Bavaria’s companies still see an enormous need for action when it comes to expanding wind energy in the Free State. “In purely mathematical terms, we have to put at least two large wind turbines into operation every week in order to achieve our climate and energy policy goals,” said Bertram Brossardt, General Manager of the Bavarian Business Association (VBW) on Thursday in Munich. “The big wheel” has to be turned in the wind.
Brossardt recalled that there were only seven new wind turbines in Bavaria in 2023. “The energy transition needs more speed.” The expressions of will must finally be followed by actions, both from those in government and from the opposition. “In terms of installed capacity, we need to add wind energy twenty times faster than is currently the case.”
The availability of green electricity is a crucial factor for companies and the preservation of jobs. In his conclusion, Brossardt referred to the twelfth monitoring of the energy transition, which was presented on Thursday in Munich. Prognos AG carried out the study on behalf of VBW.
The conclusion of the study is sobering at both the federal and state levels. For example, energy prices in the 2022 study year were even higher than in the 2021 study. “Our monitoring traffic light is red here, it should actually be dark red,” said Brossardt.
At least on paper, Bavaria is now better connected in terms of hydrogen supply, emphasized physicist Almut Kirchner from Prognos AG. With a view to the expansion of solar energy being pushed by the state government, she confirmed that more wind power was also necessary here, as the sun does not provide energy around the clock all year round. When it comes to the desired climate neutrality, the federal government is largely on the planned path of saving greenhouse gases; in Bavaria, the goal is still well above the even more ambitious goal, “which has never been achieved before.”