Germany leads the European Union in the development of wind power. According to Germany’s Federation of Wind Energy (BWE), there were 22,664 wind turbines operating in Germany in the first six months of 2012, with a total capacity of 30,016 megawatts.
In addition to land turbines, nine offshore wind turbines with a total capacity of 45 megawatts went online. “By the end of the year,” the federation’s website says, “further projects with an installed capacity of 2,000 megawatts and a total investment volume of around 7.5 billion euros will have reached the construction phase.”