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Renewable energy in Germany is mainly based on wind and biomass, plus solar and hydro. Germany had the world's largest photovoltaic installed capacity until 2014, and as of 2021 it has over 58 GW. It is also the world's third country by installed total wind power capacity, 64 GW in 2021 (59 GW in 2018https://windeurope.org/wp-content/uploads/files/about-wind/statistics/WindEurope-Annual-Statistics-2018.pdf ) and second for offshore wind, with over 7 GW. Germany has been called "the world's first major
renewable energy Renewable energy is energy that is collected from renewable resources that are naturally replenished on a human timescale. It includes sources such as sunlight, wind, the movement of water, and geothermal heat. Although most renewable energy ...
economy". The share of renewable electricity rose from just 3.4% of gross electricity consumption in 1990, provided by conventional hydro, to exceed 10% by 2005 thanks to additional biomass and wind, and reaching 42.1% of consumption in 2019. As with most countries, the transition to renewable energy in the transport and heating and cooling sectors has been considerably slower. According to official figures, around 370,000 people were employed in the renewable energy sector in 2010, particularly in small and medium-sized companies. This is over twice the number of jobs in 2004 (160,500). About two-thirds of these jobs are attributed to the Renewable Energy Sources Act. Germany's federal government is working to increase
renewable energy commercialization Renewable energy commercialization involves the deployment of three generations of renewable energy technologies dating back more than 100 years. First-generation technologies, which are already mature and economically competitive, include ...
, with a particular focus on
offshore wind farm Offshore wind power or offshore wind energy is the generation of electricity through wind farms in bodies of water, usually at sea. There are higher wind speeds offshore than on land, so offshore farms generate more electricity per amount of c ...
s. A major challenge is the development of sufficient network capacities for transmitting the power generated in the
North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegia ...
to the large industrial consumers in southern parts of the country.The Wall Street Journal Online, 24 April 2012 Germany's energy transition, the ''Energiewende'', designates a significant change in
energy policy Energy policy is the manner in which a given entity (often governmental) has decided to address issues of energy development including energy conversion, distribution and use as well as reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in order to con ...
from 2011. The term encompasses a reorientation of policy from supply to demand and a shift from centralized to distributed generation (for example, producing heat and power in very small cogeneration units), which should replace
overproduction In economics, overproduction, oversupply, excess of supply or glut refers to excess of supply over demand of products being offered to the market. This leads to lower prices and/or unsold goods along with the possibility of unemployment. The ...
and avoidable energy consumption with energy-saving measures and increased efficiency.


Targets

Since the passage of the
Directive on Electricity Production from Renewable Energy Sources Directive 2001/77/EC is a European Union Directive for promoting renewable energy use in electricity generation. It is popularly known as the RES Directive. The directive, which took effect in October 2001, sets national indicative targets for ...
in 1997, Germany and the other states of the
European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been ...
were working towards a target of 12%
renewable electricity Renewable energy is energy that is collected from renewable resources that are naturally replenished on a human timescale. It includes sources such as sunlight, wind, the movement of water, and geothermal heat. Although most renewable energy ...
by 2010. Germany passed this target early in 2007, when the renewable energy share in electricity consumption in Germany reached 14%. In September 2010, the German government announced ambitious energy targets: After the 2013 elections, the new CDU/CSU and SPD coalition government continued the
energy transition The energy transition is the process of downshifting fossil fuels and re-developing whole systems to operate on low carbon energy sources. More generally, an energy transition is a significant structural change in an energy system regarding ...
, with only minor modifications of its targets in the coalition agreement. These targets include, for renewable energy: The German Government reported, in 2011, renewable energy (mainly wind turbines and biomass plants) generated more than 123TWh of electricity, providing nearly 20% of the 603TWh of electricity supplied. By 2012, all renewable energy accounted for 21.9% of electricity, with wind turbines and photovoltaic providing 11.9% of the total. As of 2017, renewable sources account for 38% of the net electricity production. Compared to the same period of 2016, energy production from renewable energy sources increased from 182 TWh to 210 TWh. It marks the first year where solar and wind are the biggest source of energy. Power production from nuclear power plants decreased by 10%, due to maintenance. Use of hard coal decreased by 16%, while production from lignite stayed on a similar level and increased for gas by 2.6 TWh. The renewable installations have come under criticism as well. A balance made in 2017 has shown that whilst emissions in 2016 were 28 percent lower than 1990, the country was likely to fall short of its 2020 target of a 40 percent reduction on 1990 emission levels. The 40 percent reduction target of 2020 will not be met unless "spectacular" additional efforts are made. One significant reason why Germany may miss its 2020 target is because the country's electricity exports have been growing strongly in recent years to surpass France as Europe's largest electricity exporter. A recent study calculates that Germany exports the equivalent of the annual output from 7GW of lignite generation – producing 59 million tonnes of emissions in the process, a figure which accounts for around half of the shortfall in emissions it needs to meet its 2020 targets. Replacing the baseload power from fossil fuels has proven more challenging after nuclear power plants have been shut down although the proportion of electricity generated by coal for domestic use has been falling year on year. In July 2019, figures published by the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE) report that renewable energy is for the first time providing more electricity than coal and nuclear power combined in Germany. Solar, wind, biomass and hydroelectric power generates nearly half of the country's output. Times with negative prices increased as solar and wind power increased. Solar and wind power has low marginal cost, and other production sources with higher fuel costs become less competitive when demand and prices are low. During the
COVID-19 pandemic in Germany The COVID-19 pandemic in Germany has resulted in confirmed cases of COVID-19 and deaths. On 27 January 2020, the first case in Germany was confirmed near Munich, Bavaria. By mid February, the arising cluster of cases had been fully contain ...
, solar power in Germany occasionally produced 32 gigawatt (GW). Solar, together with wind and other renewables, accounted for 78% of German power at one point.


