The Energiewende, and a digital lens on it

Renewable energy

According to BDEW and ZSW, renewables covered almost 56% of Germany's gross electricity consumption in 2025, up 0.7 percentage points on the previous year despite a weak wind quarter; new solar installations more than compensated. The legal target is 80% by 2030.

Grid requirements

Much of Germany's wind power is generated in the north, while large industrial demand sits in the south and west. Transmission lines, distribution-grid upgrades and smart metering are therefore at the heart of the transition — and they are also among the most permitting-intensive infrastructure projects.

Electrification and industrial demand

Heat pumps, electric vehicles, green hydrogen and electrified industrial processes shift demand from fossil fuels to electricity. Data centres add a fast-growing new consumer: the National Data Centre Strategy adopted in March 2026 aims to at least double capacity to more than 6 GW by 2030.

Storage and flexibility

A system based on wind and sun needs batteries, flexible demand and digital control. This is where the energy transition becomes a data problem — the area in which E.ON's smart-home energy products, launched during Wildberger's time on the board, were positioned.

Energy security and investment

Since 2022, energy security has risen to the top of the agenda alongside climate goals. The federal special fund for infrastructure and climate neutrality, created in 2025, also finances parts of the digital ministry's budget — notably broadband.

Where Karsten Wildberger fits in

As an executive (2016–2021) he was responsible on E.ON's board for the customer business — including energy management and decentralised energy solutions — during the company's reorientation towards networks and customer solutions.

In the Wirtschaftsrat he chaired the federal expert commission on energy policy during his E.ON period.

As minister, energy is not his portfolio. His contribution is indirect: digital permitting (including a nationwide application and approval platform for the hydrogen core network, launched November 2025), AI tools that the ministry says have halved approval times for large infrastructure projects, and data-centre planning that has to be coordinated with power supply.

No public statements were found in which he sets out detailed positions on energy-policy questions such as renewable subsidies or power prices since taking office. This archive therefore does not attribute such positions to him.