This year, for the first time, more than half of Germany’s electricity consumption will be covered by renewable energies. By 2030 it should be at least 80 percent.
This year, climate-neutrally generated electricity covered more than half of Germany’s electricity consumption for the first time at 52 percent. This is the result of projections by the Center for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research Baden-Württemberg (ZSW) and the Federal Association of the Energy and Water Industry (BDEW). Compared to the previous year, this corresponds to an increase of 5 percent. ZSW and BDEW assume that total gross electricity consumption in 2023 will be around 517.3 billion kilowatt hours.
The term gross electricity refers to the total electricity consumption of all end consumers – it therefore refers to households, companies and public institutions. If you subtract conversion and network losses as well as the power plants’ own consumption, you get the net electricity consumption.
According to the federal government, gross electricity consumption is the decisive factor for the expansion goals of renewable energies. By 2030 it should be at least 80 percent. The new expansion targets are set out in the Renewable Energy Act (EEG).
“On the right way”
Renewable energies had particularly high shares in July (59 percent), May (57 percent) and October and November (55 percent each). In June, electricity generation from sunlight reached a new all-time record of 9.8 billion kilowatt hours. Onshore wind energy achieved a new annual record of 113.5 billion kilowatt hours. Overall, at 267.0 billion kilowatt hours, more electricity was generated in a climate-neutral manner than ever before.
“The numbers show that we are on the right track,” explained the chairwoman of the BDEW headquarters, Kerstin Andreae. However, the path to a completely climate-neutral power supply is not a sure-fire success. “We can only achieve the second 50 percent if politicians continue to consistently remove all hurdles to the expansion of renewables.”
Global demand for coal is higher than ever
ZSW board member Frithjof Staiß emphasized that the move away from fossil fuels such as coal, oil and natural gas, which was decided at the World Climate Conference in Dubai, requires an expansion of renewable energies in completely new dimensions. Climate-neutral electricity is also necessary for the removal of carbon dioxide from the air using so-called “direct air capture” systems. The CO2 obtained in this way, together with “green” hydrogen, could serve as a carbon source for future hydrocarbon needs.
Current data from the International Energy Agency (IEA) show that there is still a lot to do. The demand for coal is higher than ever this year. According to the experts, it is expected to rise by 1.4 percent and exceed the 8.5 billion tonne mark for the first time. However, due to the increasing spread of renewable energy sources such as wind and sun, the IEA expects a decline in climate-damaging energy sources of 2.3 percent by 2026.