Primary energy consumption

As of 2015 Germany's
primary energy Primary energy (PE) is an energy form found in nature that has not been subjected to any human engineered conversion process. It is energy contained in raw fuels, and other forms of energy, including waste, received as input to a system. Prim ...
consumption of 13 218
petajoule The joule ( , ; symbol: J) is the unit of energy in the International System of Units (SI). It is equal to the amount of work done when a force of 1 newton displaces a mass through a distance of 1 metre in the direction of the force applied ...
s or 3 672 terawatt-hours refers to the total energy used by the nation. The final renewable energy consumption, split by the sectors, and with their relative share, are: *''Electricity ''sector, with a renewable energy consumption of 31.5% (187.364 GWh) *''Heating'' sector, with a renewable energy consumption of 13.3% (158.662 GWh) *''Transportation'' sector, with a renewable energy consumption of 5.3% (33.611 GWh) As of the end of 2015, renewable energy sources, such as biomass, biogas, biofuels, hydro, wind and solar, accounted for 12.4% of the country's primary energy consumption, a more than doubling compared to 2004, when renewables only contributed 4.5%. Although the terms "energy" and "electricity" are often used interchangeably, they should not be confused with one another, as electricity is only one form of energy and does not account for the energy consumed by combustion engines and heat boilers, used in transportation by vehicles and for the heating of buildings.


Sources

A travel guide to renewable energy destinations in Germany was published in 2016.


Wind power

In 2013, wind power generated a total of 53.4 TWh of electricity and more than 3.2 GW of new capacity was added to the grid. In 2011, the country's installed capacity of wind power reached 29,075
megawatts The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James Watt ...
(MW), about 8% of the overall capacity. According to
EWEA WindEurope is an association promoting the use of wind power in Europe. Based in Brussels it has over 600 members, which are active in over 50 countries, including manufacturers with a leading share of the world wind power market, component suppl ...
, in a normal wind year, installed wind capacity in Germany will meet 10.6% at end 2011 and 9.3% at end 2010 of the German electricity needs. More than 21,607 wind turbines are located in the German federal area and the country has plans to build more. As of 2011, Germany's federal government is working on a new plan for increasing renewable energy commercialization, with a particular focus on
offshore wind farm Offshore wind power or offshore wind energy is the generation of electricity through wind farms in bodies of water, usually at sea. There are higher wind speeds offshore than on land, so offshore farms generate more electricity per amount of c ...
s. A major challenge is the development of sufficient network capacities for transmitting the power generated in the North Sea to the large industrial consumers in southern Germany. In 2016, Germany decided to replace feed-in tariffs with auctions from 2017.


