Germany’s autobahn is known for its limitless speed. But its aging infrastructure isn’t up to the task of carrying the massive windmill towers and rotor blades needed for the country’s energy transition, and developers complain the highways are now slowing progress.
Earlier this year, German haulers made a tedious detour transporting rotor blades from the port of Bremen to an onshore wind park in the north of the country. Instead of a highway route that normally takes about three hours, narrow curves and size restrictions forced them to spend three nights traveling triple the distance on alternative roads.
The problem is that the country’s highway network was largely built in the decades following World War II, and its infrastructure isn’t cut out for carrying huge rotor blades and steel tower segments, which can be about 35 meters long and weigh 80 metric tons. While that’s likely to be a challenge anywhere, even regular freight transports are facing mounting restrictions in Germany as deteriorating roads and bridges are often closed off to trucks.
For some producers, the unreliability of the autobahn is leading to severe backlogs. SIAG Tube und Tower GmbH, a Leipzig-based maker of massive steel towers for wind turbines, had to curb output by a third this summer as storage facilities were full and components couldn’t be transported onwards. Moving the equipment needed to assemble windmills is also difficult. Logistics specialist Wasel GmbH didn’t get clearance to move a crawler crane recently, which meant it was stranded for eight weeks. Director Matthias Wasel says he regularly has to add detours of about 70 kilometers to his journeys in order to use the only bridge that allows him to cross the Rhine river with his heavy vehicles.Solving the issues could take many years and cost billions in infrastructure investments.
Some 15,000 permits have been pending in the last weeks. Germany’s transport ministry says a new digital tool is helping to work off the backlog, and a new nation-wide system will further speed up the process. While onshore wind developers are particularly affected by Germany’s highway impairments — given the size of their components — other industries are affected too.
France Dernières Nouvelles, France Actualités
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