5,000 German wind farms
are no longer eligible
for government subsidies
after 2020.
They face shutdown,
and Germany faces
the loss of considerable
amounts of 'green'
electricity.
If the government
does not intervene,
Germany’s entire
Energiewende
( green energy )
project will stall.
Around 5,000
wind turbines,
with a total output
of 3.7 GW
(gigawatts),
will fall out of
the 20-year
EEG subsidy
at the end
of this year.
Due to the corona
virus pandemic:
-- Germany had
a falling wholesale
price for the
competition --
natural gas,
and
-- Electricity prices
dropped drastically,
changing most of the
older wind farms
into money losers.
In July 2019,
a megawatt hour
of electricity cost
over 53 euros,
but on March 23, 2020
it was under 34 euros.
Without a new subsidy,
continued operations
of the wind systems
are very unlikely
to be profitable
at current electricity
prices, even at the
lowest cost locations.