Germany has managed to create more electricity from renewable energy sources; including wind, water, and solar energy, as opposed to the coal and nuclear power combined in 2019. However, before you start to celebrate the news; keep in mind that this might not be a long-term trend but a specific market situation.
Up till now in 2019, Germany has enjoyed plenty of sun and wind. By receiving large amounts of sun and wind, Germany has been able to increase its electricity output using renewable sources. This has enabled the country to provide electricity from renewable energy sources to the country. 47.3 percent of the electricity so far in 2019 came from renewable energy sources as opposed to 43.4 percent that came from coal-fired and nuclear plants.
Apart from solar and wind power, hydropower and biomass have also managed to climb into the renewable energy list for the year. Gas was able to provide 9.3 percent of the electricity, whereas methods such as oil contributed 0.4 percent. The data has been collected by Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems in July.
Fabian Hein, from the think tank Agora Energiewende, however, reminds us that this may not prove to be a consistent trend. The country received higher than usual amounts of wind during the first half of 2019 – this allowed it to increase its wind power by 20 percent as compared to the first half of the previous year. Similarly, an increase of six percent was noted in solar energy, whereas the natural gas increased by 10 percent.
The usage of coal has gone down in the country by 30 percent as compared with the first half of the previous year. Some of the coal-fired power plants have been shut down permanently. Nonetheless, it does go to show that we might be able to get rid of coal and nuclear-powered energy altogether by shifting to renewable energy sources. We know that this might not be a consistent trend; it is positive news nonetheless.