Status of Onshore Wind Energy Development in Germany. Frist half of 2026.

The number of turbines commissioned increased by 7 percent compared with the same period last year. The capacity of newly approved projects rose by just under 14 percent, reaching a new record of 9.1 gigawatts (GW). Never before has so much wind energy capacity been approved in the first half of a year as it has now.

The abundance of new permits also had an impact on the auction dates. The capacity volume auctioned so far this year was oversubscribed by a factor of two and a half. The persistently high level of permit approvals already suggests that the volumes for the auction dates in the second half of the year will also be significantly exceeded.

In the first six months, 423 new turbines with a total capacity of 2,363 MW were commissioned. One-third of the newly installed capacity resulted from repowering—an increase of four percentage points compared to the previous year. After six months, this year’s decommissioning figures are nearly one-fifth higher than those for the first half of 2025 and, based on past experience, are likely to rise further in the near future due to late notifications.

After accounting for decommissionings to date, net growth reached 1,927 MW by mid-year. Overall, the total installed capacity in Germany grew by 116 wind turbines.