The German wind energy market and its developers – a study of sourcing models, success factors and challenges

Wind power is a fast-growing industry (GWEC, 2013) and already accounts for seven percent of the total electricity consumption in the EU. The largest market in the EU, and the third largest in the world, is Germany, with an installed base of 31 GW onshore. This master‟s thesis has examined the German onshore wind power market from a developer perspective, through a market study based on existing literature and semi-structured interviews with industry experts, a case study of a developer competing in the market and a survey, with the aim of investigating the sourcing models used as well as the success factors and challenges the developers are facing. The study has found that Germany is a large, growing market with a generous feed-in tariff based support scheme, offering low-risk investments in wind power. However, there are many challenges for wind power developers, such as limited availability of designated areas for wind power development, non-uniform regulations, fierce competition and acceptance issues. The authors believe that the future growth of the German onshore market will come from repowering and that having local contacts and credibility offer distinct advantages in the highly competitive arena.