Friedrich Merz calls wind power a transitional technology, even though the expansion of offshore wind farms and grids is planned for decades to come. Nevertheless, he links this expansion to a grand vision for the future. He says Germany should “connect the world’s first fusion reactor to the grid.” At the same time, electricity prices remain high for many households, and public support for wind power expansion is waning.
Transitional technology instead of a genuine plan
Merz declares that wind energy will be with us for “ten, 20, maybe 30 years.” He thus sets an expiration date, even though the energy transition requires stable generation capacity. Moreover, he sends a signal to investors that sounds like a reservation. Offshore projects, in particular, anticipate long lifespans and significant upfront investments.
Public sentiment also doesn’t support a simple, straightforward approach. In the acceptance survey conducted by the German Wind and Solar Association (Fachagentur Wind und Solar), overall public support declined “for the first time… significantly” in 2025, even though a majority still supports expansion. At the same time, the data reveals strong regional and party-affiliation differences. Support is considerably lower in eastern Germany than in western Germany, and among AfD supporters, it dropped noticeably compared to the previous year.
Fusion as a promise of salvation, but without a power plant
Merz presents nuclear fusion as the next major step, but to date, no fusion power plant exists that commercially feeds electricity into the grid. Even ITER will not generate electricity but remains an experiment intended to clarify technical fundamentals. The EU Commission also explicitly describes ITER as a purely experimental facility without power production.
Added to this is the operational reality in the laboratory. The current record for long tokamak plasmas is in the minute range, for example, just over 22 minutes in the WEST experiment. This demonstrates progress, but it remains far from robust power plant operation over extended periods. Because a grid-connected reactor doesn’t have to last for minutes, but reliably for decades.
Electricity prices: Promises and reality diverge
Merz links the merger narrative to extremely low electricity prices and claims that “no other generation methods will be needed” then. However, consumers have been experiencing the opposite for years. Household electricity will remain expensive in many places in 2025, even though wholesale electricity prices were lower at times. Grid fees, levies, and system costs drive up the final price, often negating any price advantages.
Furthermore, political pressure is growing to organize relief through taxes and grid fees. Agora Energiewende itself emphasizes that more attractive electricity prices remain a key prerequisite and that political intervention in grid fees and electricity tax plays a crucial role. This shows how little “cheap electricity” automatically results from expansion targets alone.
Wind Power Expansion: More Turbines, Less Patience
Even the expansion itself is fraught with friction. Offshore targets clash with land-use conflicts, tendering risks, and cost issues. At the same time, local resistance is growing. The acceptance study by the German Federal Agency for Energy and Water Management (BfE) explicitly describes the decline in 2025 as significant and documents a palpable polarization.
When Merz frames wind power as a transitional technology, it exacerbates this problem. The message sounds like: Build turbines today, and they’ll be obsolete tomorrow. This hardly motivates compromises at the local level and weakens planning certainty. Furthermore, Germany needs grids and storage facilities regardless of whether nuclear fusion ever becomes a reality.
Distraction is easy, substance remains thin
Merz uses nuclear fusion as a politically convenient vision of the future, even though no commercial operation exists and even record-breaking fusions only demonstrate stability for minutes at a time. Presumably, his primary aim is to distract from the recurring debate about resuming nuclear power. At the same time, wind power expansion and public acceptance are under pressure, and the promised lower electricity prices are not reaching many people. Therefore, the narrative of wind power as a transitional technology seems like a communication strategy that distracts from the difficult conflicts of objectives. Anyone who wants to secure energy supply must first solve today’s systemic problems, instead of hoping for a technological breakthrough in the distant future. (KOB)