Renewables reach 15.1% in Germany, no progress in heating, mobility

The share of renewables in Germany's energy consumption inched up to 15.1% in the first half (H1) of 2016 from 14.8% a year earlier, shows a report by the German Renewable Energy Federation (BEE).

Mainly thanks to offshore wind capacity additions, the share of renewable power in electricity supply grew to 32.8%, from 30.8% in H1 2015. However, BEE says that progress in the heat and transport sector has stalled. The share of renewables heat in H1 2016 was 13.3%, just slightly up from 13.2% a year ago, while in transport it actually declined to 5.4% from 5.6%.

BEE says the recently approved amendments to the renewable energy law would do nothing to improve the situation. The role of renewables in heating and transport continues to be neglected, according to the organisation.

Earlier this month the Bundestag and the Bundesrat in Germany approved the new energy law, with which the country turns to renewable energy auctions to replace the feed-in tariff (FiT) programme. It sets annual power capacity installations caps, so that the expansion of renewable energy goes hand-in-hand with the needed grid upgrade projects.

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