In the first half of 2021, renewables covered about 43 percent of gross inland electricity consumption. This is shown by preliminary calculations of the Centre for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research Baden-Württemberg (ZSW) and the German Association of Energy and Water Industries (BDEW). There was a slight year-on-year increase of around two percent in electricity generation from photovoltaic systems, while generation from wind energy (onshore and offshore) fell by around 20 percent.
In the same period last year, renewables’ share of gross electricity consumption was slightly higher at around 50 percent. The weather was mainly responsible for this. While records were set in the first half of 2020 for electricity generation from solar energy and onshore wind energy, this year the first quarter in particular was unusually windless and poor in sunshine hours. In the second quarter, weather conditions were more favourable: for the months April to June, the share of renewable energies was 45 percent. The 2020 values were also affected by the significantly lower power consumption in the first Corona lockdown in the spring of 2020. Since the renewables quota is shown as a share of electricity consumption, lower consumption alone leads to an increase in the percentage value. This year, electricity consumption was again at a normal level.
“In order to achieve the ambitious climate targets in the Climate Protection Act and the European Green Deal, we have to significantly increase the pace of expansion. The higher CO2 reduction target requires a share of at least 70 percent of renewable energies in electricity generation by 2030,” says Kerstin Andreae, Chairwoman of the BDEW Executive Board. “In addition to accelerating the expansion of onshore wind energy by issuing more permits and designating more land, we also need a real PV boom with an increase of at least ten gigawatts per year. This can be achieved with a consistent mix of instruments comprising financial incentives for companies and citizens, more flexibility in the choice of how the PV electricity generated is used, and a significant reduction in red tape surrounding the construction and use of PV plants. In addition, the federal and state governments must make more land available for photovoltaic systems, for example through a PV obligation for new public buildings or innovative concepts such as Agri-PV or floating solar systems.”
Professor Frithjof Staiß, Managing Director of the ZSW, adds: “The resolution of the new climate protection law is of great importance, but also of great consequence. The course must now be set promptly. This is all the more urgent because, from the point of view of planning processes and investment decisions, 2030 is already tomorrow and 2045 is practically the day after tomorrow. For renewable energies, the resolutions appear far too vague. The question remains unanswered as to what measures are to be taken to ensure that the expansion of photovoltaics is doubled compared to 2020 and that the expansion of onshore wind energy is even tripled — not at the end of the decade, but from next year onwards over the entire decade. If only because of the availability of land and the long lead times for larger projects, action must be taken quickly here. It is also clear that a significant acceleration in the expansion of renewable energies will not be without conflict. Here, too, the federal government must offer much more than was decided with the 2022 emergency programme.”
The generation figures in detail
In the first half of 2021, gross electricity generation was 292 billion kilowatt hours (billion kWh) — an increase of almost five percent compared to the same period last year (H1 2020: 279 billion kWh). This contrasted with electricity consumption of around 285 billion kWh (H1 2020: 271 billion kWh). A total of around 122 billion kWh of electricity was generated from solar, wind and other renewable sources (1st half of 2020: 137 billion kWh). Of this, a good 48 billion kWh came from onshore wind, 28 billion kWh from photovoltaics, a good 22 billion kWh from biomass, almost twelve billion kWh from offshore wind and nine billion kWh from hydropower. 170 billion kWh was generated from conventional energy sources. In the same period last year, the figure was 142 billion kWh.
Green electricity share: two calculation options
The share of renewable energies in gross electricity consumption in the first half of 2021 is around 43 percent. The common basis of calculation is to measure the share of green electricity in gross electricity consumption. It goes back to European requirements and is in line with the target definitions of the Federal Government for the expansion of renewable energies. Gross electricity consumption represents the entire electricity system of a country.
Another possibility is to measure the share of renewable energies in gross electricity generation. It includes the entire quantity of electricity generated in Germany, i.e. also the exported electricity quantities. The share of renewable energies in the first half of 2021 based on gross electricity generation is around 42 percent.
