VSB in Germany: Starting 2024 with three wind farm approvals

The German business of VSB, a project developer specialising in wind energy and photovoltaics, has started the year with three approvals for six wind turbines in Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia. While this is a positive start to the year, more political pressure is needed to significantly reduce the time taken to complete projects.

In addition to its pan-European growth course, VSB Group has been strongly committed to the expansion of renewable energies throughout Germany since 1996. “That’s why we’re delighted to announce that three more wind farm projects totalling 26.8 megawatts (MW) were approved at the turn of the year,” says Thomas Winkler, Managing Director of VSB Neue Energien Deutschland GmbH. This success could be just a taste of things to come. After years of decline, the expansion of onshore wind energy in Germany is gathering speed again, as recently announced by the German Wind Energy Association (BWE). Accordingly, new approvals totalling around 7,500 MW, including the three VSB projects in Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia, are ready for implementation. 

Long-term planning certainty important for investment
To bring more green energy online quickly, federal and state policies must continue to make adjustments and remove barriers that unnecessarily slow down the approval process. “That is why we are once again calling on policy-makers to take action to accelerate the expansion of wind and solar power. We need rapid facilitation of heavy goods transport, faster provision of space and a streamlined overall approval process with a greater focus on digital,” says Thomas Winkler.

German business as part of pan-European growth strategy
VSB is currently building the 105.6 MW Elster wind farm in Saxony-Anhalt, one of the largest repowering projects in Europe. The foundations for the 16 turbines have been completed and the first five towers have been erected. The site is expected to be operational in 2025. At the same time, a 17.1 MW wind farm in the Vogelsbergkreis district of Hesse is nearing completion. Its second expansion project has just been approved and is expected to start construction from autumn this year with 11.4 MW. The same is true of the Extertal wind farm in North Rhine-Westphalia, with two turbines totalling 8.4 MW. Work will also start on the Flintbek wind farm (11.4 MW) in Schleswig-Holstein in the summer of 2024.

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