A significant milestone for the airborne wind energy sector has been reached in Germany with the establishment of a new Parliamentary Group on AWE in the German Bundestag.
The initiative was launched by Members of Parliament Mark Helfrich (Christian Democratic Union, CDU), Michael Kellner (Alliance 90/The Greens), Helmut Kleebank (Social Democratic Party, SPD) and Jonas Geissler (Christian Social Union, CSU). Other parliamentarians, including Hans Koller (CSU), as well as members of their teams, also joined the inaugural meeting, highlighting broad cross-party interest in the potential of airborne wind energy.
The AWE sector was represented by Kristian Petrick and Stefanie Thoms from Airborne Wind Europe, Nicole Werner and Florian Breipohl from EnerKíte, and Dr. Dennis Rendschmidt from the German engineering association VDMA.
During the meeting, participants discussed key policy and regulatory priorities required to accelerate the development and deployment of airborne wind energy in Germany. Particular attention was given to airspace integration, which remains one of the most important regulatory challenges for the sector, as well as potential improvements to the remuneration framework for AWE within Germany’s Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG).
The discussions were highly constructive and solution-oriented, reflecting a shared commitment to unlocking the technology’s potential as part of the future renewable energy mix.
Mark Helfrich emphasised the importance of supporting innovative technologies for the energy transition:
“The topic is particularly close to my heart because we need new ideas, the courage to innovate and an open view of future technologies for the energy transition. Airborne wind energy uses strong winds at higher altitudes, requires less material than classic wind turbines and can open up new opportunities for climate-neutral energy. With the parliamentary group, we want to give this technology more visibility and tackle its challenges together.”
Airborne Wind Europe warmly welcomes the establishment of this Parliamentary Group and would like to thank its founding members for taking this important step.
The association and its members look forward to working closely with the new Parliamentary Group on AWE to help create the framework conditions needed for the technology to thrive, not only in Germany, but across Europe and worldwide.
As airborne wind energy continues to mature, initiatives such as this demonstrate the growing political recognition of the technology’s potential contribution to Europe’s energy transition, industrial competitiveness and energy security.