Biomass

The key provider of biomass supply in Germany is supposed to be agriculture. Moreover, 40% of German wood production is also used as a biomass feedstock. The German Federal Research Centre for Forestry and Forest Products claims that there are also reserves which may assist in enlarging the part of forestry in biomass production. Agriculture is the main source of rapeseed oil, which is used for the production of biodiesel and making substrates for the production of biogas. Biomass used for the production of
biogas Biogas is a mixture of gases, primarily consisting of methane, carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulphide, produced from raw materials such as agricultural waste, manure, municipal waste, plant material, sewage, green waste and food waste. It is a ...
and
biofuel Biofuel is a fuel that is produced over a short time span from biomass, rather than by the very slow natural processes involved in the formation of fossil fuels, such as oil. According to the United States Energy Information Administration (EIA ...
s are some of Germany's most important sources of renewable energy. In 2010, biomass accounted for 30% of renewable electricity generation and for 70% of all renewable energy (mostly wood). Germany has committed to blending 6.25% biofuels in petroleum by 2014 with the Biofuels Quota Act.Bundesministeriums der Justiz in Zusammenarbeites mit der juris. 9 August 2009. Verordnung über Anforderungen an eine nachhaltige Herstellung von Biokraftstoffen (Biokraftstoff-Nachhaltigkeitsverordnung – Biokraft-NachV).


Photovoltaic solar power

Solar photovoltaic (PV) technology generates electricity from sunlight, and it can be used in grid-connected and off-grid applications. They were first mass-produced in the year 2000, when German environmentalists and
Eurosolar Eurosolar - European Association for Renewable Energies (Own spelling: EUROSOLAR) is a German association with headquarters in Bonn. The association has sections in 13 countries (Germany, Bulgaria, Denmark, Georgia, Italy, Luxembourg, Austria, ...
have succeeded in obtaining the government support for the 100,000 roofs program.Solar Power for the World: What You Wanted to Know about Photovoltaics
'Taylor & Francis Group''
In July 2012, a cumulative installed total solar PV power of 29.7 GW was in place. Solar PV provided 18 TW·h in 2011, 3% of the total electricity demand. As solar power installations rise quickly, in first half of 2012, about 5.3% of the total electricity demand was covered by solar power. On Saturday 25 May 2012, solar power broke a new record high, feeding 22 GW into the power grid, or as much as 20 nuclear power stations. This jump above the 20 GW level was due to increased capacity and excellent weather conditions countrywide, and made up for half of the nation's electricity demand at midday. Germany was also the biggest expanding market for solar PV 2012, with 7.6 GW of newly connected systems. Some market analysts expect the solar electricity share could reach 25% by 2050. Price of PV systems has decreased more than 50% in 5 years since 2006.BSW-Solar, Statistische Zahlen der deutschen Solarstrombranche (Photovoltaik), Oct 2011
/ref>


Hydroelectricity

The total installed
hydroelectric Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined and ...
capacity in Germany at the end of 2006 was 4.7 GW. Hydropower meets 3.5% of the electricity demand. Latest estimates show, in Germany in 2007, about 9,400 people were employed in the hydropower sector which generated a total turnover of €1.23 billion.


Geothermal power

Geothermal power in Germany is expected to grow, mainly because of a law that benefits the production of
geothermal electricity Geothermal power is electrical power generated from geothermal energy. Technologies in use include dry steam power stations, flash steam power stations and binary cycle power stations. Geothermal electricity generation is currently used in 26 ...
and guarantees a
feed-in tariff A feed-in tariff (FIT, FiT, standard offer contract,Couture, T., Cory, K., Kreycik, C., Williams, E., (2010)Policymaker's Guide to Feed-in Tariff Policy Design National Renewable Energy Laboratory, U.S. Dept. of Energy advanced renewable tariff, ...
. But after a renewable energy law that introduced a tariff scheme of (US$0.23) per
kilowatt-hour A kilowatt-hour ( unit symbol: kW⋅h or kW h; commonly written as kWh) is a unit of energy: one kilowatt of power for one hour. In terms of SI derived units with special names, it equals 3.6 megajoules (MJ). Kilowatt-hours are a common bil ...
(kWh) for electricity produced from geothermal sources came into effect that year, a construction boom was sparked and the new power plants are now starting to come online.


