Germany's Wind Power Additions Accelerate January-July 2026 as Solar Capacity Holds Steady
Münster — Wind power expansion in Germany accelerated further in the first seven months of 2026, supported by offshore wind expansion. Photovoltaic installations declined sharply in number compared with the same period last year, though installed capacity remained stable. The figures come from an analysis of data from the Marktstammdatenregister, the market master data register maintained by Germany's Federal Network Agency (BNetzA).
Offshore Wind Expansion Continues to Gain Momentum
Offshore wind remained the strongest growth driver. No new offshore turbines were commissioned in the same period last year, but 92 offshore turbines with roughly 1,194 MW of capacity came online between January and July 2026. Most of the new capacity came from the Borkum Riffgrund 3 and EnBW He Dreiht wind farms, along with two turbines at the Nordseecluster 1 wind farm.
Unlike onshore wind, where individual turbines can be built relatively quickly, offshore capacity tends to be added in larger increments rather than continuously throughout the year, reflecting the longer planning and construction timelines of offshore projects.
Onshore, 495 new turbines with 2,755 MW of capacity were commissioned, a roughly 7 percent increase in capacity from 484 turbines and 2,584 MW a year earlier. Decommissioning also rose, to 496 MW across 345 turbines, compared with 393 MW and 264 turbines in the prior-year period. Net onshore additions came to 150 turbines and 2,258 MW, versus 220 turbines and 2,191 MW a year earlier — an increase of about 3 percent in capacity terms. The trend reflects the growing role of repowering, in which smaller existing turbines are replaced by fewer, higher-capacity new units.
By state, Lower Saxony led with 633 MW of new onshore capacity (558 MW a year earlier), followed by North Rhine-Westphalia with 585 MW (686 MW) and Schleswig-Holstein with 415 MW (421 MW). Together, the three states accounted for around 59 percent of newly installed onshore capacity. Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Baden-Württemberg saw the sharpest increases, with new capacity rising to 278 MW from 57 MW and to 169 MW from 59 MW, respectively.
Solar Installation Numbers Fall Sharply, Capacity Remains Stable
The picture in solar power was more mixed. The number of newly installed systems fell by around 17 percent, to 484,530 from 581,765 a year earlier. Newly installed capacity, by contrast, was nearly unchanged at 9,572 MW, up about 1 percent from 9,464 MW.
The decline in installation numbers mainly affects smaller systems and is likely linked to the Solarspitzengesetz (Section 8a of the German Renewable Energy Sources Act, EEG), in effect since February 2026. Under the law, grid operators facing insufficient grid capacity can offer a connection commitment with zero feed-in rather than refusing a connection outright. The impact has been concentrated in southern Germany and in rural areas with weaker grid infrastructure. Looking ahead, the decline could deepen further from next year, as the federal government plans to eliminate EEG feed-in remuneration for small-scale installations.
The stable capacity level despite the sharp drop in installation numbers points to a growing share of larger systems in overall additions. Accounting for 108 MW of decommissioned capacity across 21,401 systems, net solar additions came to 9,464 MW and 463,129 systems, compared with net additions of 9,408 MW and 566,426 systems a year earlier, when 56 MW and 15,339 systems were decommissioned.
Outlook: Wind and Solar Drive Renewables Growth
Combined net additions from wind and solar power reached approximately 12,916 MW in the first seven months of 2026, up from 11,600 MW in the same period last year — an increase of just over 11 percent. Both wind energy and solar power posted capacity gains compared with the prior-year period.
Note: The data is based on an IWR analysis of figures from the Marktstammdatenregister of the Federal Network Agency (BNetzA), as of July 31, 2026, last updated on August 9, 2026. The figures are preliminary and represent only a snapshot due to the dynamic nature of the register, which is subject to numerous subsequent reports, reclassifications and corrections, including retroactive ones. These uncertainties do not affect the overall trend.
Source: IWR Online, 14 Aug 2026