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Renewable energies provide 52 percent of the consumption

2020-04-01T08:15:38.360Z


A lot of wind in February and then plenty of sun. There can hardly be better conditions for green electricity. This is also reflected in the statistics.


A lot of wind in February and then plenty of sun. There can hardly be better conditions for green electricity. This is also reflected in the statistics.

Berlin / Stuttgart (dpa) - Renewable energies covered more than half of the electricity consumption in Germany for the first time in the first three months of this year.

From January to March, around 52 percent of consumption was generated with wind, sun, hydropower and other eco-energies, according to initial calculations by the Center for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research Baden-Württemberg (ZSW) and the Federal Association of Energy and Water Management (BDEW) demonstrate. In the same period last year, the share of renewable energies in gross domestic electricity consumption was only 44.4 percent.

The significant increase in the share of green electricity is the result of a combination of special effects, it said. A wind record in February was followed by March with an exceptionally high number of hours of sunshine. In addition, electricity consumption had dropped by one percent compared to the same period in the previous year. This is a result of the comparatively weak economy and the decline in industrial production due to the Corona crisis in the last week of March.

If one looks at the total electricity generation in Germany of almost 158 ​​billion kilowatt hours to date, the eco share was 49 percent. This figure also includes exported electricity that is not consumed in Germany. Around 77 billion kilowatt hours were generated with sun, wind and other regenerative sources, around 10 billion kilowatt hours more than in the first quarter of 2019. About 81 billion kilowatt hours came from conventional energy sources, a good 20 billion less than in the first quarter of 2019.

The largest supplier of green electricity was onshore wind turbines with almost 43 billion kilowatt hours. A good 11 billion kilowatt hours came from biomass, 9 billion from offshore wind farms. Photovoltaics (PV) contributed around 7 billion kilowatt hours, hydropower around 5 billion. The rest went to municipal waste and geothermal energy.

"The performance of renewables is very gratifying," commented Kerstin Andreae, chairwoman of the BDEW general management, the figures. But it was a snapshot, into which many special effects played out. "The record numbers are in sharp contrast to the dramatic situation with the current expansion of wind and PV systems." If the obstacles to further expansion were not removed quickly, the goal of an eco-electricity share of 65 percent by 2030 could hardly be achieved.

"Especially in view of the economic slump caused by the corona crisis, more investments in renewable energies are worthwhile," said ZSW board member Frithjof Staiß. Compared to the use of fossil energies, a significantly larger proportion of the added value remains in the country when installing wind energy and solar systems. "This has a positive impact on the economy and companies." For investors, renewable energy projects are not very risky and a financially worthwhile option.

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2020-04-01

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