An Energy Spiral?

This is a fair sized page-two type story which might have a major impact.

Back in the 1980s in West Germany.....these energy windmills started to show up, and folks talked of bringing in 'clean' energy.  There are presently around 30,000 wind-turbines operating in Germany (counting those on land and at sea). 

There is about 55,000 MW being created and wind-power has moved up to around 32-to-34 percent of the grid.  Things looked super-great all the way through 2017.

So, here's this odd factor being played out.  If you look at 2015, 1,368 wind-turbines were erected.  If you look at 2016, 1,624 wind-turbines were erected.  If you look at 2017, 1,792 wind-turbines were erected.  Then you arrive and look at 2018.....743 wind-turbines were erected last year.  For 2019?  By the mid-way point, the Germans had put up 86.  (Data: ARD public TV).

Why the rapid slow-down?  This is discussed at various levels and there's several views on this.  Condensing all of this....I will offer this observation relating to the reason.  It's a stumbling point involving over-saturation, angry Germans not wanting the wind-turbines in their neighborhood, and the necessity to be in valley regions that have wind current. 

To tell this story, I'll lay out the landscape.  Back into the 1980s, wind data was limited, and some wind-turbines were put up in profitable wind 'alleys' (what I would call them).  Eventually, the science guys got smarter, and this was the planning agenda. 

Well....most of these wind-turbines were put at least a kilometer or two away from towns and villages.  Folks started to complain.....vibrations or noises were heard.  Animals were affected by the twisting turbines.  There's not a lot of science or data to say it's harmful, but it's attracted a lot of negative attention.

Added to this....the turbine folks started putting them into regions where pro-landscape people (oddly enough they were pro-environmental folks as well) and this continual battle sequence started up when you discussed a wind-mill farm (a dozen of these on a 50-acre area).  Hessen is a great example of this, and how they defended a position for several years....you can't block the landscape. 

Then you add this one curious problem.....turbines erected in the 1980s are coming to the end of the life-cycle.  In fact, there are turbines erected in the 1990s....which have already met the end of their cycle. 

In each case, you bring the whole thing down.  Then you have to dismantle and 'dump' it.  Oddly enough, the blades are NOT recyclable.  They get towed to a dump, and buried.  Environmentalists?  Hostile over this and asking questions. 

The slowdown has begun.  But here's the bigger issue to think about.  Nuke energy is going away (don't even bother asking about this).  Coal energy is going away within the next dozen-odd years. 

If wind-energy is on the decline, what is the situation in a decade?  Oh....buying energy via your neighbors, at a hefty profit for them? 

Yes, there is this elephant in the room and picking up notice virtually everyday.  At some point, the solar energy crowd will face the same problem as you cycle out the old 'plates' and find that they are fairly toxic to dispose. 

Somewhere between 2025 and 2030, I expect this major chaos to occur with the German government coalition that exists, and some fight by environmentalists over the solution.  The band-aide solution will be to buy power via Poland or France, and German electrical bills to be the highest of any EU member.  Germans will go ballistic on how this occurred, and how no answer can be found to reverse the trend.