Germany: consumption of renewable energies falls by 2021

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In Germany, the share of renewables in energy consumption will fall in 2021 for the first time since 1997.
At the same time, the new government has announced an ambitious target of 80% by 2030.

Germany copes with rising consumption

In 2021, solar panels, wind power and otherrenewable energy sources will account for 42% of energy consumption in Europe’s leading economy.
This, after having reached 45.3% in 2020, according to a press release published this week by the public environmental agency UBA.
The reason for this is that “overall consumption has risen”, against a backdrop of economic recovery, while the production of renewable energies has “fallen by 5%” over the past year, says the agency.

11% less for wind power

Wind power, which accounts for “half” of all renewable energies in Germany, suffered a major setback of 11%.
This was due to the lack of wind, “particularly in the first quarter”, the agency explains.
Solar energy consumption, meanwhile, “only increased by 1%”, despite the commissioning of “numerous new installations”, due to “less sunny weather” than in 2020 in the country.
The only improvement was a 9% year-on-year increase in renewable energy consumption for heating.

237 billion kW/h versus 250 billion kWh

In total, energy from sustainable sources will account for 237 billion kWh in 2021, compared with 250 billion kWh last year.
These figures are published a week after the new German government led by Social Democrat Olaf Scholz, along with the Liberals and Greens, took office.

80% RE in the mix by 2030?

This composite coalition intends to raise Germany’s targets in terms of ecological transition, with 80% renewable energies by 2030.
The government is also committed to phasing out both nuclear power, by 2022, and coal, by 2030.
However, Dirk Messner, President of the UBA, warns that the 80% target “cannot be achieved at the current rate of infrastructure development”.
“We need measures that can be implemented rapidly over the next few years to build more wind and photovoltaic power plants”, he adds.

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