Reuters reported that WindEurope, the industry lobby group, highlighted significant delays in obtaining permits to connect wind power capacity to the grid across Europe. According to Giles Dickson, CEO of WindEurope, the current system is bottlenecked, preventing hundreds of gigawatts of wind farms from being operational.
Across Europe, there are more than 500 gigawatts of new wind power capacity awaiting grid connection approval, with particularly challenging situations in Italy and the UK, each facing over 100 gigawatts in pending capacity. Germany, Ireland, France, Poland, and Spain also have substantial amounts of wind power capacity awaiting connection permits.
Permitting issues are just one of the challenges facing the European wind industry. Others include higher costs of raw materials, increased borrowing costs due to elevated interest rates, and government subsidies that have become insufficient amidst inflation in raw material prices, hindering industry growth.
WindEurope recently criticized negative bidding practices observed in offshore wind auctions in Germany and the Netherlands. Negative bidding involves developers offering financial incentives to secure project rights, which, according to WindEurope, increases overall costs for developers. The profitability of these investments heavily relies on government subsidy schemes and wholesale electricity prices.
In 2023, Europe installed 18.3 gigawatts of new wind power capacity, with the EU-27 accounting for 16.2 gigawatts of this total, marking a record but falling short of the necessary pace to meet 2030 climate and energy targets, which require doubling current installation rates.