEW · Windenergiepark Westküste · Solarserver · Fachagentur Wind und Solar · Bundesnetzagentur · Umweltbundesamt · Gesetze im Internet · Stiftung Offshore-Windenergie
Where Germany's power comes from, 2025
| Source | Share of electricity |
|---|---|
| Wind | 27.2% |
| Coal | 20.6% |
| Solar | 17.9% |
| Gas | 16.5% |
| Bioenergy | 10.1% |
| Hydro | 3.9% |
| Other fossil fuels | 3.8% |
Wind farms in Germany
We track 13,870 wind farms in Germany: 83.3 GW operating and 59.9 GW under construction, consented or planned, with 17.3 GW of it offshore. Each one's owners, turbines and status are in the Wind app.
Electricity data: Ember yearly electricity data (CC BY 4.0). Wind farms: national registers and Global Energy Monitor; see data sources.
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