German renewable energy output surges on offshore wind updraft
Share of clean-energy in country's power mix rises to 43%, figures from industry bodies show
Germany’s offshore wind power production has surged by almost 25% this year, or 24TWh, up from 19.5TWh in 2018, helping to carry the share of renewables in Europe’s largest economy to 43% of its gross power consumption.
That was up from 38.2% in 2018, preliminary figures from solar and hydrogen research centre Baden-Württemberg (ZSW) and the German federation of energy and water industries (BDEW) show.
The largest renewable energy source continued to be onshore wind, with almost 104TWh produced - thanks to windy weather this year, followed by PV, which accounted for a power production of 45TWh, the same as biomass. Hydroelectric power plants had an output of 21TWh in 2019.
Despite the rise in the renewables share in the German power mix, the two industry groups warned that a collapse in new onshore wind power installations and insufficient solar additions put the country's target of 65% of renewables by 2030 in danger.
(Copyright)