“They know what it costs to produce electricity from wind, so when they deem it necessary to increase the price, you know it is needed.”

I’m going to have to disagree with this statement. Germany announced this move last year due to the wildly successful implementation of solar power in their country. The government recognized that the funds they had set aside (at least from the utilities) for use in support of renewables had achieved their solar goals far in advance of the plan because they set the FiT for PV extremely high, the highest in the world.

After achieving their solar target ahead of schedule, they transferred money and effort to the wind and specifically off-shore wind because they recognize that off-shore wind is still an emerging market that Germany, with investment, can become a world leader in this field in the same way that they did with PV. This is in contrast to the on-shore wind industry which has already gone through the consolidation stage and is already accepted in the industry as competitive with fossil fuels.

Which brings me to my next point. You state that they raised the off-shore wind FiT because they recognize that costs are higher. But you also stated that fossil-based energy sources have experienced a never before seen run-up in prices across the board. So wouldn’t that mean that wind would be even more competitive without subsidies?

Finally, I disagree with the policy of providing higher FiTs to wind developments in less-than optimal wind sites. That’s like giving SUV buyers a bigger tax break because they get poor fuel economy, its idiotic. Unless there is some legitimate reason not to develop all of the optimal wind sites, these should be developed first and supported by adequate transmission. This should be relatively easy in Germany because all of the off-shore wind is located in one general geographic region.

I wholeheartedly support all of the policies that Germany has implemented that have accelerated the growth of renewable energies nearly across the board. I just think the reason that they increased the FiT for off-shore wind had less to do with what you argued and more to do with their success in PV and desire to be a global leader in off-shore wind.