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Germany marks first ever quarter with more than 50 pct renewable electricity
(Clean Energy Wire, 1 Apr 2020) Germany produced more than half of its electricity with renewable power in the first three months of 2020, the first full quarter in which renewables covered the majority of the country’s electricity needs. The numbers were driven by record wind and high solar production in February and March and a dip in overall energy use tied to the coronavirus pandemic. Combined with high renewable power generation in 2019, the numbers put Germany on track to meet its 2020 green energy targets, despite an overall slowdown in the renewable energy expansion.
Germany produced nearly 52 percent of its domestic electricity consumption with renewable power in the first three months of 2020, marking the first full quarter in which renewables covered more than half the country’s power needs, utilities association BDEW and the Centre for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research Baden-Württemberg (ZSW) reported. That’s up from about 44 percent in the first quarter of 2019. The numbers were driven by record wind power production in February, unusually high solar production in March, and a dip in overall energy use tied to the coronavirus crisis.
Because of those unusual circumstances, BDEW warned it’s too soon to project whether the numbers might hold going forward. "The performance of renewables is very encouraging. However, we should always bear in mind that this is only a snapshot and includes many one-off events,” BDEW head Kerstin Andreae said in a statement. But BDEW also noted that the numbers reflect several underlying policy shifts, including the shutdown of nuclear and coal power plants that were taken offline in late 2019.
Clean Energy Wire, 1 Apr 2020: Germany marks first ever quarter with more than 50 pct renewable electricity
