Germany Hits Negative Prices As France Goes Subsidy-Free

This episode covers three major wind power milestones: Germany
hitting 51 GW of wind output with negative electricity prices,
France launching its first floating offshore wind farm without
subsidies, and Australia's Goyder South becoming South Australia's
largest wind farm at 412 MW. Sign up now for Uptime Tech News, our
weekly email update on all things wind technology. This episode is
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show? Email us! Welcome to Uptime News. Flash Industry News
Lightning fast. Your host, Alan Hall, shares the renewable industry
news you may have missed. Allen Hall 2025: There is news today
from three continents about wind power in Germany. Last Friday, the
wind began to blow storm Benjamins swed across the northern
regions. Wind turbines spun faster and faster. By mid-morning wind
output hit 51 gigawatts. That's right. 51 gigawatts the highest.
Since early last year, wind and solar together met nearly all of
Germany's electricity needs, and then something happened that would
have seemed impossible. 20 years ago, the price of electricity went
negative. Minus seven euros and 15 cents per megawatt hour. Too
much wind, too much power, not enough demand. Meanwhile, off the
coast of Southern [00:01:00] France, dignitaries gathered
for a celebration. The Provenance Grand Large floating offshore
wind farm. 25 megawatts. Three Siemens Gamesa turbines mounted on
floating platforms. France's first floating offshore wind project.
a real milestone, but here is what caught everyone's attention. No
government subsidies. EDF, Enbridge and CPP investments. Finance
the entire project themselves. Self-finance, offshore wind in
France. Halfway around the world in South Australia, Neoen
inaugurated Goyder South. 412 megawatts, 75 turbines, the largest
wind farm in the state, the largest in Neoen portfolio. It will
generate 1.5 TERAWATT hours annually. That's a 20% increase in
South Australia's total wind generation.[00:02:00] The state is
racing towards 100% net renewables by 2027. Goyder South created
400 construction jobs, 12 permanent positions, over 100 million
Australian dollars in local economic impact. Three different
stories, three different continents, Europe, Asia Pacific, all
celebrating wind power. But there is something else connecting
these projects. Something the general public does not see something
only industry professionals understand. 20 years ago, wind energy
was expensive, subsidized, and uncertain . Critics called it a
fantasy that would never compete with coal or natural gas. Today,
Germany has so much wind power that prices go negative. France
builds offshore wind farms without government money. Australia bets
its entire energy future on renewables, and here is the number that
tells the real [00:03:00] story. In 2005, global wind
power capacity was 59 gigawatts. Today it exceeds 1000 gigawatts
the cost per megawatt hour. It has dropped about 85%. Wind power
went from the most expensive electricity source to one of the
cheapest in about two decades faster than pretty much anyone had
predicted, cheaper than anyone had really forecasted. the critics
said it could not be done, and the skeptics said it would never
compete. The doubters said it was decades away, and they were
pretty much all wrong. Today France celebrates its first commercial
scale floating offshore wind farm. And Germany's grid operator
manages negative prices as routine Australia plans to run an entire
state on renewable energy. Within about two years, the impossible
became inevitable, and you, the wind energy professionals listening
to this, you [00:04:00] made it happen. Engineers,
technicians, project managers, turbine designers, grid operators.
Every one of you helped prove the skeptics wrong. 20 years ago, you
were building a dream. Today you are powering the world.