Germany witnessed significant growth in its renewable energy generation this year, which contributed more than half of the country’s power production for the first time in history.
Renewable energies share in gross electricity generation
Renewable energies share surged nearly 52% of Germany’s gross electricity consumption in 2023, as per the latest assessments of the German utility association BDEW and the Center for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research Baden-Württemberg (ZSW).
According to the press release, the share grew by about 5% points from 46% in the same period in 2022. It also marks a significant milestone of surpassing the 50% threshold for the first time in a year.
Interestingly, the data revealed that the following months recorded the highest share of renewable electricity in the country:
- July – 59%
- May – 57%
- October and November – 55% each
The preliminary data revealed that Germany’s overall electricity generation reached approximately 508.1 billion kilowatt hours (billion kWh) in 2023. Of that total, renewable energies accounted for 267.0 billion kWh.
Photovoltaic power hit a new high of 9.8 billion kWh in June, while onshore wind energy had a record of 113.5 billion kWh for the whole year. Refer to the table below:
| 2023 Renewable Electricity Generation | vs. 2022 | |
| Onshore wind turbines | 113.5 billion kWh | 100.1 billion kWh |
| Photovoltaic systems | 62.0 billion kWh | 59.3 billion kWh |
| Biomass | 49.7 billion kWh | 49.7 billion kWh |
| Offshore wind turbines | 23.0 billion kWh | 25.2 billion kWh |
| Hydropower plants | 18.7 billion kWh | 17.4 billion kWh |
Considering that the country measures that renewable energy quota as a proportion of electricity consumption, lower consumption boosts the quota and vice versa. That said, the lower electricity consumption poses a positive effect on the renewable energy quota.
In addition, the overall renewable energy production in the country reached a new record of 267.0 billion kWh. It indicates a 6% increase compared to the same period last year.
“The numbers show that we are on the right track. Many people once believed that renewables only accounted for a single-digit share of electricity consumption, but today we use more electricity from renewable sources than from conventional sources and have our sights firmly set on 100 percent renewables”
Kerstin Andreae, Chairwoman of the BDEW Executive Board
Shift to renewables
The shift to renewable energy to cut Germany’s reliance on fossil fuels coal is indeed a very crucial step to protect the world from more intensified global warming and climate change.
“The move away from the fossil fuels coal, oil and natural gas decided at the World Climate Conference in Dubai last Wednesday is not only a very important signal for climate protection. This shift requires an expansion of renewable energies in completely new dimensions. In order to cover the future demand for hydrocarbons, green hydrogen is first needed, which is produced using electrolysis using renewable electricity.”
Prof. Dr. Frithjof Staiß, ZSW Managing Director
ZSW’s Managing Director further indicated the need to expand direct air capture systems to directly extract CO2 emissions from the air not only in Germany but across the world.
“Although unavoidable process emissions can be used as a carbon source, these will be far from sufficient to cover the climate-neutral need for synthetic hydrocarbons as raw materials, especially in the chemical industry as well as in aviation and international shipping. We therefore have to start scaling up direct air capture systems for the direct extraction of CO2 from the air as soon as possible. These also require renewable electricity. The expansion dynamic of renewable energies must therefore increase significantly, not only in Germany but worldwide, in order to ensure that the 1.5 degree target is achieved.”
Prof. Dr. Frithjof Staiß, ZSW Managing Director
Germany’s target
Europe’s largest economy Germany was one of the countries largely hit by Russia’s natural gas shipments cutback in 2022. It prompted the country to use renewable energies to fill the demand for electricity generation.
Germany also shut down its remaining nuclear plants earlier in 2023 to hit its target of reaching 80% clean power generation by the end of the decade, BNN Bloomberg reports. Germany also aims to establish a broadly decarbonized power supply by 2035.
All that said, Germany demonstrates that renewable energy can sufficiently provide power to major industrial economies. Hopefully, it can urge more countries to also step forward in their renewable energy adoption plans.
