Sustainability Assessment of an Onshore Wind Portfolio in Germany

The report evaluates a 28.7 MW onshore wind portfolio in Germany against a gas-fired power plant of equivalent annual generation. Using the SAVi methodology, it integrates externalities (environmental, social, and economic) and climate change risks (physical and transitional) into a Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA), Levelized Cost of Electricity (LCOE), and financial analysis. The findings indicate that while both assets are viable under conventional metrics, the wind portfolio is significantly more resilient to climate risks and societal costs. The gas-fired plant's financial viability collapses if a carbon tax is introduced or if social costs of carbon are internalized, whereas the wind portfolio maintains positive internal rates of return (IRR) and lower societal LCOE.

• Under conventional cost-benefit analysis (CBA), both assets generate positive economic returns, with the onshore wind farm producing EUR 25.16 million and the gas-fired power plant producing EUR 16.4 million.
• The integration of externalities and climate risks reduces the onshore wind farm's net CBA results by approximately 14% to 16%, leaving them at roughly EUR 21 million regardless of the emission valuation method used.
• The gas-fired power plant is highly sensitive to the emission valuation method in the CBA; it yields a positive net result of EUR 2.46 million when using health costs of air pollution, but a negative result of EUR -2.87 million when using the social cost of carbon.
• The total integrated LCOE for the onshore wind farm is approximately EUR 69/MWh, representing a slight increase of about 7% over its conventional LCOE. In contrast, the gas-fired plant's LCOE increases by 15% to over 20%, ranging between EUR 76.21/MWh and EUR 81.48/MWh.
• Climate change risks have no impact on the financial performance of the onshore wind portfolio, but they severely impair the gas-fired power plant. A carbon tax would result in negative project and equity IRRs for the gas plant, while a 1.5°C air temperature increase would lower its equity IRR to 0.63% and project IRR to 1.24%.
• Internalizing all measured externalities reduces the onshore wind farm's project IRR from 4.93% to approximately 4% and its equity IRR from 6.7% to between 5.05% and 5.23%, though it remains financially attractive.
• The gas-fired power plant becomes financially unviable if the social cost of carbon or health costs of air pollution are internalized, with IRRs shrinking to zero or becoming negative.
• The onshore wind farm has a higher material intensity for cement and steel per MWh compared to the gas-fired plant, but the gas-fired plant consumes significantly more water per MWh and in absolute terms.
• The wind farm's impact on biodiversity is estimated at 1.18 bird kills per MW per year, totaling approximately 1,247 kills over its lifetime. The gas-fired plant is estimated to cause 301.53 bird kills annually, totaling 12,061 over its lifecycle, including upstream supply chain impacts.

APA

Uzsoki, D., Wuennenberg, L., Perera, O., Bassi, A. M., & Pallaske, G. (2020). Sustainability Assessment of an Onshore Wind Portfolio in Germany. International Institute for Sustainable Development. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2020-10/savi-onshore-wind-germany.pdf

Chicago

Uzsoki, David, Laurin Wuennenberg, Oshani Perera, Andrea M. Bassi, and Georg Pallaske. Sustainability Assessment of an Onshore Wind Portfolio in Germany. International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2020. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2020-10/savi-onshore-wind-germany.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Uzsoki |first1=David |last2=Wuennenberg |first2=Laurin |last3=Perera |first3=Oshani |last4=Bassi |first4=Andrea M. |last5=Pallaske |first5=Georg |title=Sustainability Assessment of an Onshore Wind Portfolio in Germany |publisher=International Institute for Sustainable Development |date=September 2020 |url=https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2020-10/savi-onshore-wind-germany.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{uzsoki2020sustainability, author = {Uzsoki, David and Wuennenberg, Laurin and Perera, Oshani and Bassi, Andrea M. and Pallaske, Georg}, title = {{Sustainability Assessment of an Onshore Wind Portfolio in Germany}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2020}, month = sep, url = {https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2020-10/savi-onshore-wind-germany.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }