Renewable energy provided a record 36.3% of Germany’s electricity in the first half of 2018, up from 32.5% one year ago, according to estimates by energy industry group BDEW.
It was the first time the share from renewables was higher than that from hard coal and lignite (35.1%) in the first half of a year, BDEW said.
Renewable energy installations fed some 118 billion kilowatt-hours of power to the grid, compared with 107 billion kWh in the first half of 2017.
Onshore wind contributed 14.7% to the country’s electricity generation, up from 12.5% a year ago, while the share of offshore wind grew to 2.9% from 2.7%.
Solar accounted for 7.3% of the total electricity produced and biomass 7.1%, up from 6.7% and 6.9%, respectively, last year.
Hard coal and lignite-fired power plants generated some 114 billion kWh in the first six months of 2018, down from 127 billion kWh in 2017.
Electricity production from natural gas reached 40 billion kWh from January to the end of June, lower than the 44 billion kWh in the same period last year.
The share of nuclear power grew to 11.3% this year, from 10.2% in 2017.
BDEW head Stefan Kapferer said: “The market-driven exit from coal-fired power generation is in full swing and renewables are gaining ground.”
Image: Pexels
Germany ‘sets RE record’
By EBS