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German solar generation hits record levels
- 12 years ago (2012-05-29)
- Junior Isles
German solar power plants produced an unprecedented 22 GW of electricity through the midday hours of Friday 25th and Saturday 26th of May, equivalent to 20 nuclear power stations running at full capacity, Norbert Allnoch, director of the Institute of the Renewable Energy Industry in Muenster has said.
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The 22 GW of solar power fed into the national grid on Saturday met almost 50 per cent of the nation's midday electricity needs, Allnoch said.
"Never before anywhere has a country produced as much photovoltaic electricity," Allnoch claimed. "Germany came close to the 20 GW mark a few times in recent weeks. But this was the first time we made it over."
The record-breaking amount of solar power demonstrated that one of the world's leading industrial nations was able to meet a third of its electricity needs on a normal work day, and nearly half on a weekend with less demand, through solar power alone.
Government-mandated support for renewables has helped Germany become a world leader in renewable energy, particularly solar, and the country gets about 20 per cent of its generation from these sources.
Germany has almost as much installed solar power generation capacity as the rest of the world put together, crucial in achieving aim to cut its greenhouse gas emissions down to 60 per cent of 1990 levels by 2020.
Angela Merkel has said Germany is eager to demonstrate that it is possible to use a broad base of renewables to get around conventional criticisms of intermittent generation.
The 22 GW figure is up from about 14 GW a year ago out of a total of 26 GW of solar capacity.
"This shows Germany is capable of meeting a large share of its electricity needs with solar power," Allnoch said. "It also shows Germany can do with fewer coal-burning power plants, gas-burning plants and nuclear plants."
German consumers pay about €4 billion per year on top of their electricity bills for solar power through feed-in-tariffs and other subsidies, according to a 2012 report by the country's environment ministry.