The Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party is polling second in Germany’s upcoming federal election (23 February) and has made an election pledge to dismantle wind farms if it wins power. That could mean that wind farm owners have to demolish their turbines.

On 23rd February, Germans will be voting in federal elections that could lead to major changes in the country’s energy policy. Discussion has largely focused on the impact of renewables on energy costs. But this issue is dominated by discussion of the promise set out by Alice Weidel, leader of Afd, to remove wind farms. She has called the turbines ‘windmills of shame’ because of the impact they have on the landscape. The industry is taking the threat seriously given that the AfD is currently polling around 21%, second only to the 30% of the Christian Democratic Union.

Weidel has reportedly tried to distance herself from her own statement by saying that she was talking about a local matter in the state of Hesse, but the comment has nonetheless sparked a fierce reaction.

For example, Kerstin Andreae, chair of the board of trade association Bundesverband Energie und Wasserwirtschaft (BDEW), called the statement ‘completely destructive’ and said it ‘missed the point of the current debate’ about renewables and the climate. She added that demolishing wind farms would destroy Germany’s reputation as a stable destination for investors in infrastructure and other parts of the economy. “Where would we end up if state arbitrariness went that far?” she asked. “We are talking about private investment and property – these destructive approaches are devastating.”

WindEurope says it would cost €6bn to decommission all of Germany’s 63.5GW wind capacity. That figure does not take into account the cost of building other sources to replace the one-third of the electricity mix from wind farms; the impact that removing power from wind farms would have on consumers’ electricity bills; and the costs of running more gas, coal and nuclear.

The wind industry is justified in trying to nip such threats in the bud, but elsewhere it is regarded as impractical. However, Friedrich Merz, the CDU’s candidate to be Germany’s next chancellor, has also said he wants to “dismantle ugly wind turbines” and called wind power a “transitional technology”, although he conceded it can’t happen soon. A bigger threat is what such hostility means for future projects.