Editorial

As the Hamburg Renewable Energy Cluster, at the end of August we presented a comprehensive study on the state of the renewable energy sector in the Hamburg metropolitan region. The findings, based on very conservative estimates, show that the sector accounts for over 31,000 jobs and generates approximately 5.3 billion in gross value added annually, with average annual employment growth of 6.5 per cent. A truly impressive result, although the study clearly highlights that the sector’s strongest core in the region lies in the wind energy sector, which accounts for around 13,000 jobs.

Consequently, we were very much looking forward to WindEnergy at the end of September. The only leading trade fair that covers all regions and developments worldwide was fully booked. The wind energy sector in Europe has recently shown positive market development in the first half of 2026. In Germany, the federal states have designated a great deal of land for wind energy in recent years, resulting in around 50GW of wind farm sites that have been approved and can be built in the near future, meaning that politically desired price competition is returning to wind energy tenders.

So is everything plain sailing at the moment? Unfortunately not. Tenders for offshore wind farms have currently been put on hold. The industry is urgently calling for a new tender model based on so-called ‘Contracts for Differences (CfDs)’ with inflation adjustments, as is the case in our neighbouring North Sea countries. Furthermore, 17 gigawatts’ worth of offshore wind farms that have already been awarded contracts have not yet been able to make a final investment decision, as costs have risen massively between the award of the contract and the start of construction. Collectively, these projects have an investment value of around 50 billion euros – what a fantastic economic boost these projects could provide for the German economy!

However, the industry is currently viewing the various energy bills currently being debated in the Bundestag with great concern. If the planned, highly restrictive grid access rules are introduced there, and if the full wind power output cannot be fed into the grid due to grid nodes becoming overloaded, financing new wind farms will certainly become much more expensive and difficult, if not impossible! From the industry’s perspective, there is an urgent need for change here, as otherwise the many approved wind farms will remain stuck at the planning stage. The potential economic boost could fail to materialise and jobs could be at risk.