Wind power under pressure: Security measures and competitive reforms now!

Wind power under pressure: Security measures and competitive reforms now!

In a crucial initiative, the Federal Ministry of Economics (BMWK) presented a comprehensive package of measures to strengthen the wind industry. This package aims to improve the IT security of wind turbines and optimize competitive conditions in Germany and Europe. The Federal Association of Wind Energy (BWE) has received the proposals positively and calls for a rapid implementation of the measures.

Bärbel Heidebroek, the President of the BWE, emphasizes the need that the new cyber security requirements will be quickly determined by law. According to your statement, these requirements should apply to all companies that have direct control and access option to wind turbines. In order to ensure data security, the association also demands that only EU countries have access to energy systems and that all important data must be saved and processed within the EU.

closer exchange between the ministry and industry

The BMWK plans to set up cooperation together with industry in order to develop practical safety requirements. A special focus is on quickly checking critical IT components in the energy sector. The Ministry has announced that these aspects should be taken into account in current legislative projects.

One of the central points of the package of measures is to improve the competition on the wind energy market. This should be done through the consistent application of trade protection instruments such as anti -dumping and anti -subscription. The BMWK refers to ongoing investigations into the so -called "Foreign Subsidie Regulation". EU Commission Vice President Margrethe Vestager already announced investigations into Chinese suppliers of wind power turbines in April this year.

Another critical aspect is the high dependence on Chinese deliveries, in particular of permanent magnets that are indispensable for wind power generators. 90 percent of these components currently come from China. In order to reduce these dependencies, the BMWK intends to take measures as part of the Critical RAW material Act and the Net Zero Industry Act. Together with representatives of the affected industry, a roadmap is to be developed by the turn of the year to achieve these goals.

To finance the increasing production in the wind turbine industry, the federal government plans to provide the required 16 billion euros. This should be done by expanding the KfW program "Consortial loan sustainable transformation", with the ministry promised a rapid implementation.

The need for action is made clear by a cyber attack in April 2022 to the German Wind Technology company, in which the connections to monitor around 2000 wind turbines were interrupted. These incidents show how vulnerable the wind power infrastructure is and reinforce the pressure on the authorities to find fast and effective solutions.