Germany Generated a Historical Amount of Electricity From Wind Energy This Week

Germany is blowing us away — literally — with its wind power production.

On Wednesday, Jan. 4, Germany produced a record-breaking amount of wind energy. Data from the European Energy Exchange (EEX) showed wind farms nationwide had produced more than 50,000 megawatts of energy, resulting in the highest production of electricity derived from wind power on-record.

As of January 2023, new laws have been implemented to put the country on track to consume 80 percent renewable energy by 2030. Officials had anticipated this year would be historic for Germany to meet its annual goal, and it looks like it's already going quite well.

“We already need the trend in 2023, one [wind] turbine per day must become up to six per day,” Simone Peter, the head of the renewable energy lobby association BEE, stated per Euractiv.

And with government-subsidized prices offered for onshore wind power, which increased by 25 percent as of Jan. 1, governments will hopefully be incentivized to create more wind farms.

“We are thus tripling the renewable energy expansion on water, on land and on the roof,” Sven Giegold, a senior public official and state secretary at the Germany ministry of economy and climate action, also stated per Euractiv.

On Wednesday, Jan. 4, Germany excelled in wind power production. According to The Hill, data showed the country's wind farms produced a total of 50,232 megawatts, which is more than Germany had ever made before.

Right now, the continent of Europe is enduring milder-than-usual winter temperatures, but it's impressive nonetheless. And even though wind farms are forecasted to see a dip in wind energy production, it should spike again before the week ends.

In the last year, Germany had only produced a maximum of 46,500 megawatts, so this is major.

It's imperative that European countries start making the transition to renewables. Major cities, such as Berlin and Warsaw have seen the some of the warmest temperatures on-record this winter, and it's only going to get worse with time. Europe is also in the midst of an energy crisis as many have shied away from purchasing Russian oil, after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

Even though Russia is prepared to start providing more European countries with gas again, the rest of Europe isn't ready to form a relationship until the war with Ukraine subsides. Many oil bans are still intact, and will likely continue until Russia has exited Ukraine.

With an increase in wind energy, though, it seems as though Germany will soon be able to cut out oil entirely. And hopefully more countries will do the same.

It's no surprise Germany is breaking records with its wind energy production, as the Western European country has been a leader in wind energy production for quite some time.

"Germany has led the field in installing onshore wind power capacity in Europe for many years, boasts the biggest market in the region by far and is a global leader in the technology's development," Benjamin Wehrmann of Clean Energy Wire writes.

"In April 2022, the government released its 'Easter Package' of renewable energy policy reforms that includes more than doubling the speed of onshore wind expansion."

And hopefully, it will only expand from here on out — we're excited to see where Germany's journey towards 80 percent renewable energy goes.