Renewables share in Germany's power consumption falls in Jan-Sept 2021

Renewable energy sources generated 43% of the gross electricity consumed in Germany in the first nine months of 2021 compared to 48% a year earlier, according to preliminary calculations of the German energy and water industry association BDEW and the solar and hydrogen research centre ZSW.

The decline is partly due to the lower electricity generation from onshore wind power caused by still days in the spring of this year, while strong and long-lasting spring storms boosted the wind power production in 2020.

Onshore wind parks generated only 3.4 billion kWh of electricity in June 2021, which is the lowest monthly figure since August 2015. At the same time, sunny days and the expansion of solar capacity resulted in a record-high 7.8 million kWh generated by solar PV plants in the same month.

Another reason for the drop in 2021 is the lower electricity consumption in 2020 which resulted in a higher renewables share.

Green electricity generation decreased in the first nine months of 2021 to 178 billion kWh from 191 billion kWh a year earlier and accounted for 41.8% of all electricity produced in Germany in the period. Some 63 billion kWh came from onshore wind power, 16 billion kWh from offshore wind and nearly 46 billion kWh from solar.

The expansion of renewables and onshore wind power, in particular, must be accelerated and the next federal government must remove hurdles such as lengthy planning and approval procedures, a lack of areas and inconsistent regulations regarding species protection, said BDEW's head Kerstin Andreae.

Choose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!