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Coal-fired power plant near the Garzweiler opencast mine: Overall, electricity generation from conventional energy sources fell by three percent
Photo: Christoph Hardt / Panama Pictures / IMAGO
In view of the war in Ukraine, coal is once again becoming more important for Germany's energy supply.
In the summer quarter, the feed-in of electricity from coal climbed by 13.3 percent over the year, as reported by the Federal Statistical Office.
This means that more than a third (36.3 percent) of the electricity fed into the grid between July and September came from coal-fired power plants, compared to only 31.9 percent in the third quarter of 2021.
Despite high gas prices, electricity generation from natural gas also increased: it was 4.5 percent higher than in the same quarter of the previous year and accounted for 9.2 (same quarter of the previous year: 8.8) percent of the electricity fed into the grid.
For the first time since spring 2021, more electricity was generated from natural gas than in the same period of the previous year.
A total of 118.1 billion kilowatt hours of electricity were fed into the grid in Germany in the summer of 2022 - 0.5 percent less than a year ago.
Sunny summer: 20 percent more solar power
Because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Germany is trying to make itself less dependent on the enormous energy supplies from Russia.
This is particularly difficult with gas.
That is why the traffic light coalition is again focusing more on coal and nuclear power.
Despite the increases in electricity generation from coal and natural gas, the total amount of electricity generated from conventional fuels fell by three percent.
The share of the amount of electricity fed into the grid fell to 55.6 percent from 57.0 percent a year ago.
This was also due to the fact that only half as much nuclear power was generated and fed into the power grid as a year earlier.
A sunny summer improves the balance sheet
In contrast, electricity generation from renewable energies such as wind, sun and water rose by 2.9 percent in the third quarter.
The share of total electricity generation climbed from 43.0 to 44.4 percent within a year.
Due to the "unusually high number of hours of sunshine" in summer, there was a good 20 percent more solar power.
According to the International Energy Agency IEA, the current transformation also offers potential for the global expansion of renewable energies in the areas of electricity, transport and heat by 2027.
In its report »Renewables 2022«, the organization writes that the increase in capacity will almost double in the next five years, replacing coal as the largest source of electricity generation.
Bureaucracy as a brake
The IEA expects global renewable power generation capacity to increase by 2,400 gigawatts (GW) by 2027—equivalent to China's total current generation capacity.
Andreas Kuhlmann, CEO of the German Energy Agency (dena), said: »The IEA foresees the breakthrough of renewable energies in the short term.
Due to the accelerated restructuring of the energy system due to the energy crisis, this is very good news for climate protection.«
He also referred to the expansion of the hydrogen economy planned worldwide.
At the same time, according to dena, the IEA report also shows that Germany and Europe are in danger of falling behind.
The reason: encrusted, over-regulated structures and excessive bureaucracy.
German gas production should be expanded
The economy, however, appealed to the federal government to use all available resources to generate electricity.
"The expansion of renewable energies must be massively accelerated, as must the construction of gas-fired power plants that can later burn hydrogen," says a paper by a group of experts led by the President of the Munich Ifo Institute, Clemens Fuest.
"Nuclear power plants should only be shut down when other power plants are available that do not emit CO₂," write Fuest, his predecessor Hans-Werner Sinn and the entrepreneurs Christoph Theis and Roland Berger.
They also called for the expansion of domestic gas production and faster planning processes for renewable energies.
The authors demand that Germany should also intensify cooperation with partner countries.
The electricity market should be comprehensively opened up and made more flexible.
Rigid regulations are currently preventing the use of decentralized generators.
For example, e-cars can be used to store electricity.
To compensate for very short-term fluctuations in renewable energies, this could make the construction of ten gas-fired power plants superfluous.
Apr/Reuters