Saxony-Anhalt wind energy policy faces critical test after state election, BWE warns

Saxony-Anhalt wind energy policy must not be disrupted by the outcome of the state elections, the German Wind Energy Association (BWE) has warned, calling for continued expansion underpinned by the federal legal framework and faster approvals.

The BWE’s intervention reflects how much is at stake in a state that has built a substantial renewables base. More than 5.7GW of wind power is already installed in Saxony-Anhalt, with a further 2.3GW of capacity planned by 2028. The association says wind employs more than 11,000 people nationwide and underpins both municipal revenues and low-cost electricity for businesses and consumers.

A renewables share that outpaces the German average

The scale of that buildout has produced measurable results. According to DeSmog, around 60% of the state’s electricity was produced by renewables in 2024, a share higher than the German national average for that year. That is not a trivial locational advantage: it means the state already generates much of its power at near-zero marginal cost, a structural benefit for industrial energy consumers that would take years to replicate elsewhere.

Any policy reversal risks forfeiting that advantage. The BWE is explicit on this point, warning against a break in energy policy following the election result and calling for reliable framework conditions, rapid approvals and investment in the infrastructure needed to keep the build-out moving.

Saxony-Anhalt wind energy policy: what the BWE is actually asking for

‘Wind energy is a supporting pillar of the electricity supply and an important economic factor for Saxony-Anhalt,’ said BWE president Bärbel Heidebroek. ‘Its expansion also ensures the financial capacity of the local municipalities to act.’

That last point deserves unpacking. Wind leases and community benefit payments flow directly to local authority budgets. In rural areas with limited other tax bases, those revenues are not marginal: they fund services. A slowdown in permitting does not just affect turbine manufacturers and project developers; it eventually shows up in municipal balance sheets.

Heidebroek framed Saxony-Anhalt’s existing wind build-out as a competitive asset. She said the state has a decisive locational advantage because of its progress in expanding wind energy, and called for reliable framework conditions and rapid approvals to protect that position. The implicit argument is that the state’s renewables lead is hard-won and fragile: other German Länder are expanding capacity too, and the window for Saxony-Anhalt to consolidate its position as a low-cost electricity location could narrow if approvals stall.

The broader energy transition picture in the state is not purely a wind story, either. Clean Energy Wire reports that nearly 60% of all newly registered solar power installations in 2025 were so-called balcony power plants installed at private homes. That figure points to a distributed, citizen-driven dimension to the energy transition that exists alongside the large-scale wind sector, and one that is harder to slow through planning policy alone since it largely bypasses the formal permitting process.

Whether that citizen-level momentum survives a shift in state-level political direction is a different question. Large-scale wind is acutely sensitive to permitting regimes, designation of suitable areas and the speed of grid connection approvals. Those are precisely the levers a state government controls. The BWE’s call for continuity is, in effect, a call for the incoming administration to leave those levers in place.

The association’s position is clear: Saxony-Anhalt’s 5.7GW installed base and its 2028 pipeline represent economic infrastructure, not an ideological project, and the framework that delivered them should be preserved intact. The next state government will need to decide, in practical terms, whether to agree.