A federal environment ministry spokesman told Windpower Monthly: "We'll endeavour to ensure the delay is as short as possible, but we can't yet give an exact date for when the plan will be ready."
However, a draft assessment delivered to the European Commission last December contains an assurance that Germany will reach its target of 18% of energy from renewable sources by 2020 - and even exceed it by 0.7% - using domestic means, and that it will not need to get renewable energy from other states. In fact, Germany hopes for the option to provide some of its green energy to them.
The draft forecasts that, in 2012 and 2014, Germany will produce more green energy than proposed in line with the European renewables directive. This excess could be sold through joint projects in the offshore wind energy sector, it adds.
The German government targets 32.9GW of onshore wind by 2020, generating about 66TWh a year, and 9GW of offshore wind energy generating about 30TWh a year, to total nearly 42GW of wind generating 96TWh a year, or 17% of Germany's forecast gross electricity generation. The projection is contained in a forecast titled "Long-term scenarios and strategies for expansion of renewable energies in Germany - Lead scenario 2009", published in August 2009 by the federal ministry for the environment, nature protection and reactor safety.