Renewables overtake coal in Germany

• 5 years ago (2019-01-04)
• David Flin

Coal 299 Europe 1094 Renewables 780

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Renewables have overtaken coal as Germany’s main source of energy for the first time, accounting for just over 40 per cent of electricity production. This marks progress towards Germany’s goal of providing 65 per cent of its energy by 2030 from renewables.

The research from the Fraunhofer Organisation of Applied Science showed that output of solar, wind, biomass, and hydroelectric generation units rose 4.3 per cent in 2018 to produce 219 TWh of electricity, out of a total national production of 542 TWh. Coal accounted for 38 per cent.

The data from Fraunhofer indicates that solar power increased by 16 per cent to 45.7 TWh, while installed capacity increased by 3.2 GW to 45.5 GW. Wind power generated 111 TWh from combined onshore and offshore capacity of nearly 60 GW, accounting for 20.4 per cent of total German power output. Hydropower only accounted for 3.2 per cent of power production at 17 TWh, as extreme summer heat dried out rivers, and was accompanied by low rainfall. Biomass output contributed 8.3 per cent.