Renewable energies cover 56% of Germany's Q1 electricity consumption
Renewable energies covered around 56% of electricity consumption in Germany in the first quarter of 2024.
This is according to projections by the Centre for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research Baden-Württemberg (ZSW) and the German Association of Energy and Water Industries (BDEW), which were made available to dpa on Friday.
In total, renewable energy plants generated around 75.9 billion kilowatt hours of electricity from January to March, around 10% more than in the same period last year. Onshore wind turbines alone covered more than a quarter of the electricity demand in Germany, generating 39.4 billion kilowatt hours.
"Hydropower also made an above-average contribution to electricity generation in recent months with 5.3 billion kilowatt hours of electricity," the report continued. This was 27% more electricity than in the same period last year.
In total, hydropower plants covered 4% of Germany's gross electricity consumption.
"The recent steady rise in the share of renewables in electricity consumption shows that we are on the right track," said the chairwoman of the BDEW executive board, Kerstin Andreae. The expansion of renewable energies has recently increased significantly.
"This is now being reflected in electricity generation," she said. However, it is also clear that we need to "go one better" to achieve the climate targets.
