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German wind power output seen up 7.5 pct in 2005

Posted on: Wednesday, 5 October 2005, 10:11 CDT

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - German wind power production in 2005 is forecast to rise to 27.9 billion kilowatt hours (kWh) from 26.0 billion last year, wind power association BWE said in a statement on Wednesday.

The fast-growing sector would thus meet 5.7 percent of German power consumption which was estimated at 483.4 billion kWh, said BWE, citing a usage forecast from power grid operators' group VDE.

Last year, wind energy met 5.5 percent of national power consumption, which then totaled 472.7 billion kWh, or 2.2 percent less than the envisaged 2005 figure, it said.

BWE also said that the price difference between conventional thermal power and that from wind turbines was shrinking.

German law still supports an above-market price for wind power, which is borne by all consumers, but says prices should fall by 2.0 percent plus inflation each year.

Wind power fed into the general grid this year will attract a price of 8.98 cents per kWh compared with 9.04 cents in 2004, BWE said.

If the assumed wind power volumes materialized, the national economy would be able to lower its wind energy bill for 2005 by 21 percent to 1.26 billion euros over 2004.

By comparison, baseload electricity mainly from coal-burning or nuclear energy was forecast to average around 4.39 cents on the country's power bourse EEX in 2005, BWE said.

This would be well below wind energy costs, but some 54 percent above the average EEX price of 2.85 cents last year.

Source: REUTERS

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