Germany, long hailed as a leader in Europe’s energy transition, is now facing a major problem: the wind has stopped blowing, and electricity has stopped flowing. In the first quarter of 2025, average wind speeds fell below 5.5 meters per second—the lowest in over fifty years, according to the German Meteorological Service (DWD). As a result, wind power generation dropped by 31% compared to the same period last year.
The consequences were immediate. Companies like PNE, a wind farm operator based in Cuxhaven, saw revenues fall from €31.4 million to €27.9 million, and more strikingly, its operating profit turned into a €7.1 million loss in just three months. On a national scale, the lack of wind forced Germany to import electricity and restart conventional power plants to avoid blackouts, while prices surged during what analysts dubbed “dark lulls”—days with neither wind nor sunlight.
Adding to the industry’s woes, Germany’s first offshore wind farm, Alpha Ventus, is now being dismantled after just 15 years of operation due to unprofitability. Once generous subsidies expired, the facility’s income plunged from 15.4 cents per kilowatt-hour to 3.9 cents, rendering it financially unsustainable.
On top of this, offshore wind farms are far more difficult to maintain than onshore energy, as they face harsher conditions, including corrosion from seawater and challenging maintenance logistics.
Politicians already knew about the weaknesses of renewables. In the last government, then-Economy Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) called for the construction of 40 gas-fired power plants by 2030 as a safeguard against renewable intermittency. Although marketed as “green” and ready to run on hydrogen in the future, these plants are a tacit admission: renewables cannot work without a backup.
Simultaneously, the German power grid faces the opposite problem—too much solar energy when demand is low, especially on public holidays. Since solar panels cannot easily be turned down or off, they risk overloading the grid. To mitigate this, the government passed the so-called PV Peak Act, designed to absorb solar energy surpluses.
Today, more than 31% of Germany’s electricity comes from renewable sources, surpassing coal. Advocates highlight greater independence from foreign suppliers and lower carbon emissions. However, recent developments reveal that the energy transition cannot be built on idealism alone. Without stable backup and realistic planning, renewables risk becoming not the solution, but the next problem.
