How politics shaped the wind in Germany’s most industrial state

The history of wind energy in North Rhine-Westphalia began in September 1982 – with an output of 20 kilowatts. A courageous and visionary biology teacher from Mettingen erected a 25-metre-high, two-bladed Lagerwej (now part of Enercon), thereby laying the foundation for North Rhine-Westphalia's energy future. What happened next?

More than 40 years later, constant and gradual technical progress has ensured that wind turbines now have an output of over 7MW – 350 times more than back then.

While technical progress has only known one direction, the political framework conditions of the past four decades have been marked by many ups and downs. Initially ridiculed, then opposed, a large majority has now recognised the outstanding advantages of wind energy.

The history of wind energy in North Rhine-Westphalia is therefore also a story that illustrates the influence that political decision-makers and all of us who elect them have.

No fewer than 13 state governments have steered the fortunes of Germany's most energy-hungry federal state during this period. Almost all of the major parties have been in government several times in various coalitions.

This has both advantages and disadvantages.

The disadvantages are that with each new state government, the expansion of wind energy was up for renegotiation. The advantage was that no single party with a negative attitude towards wind energy was able to nip it in the bud.

Political headwinds

There were always windows of opportunity in which wind energy could gather strength and take the next step in its development. Thus, the still tender plant was watered again and again, even if it had to endure some resistance during dry spells.

However, attempting to deduce the parties' stance on wind energy from their political orientation is too simplistic.

Even parties with a progressive self-image and a fundamental openness to innovation, such as the Liberals (FDP), were opposed to the expansion of wind energy in North Rhine-Westphalia.

Sometimes the same party, with different leadership personnel, took different positions, which, as in the case of former Minister of Economic Affairs and later Minister-President Wolfgang Clement (Social Democrats - SPD), can be derived from biographical stages.

Both before his active time as an elected representative and after leaving office, he held various supervisory board positions at the energy company RWE – the largest electricity producer in Germany, based in North Rhine-Westphalia, and the largest operator of lignite mines in Germany.

In the neighbouring state of Hesse, Clement later even called for his own party (of which he was deputy chairman at some time) not to be elected because he disagreed with the renewable energy policy of the leading candidate at the time.

In this respect, wind energy sometimes had to fend off not only political resistance, but also competitors (in political offices).

But competition is known to stimulate business. Instead of conceding defeat to the supposed superiority of the established energy companies, the early wind energy industry rose to the challenge and sought supporters of its own.

Influence of local stakeholders

North Rhine-Westphalia's success in expanding wind energy is also based on the fact that local industry players joined forces at a very early stage and organised and represented their interests together.

These stakeholder structures led to the establishment and growth of various associations and have had a significant influence on the current association landscape.

In retrospect, the fact that there was a significant number of stakeholders at all can be attributed to three main factors:

Firstly, the wind conditions. The first turbines did not have tall towers and were therefore dependent on sufficiently strong winds blowing close to the surface.

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Secondly, the cultural influence. The regions of East Westphalia-Lippe and Münsterland, which are the cradle of wind energy in North Rhine-Westphalia, are characterised by a certain entrepreneurial spirit and a ‘can-do mentality’. Numerous hidden champions come from East Westphalia-Lippe in particular.

Thirdly, the outstanding importance of energy in the industrial state of North Rhine-Westphalia, which has always had high production but also high consumption. As a result, there were already many large electricity generation companies, but also a high demand for electricity.

There are pros and cons, but where else but here should the potential of independent, affordable and climate-friendly energy supply be recognised?

Nevertheless, the remarkable expansion developments (over 1.3GW in 2025) that we can currently celebrate in North Rhine-Westphalia have been anything but an easy victory.

The importance of ideology

What the current state government can boast about was a thorn in the side of some of its predecessors.

The responsible Minister of Construction (2005 - 2009), Oliver Wittke (Christian Democrats - CDU), said to a ZEIT journalist who was accompanying him as they drove past a wind farm in his official car: "That's the first thing we're going to destroy." He continued: "That was ideology and ideology, that was in the past." To this day, he is not the only one who views wind energy as green ideology and overlooks his own ideology.

His thorn in the side was the subsidy programme for wind turbines introduced by his predecessor Michael Vesper (Greens - Bündnis 90/Die Grünen) in the previous legislative period.

However, it is also part of the political framework that most innovations require a financial boost before their market ramp-up is sufficiently advanced.

Those responsible for setting the political framework would be well advised to set a reliable course. Any back-and-forth in the framework conditions sends signals of uncertainty.

This stifles investment and innovation and drives up costs. The consequences can be seen in solar energy, where Germany has lost its market leadership and almost all module production has migrated to China.

The success of wind energy as we are currently seeing it in North Rhine-Westphalia – from which, apart from a small share in the US, exclusively European manufacturers are benefiting – is therefore the result of a determined policy that creates reliability.

The current black-green state government has expressly committed itself to wind energy and has set itself the goal of constructing at least 1,000 turbines during its five-year legislative period.

The state government has not only set an ambitious goal, but also tackled it decisively. Excessive and discriminatory distance rules imposed by the previous government have been abolished and a task force has been set up to accelerate the expansion of wind energy.

This has laid the foundation for many positive developments, from facilitating wind energy in forests to new species protection guidelines for standardising species protection assessments and promoting wind energy projects by citizens.

This determination is evident in a direct comparison with other federal states in the implementation of federal land requirements for wind energy. While other federal states are only hesitantly and in several steps designating the areas to be allocated, North Rhine-Westphalia has immediately implemented the land target for 2032 – seven years ahead of schedule.

The right administration

However, the political framework alone is meaningless if the importance of administration is not recognised. Authorities are often overwhelmed by personnel or expertise shortages, and unclear or rapidly changing regulations lead to uncertainty.

The success in North Rhine-Westphalia can therefore also be explained by the fact that the current state government has provided the authorities with instructions for action in the form of decrees and guidelines. Last but not least, central offices have been created to provide personnel and technical support at a subordinate level.

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Alternatively, specialised teams have been set up as staff units to deal exclusively with issues relating to wind energy. In this way, the administration was swept along and became an important lever for acceleration. Uncertainty, on the other hand, regularly leads to paralysis and stagnation in public authorities.

There can no longer be any talk of stagnation in wind energy in North Rhine-Westphalia.

However, this was not a foregone conclusion. North Rhine-Westphalia is benefiting from the political work of the state governments, which have recognised the potential of wind energy.

Politics, it turns out, can be very effective and achieve ambitious goals – the state government will probably exceed its target of 1,000 new wind turbines during this legislative period.

Other federal states would be well advised to work on their framework and follow North Rhine-Westphalia's example. Otherwise, they risk falling behind in terms of the most cost-effective energy supply and reaping the consequences of deindustrialisation