German Wind Power Additions Accelerate in First Half of 2026 on Offshore Comeback – New Solar Installations Decline
Münster — Wind power expansion in Germany accelerated markedly in the first half of 2026, while fewer new photovoltaic systems were connected to the grid. The growth in wind is driven mainly by a revived offshore sector, according to current data from the Bundesnetzagentur's (BNetzA) Marktstammdatenregister.
Offshore Wind Expansion Regains Momentum
The offshore segment provided the largest growth impulse. While no new offshore wind turbines were connected to the grid in the first half of 2025, 83 offshore turbines with a combined capacity of 1,062.2 MW were newly commissioned between January and June 2026 at the Borkum Riffgrund 3 and EnBW He Dreiht wind farms. The jump from zero to more than 1,000 MW shows that previously approved offshore wind farms are now gradually entering operation. Unlike onshore, where individual turbines can be erected comparatively quickly, offshore additions tend to occur in larger increments rather than continuously throughout the year, due to the long planning and construction periods involved.
In the onshore wind segment, nationwide growth was more moderate, at 425 turbines and 2,354.7 MW (previous year: 414 turbines, 2,212.4 MW). At the same time, decommissioning rose to 410.9 MW, or 280 turbines (previous year: 355.6 MW, 237 turbines). As a result, net additions in terms of turbine numbers fell from 177 to 141, while net capacity additions rose from 1,856.7 MW to 1,940.7 MW. These figures reflect the growing role of repowering, in which smaller existing turbines are replaced by fewer, higher-capacity new units.
By region, North Rhine-Westphalia (540.6 MW), Lower Saxony (515.9 MW) and Schleswig-Holstein (349.9 MW) led gross additions, together accounting for around 60 percent of newly installed capacity. Baden-Württemberg (168.7 MW, up from 53.6 MW) and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (208.4 MW, up from 56.5 MW) saw significant increases. Additions declined, however, in Brandenburg (139.6 MW, down from 244.1 MW), Saxony-Anhalt (76.8 MW, down from 146.6 MW) and Thuringia (6.0 MW, down from 23.4 MW). The trend was most pronounced in Saxony-Anhalt, where decommissioning resulted in a negative net balance of -50.8 MW (previous year: +114.9 MW) — meaning more wind capacity was dismantled than newly installed.
Solar Additions Slow
The photovoltaic sector shows an opposite trend to wind energy. The number of newly installed systems fell from 481,050 in the first half of 2025 to 386,254 in the same period of 2026, while newly installed capacity dropped from 7,830.0 MW to 7,409.5 MW. The decline affects both the number of systems and installed capacity, and is linked in part to slowing additions of smaller rooftop systems amid the political debate over the planned removal of EEG remuneration for small-scale installations. Taking into account decommissioning of 83.6 MW in the first half of 2026, the net balance stands at 7,325.9 MW (first half of 2025: decommissioning of 47.3 MW, net balance of 7,782.7 MW).
At the state level, Bavaria remains in the lead with 1,600.9 MW, ahead of North Rhine-Westphalia (865.8 MW) and Baden-Württemberg (831.8 MW). All three states recorded notable declines compared with the previous year (Bavaria: around -23.3 percent, Baden-Württemberg: around -23.6 percent, North Rhine-Westphalia: around -16.5 percent). Several eastern and northern German states show the opposite trend: Brandenburg (798.2 MW, +92.9 percent), Schleswig-Holstein (603.7 MW, +87.4 percent) and Saxony-Anhalt (438.9 MW, +37.9 percent) recorded a marked increase in capacity despite falling system numbers — an indication that larger ground-mounted systems are accounting for a growing share of additions there, while smaller rooftop installations decline nationwide.
Outlook: Wind and Solar Continue to Drive Renewables Expansion
Overall, the combined net balance of wind and solar in the first half of 2026 reached around 10,328.7 MW, up from 9,639.4 MW in the same period last year — an increase of about 7.2 percent. Stronger wind power additions, driven in particular by the commissioning of turbines at the Borkum Riffgrund 3 and EnBW He Dreiht offshore wind farms, are currently offsetting the weaker growth in photovoltaic capacity. Note: The data is based on an IWR analysis of figures from the Bundesnetzagentur's Marktstammdatenregister (data as of June 30, 2026; last updated July 8, 2026). The figures are preliminary and represent only a snapshot due to the dynamic nature of the register, which is subject to numerous subsequent registrations, re-registrations and corrections, including retroactive ones. These uncertainties do not, however, affect the overall trend.
Source: IWR Online, Jul 07 2026