Industry

Germany's renewable energy sector is among the most innovative and successful worldwide.
Enercon Enercon GmbH is a wind turbine manufacturer based in Aurich, Lower Saxony, Germany. It has been the market leader in Germany since the mid-1990s. Enercon has production facilities in Germany (Aurich, Emden and Magdeburg), Brazil, India, Ca ...
,
Nordex Nordex SE is a European company that designs, sells and manufactures wind turbines. The company's headquarters is located in the German city of Rostock while management is situated in Hamburg. Production takes place in Rostock as well as in China ...
, REpower Systems, Siemens, and Fuhrländer are wind-power companies based in Germany. Every third solar panel and every second wind rotor in Germany are German, and German turbines and generators used in hydro energy generation are among the most popular worldwide. Nearly 800,000 people work in the German environment technology sector; an estimated 214,000 people work with renewables in Germany, up from 157,000 in 2004, an increase of 36%.Green energy boom in Germany
/ref> Estimated German jobs in renewable energy in 2012–2013 were about 370,000. Siemens chief executive Peter Löscher believes Germany's target of generating 35% of its electricity from renewables by 2020 is achievable – and, most probably, profitable for Europe's largest engineering company. Its "environmental solutions" portfolio, which is firmly focused on renewables, is "already generating more than €27 billion a year, 35 per cent of Siemens’ total revenue, and the plan is to grow this to €40 billion by 2015". Ending its involvement in nuclear industry will boost the credibility of Siemens as a purveyor of "green technology". Germany's main competitors in solar electricity are Japan, the US, and China. In the wind industry, it is Denmark, Spain, and the US.


Government policy

The renewable energy sector benefited when the
Alliance '90/The Greens Alliance 90/The Greens (german: Bündnis 90/Die Grünen, ), often simply referred to as the Greens ( ), is a green political party in Germany. It was formed in 1993 as the merger of The Greens (formed in West Germany in 1980) and Alliance 90 (f ...
party joined the
federal government A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government (federalism). In a federation, the self-governing ...
between 1998 and 2005. Support for renewable energy continued to some degree under the following governments, regardless of composition, including the current CDU/CSU and SPD coalition government starting in 2018 but did not prevent the collapse of German solar panel production. The renewable energy sector was aided initially by the Renewable Energy Sources Act that promotes renewable energy mainly by stipulating feed-in tariffs and recently also market premiums that grid operators must pay for renewable energy fed into the power grid; these premiums were reduced under governments without Green party participation. People who produce renewable energy can sell their 'product' at fixed prices for a period of 20 or 15 years. This has created a surge in the production of renewable energy. In 2012, Siemens estimated the total cost of renewable energy would come to at least €1.4 trillion (US$1.8 trillion) by 2030. For the 2011–2014 period, the federal government set aside 3.5 billion
euro The euro ( symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens ...
s for scientific research in the country. Additionally, in 2001 a law was passed requiring the closing of all nuclear power plants within a period of 32 years. The shutdown time was extended to 2040 by a new government in 2010. After the Fukushima incident, the law was abrogated and the end of nuclear energy was set to 2022. After the 2013 federal elections, the new CDU/CSU and SPD coalition in important areas continued the ''Energiewende'' of the previous government, but also agreed on a major revision of the EEG.German Energy Blo
''Overview Renewable Energy Sources Act''
/ref> The German energy policy is framed within the European Union, and the March 2007
European Council The European Council (informally EUCO) is a collegiate body that defines the overall political direction and priorities of the European Union. It is composed of the heads of state or government of the EU member states, the President of the Eu ...
in Brussels approved a mandatory energy plan that requires a 20% reduction of carbon dioxide emissions before the year 2020 and the consumption of renewable energies to be 20% of total EU consumption (compared to 7% in 2006). The accord indirectly acknowledged the role of nuclear energy — which is not commonly regarded as renewable, but emissions-free — in the reduction of the emission of
greenhouse gas A greenhouse gas (GHG or GhG) is a gas that absorbs and emits radiant energy within the thermal infrared range, causing the greenhouse effect. The primary greenhouse gases in Earth's atmosphere are water vapor (), carbon dioxide (), methane ...
es, allowing each member state to decide whether or not to use nuclear-generated electricity. Also, a compromise was reached to achieve a minimum quota of 10%
biofuel Biofuel is a fuel that is produced over a short time span from biomass, rather than by the very slow natural processes involved in the formation of fossil fuels, such as oil. According to the United States Energy Information Administration (EIA ...
s in the total consumption of gasoline and diesel in transport in 2020.


Energy transition

''Energiewende'' ("energy transition") designates a significant change in
energy policy Energy policy is the manner in which a given entity (often governmental) has decided to address issues of energy development including energy conversion, distribution and use as well as reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in order to con ...
: The term encompasses a reorientation of policy from demand to supply and a shift from centralized to distributed generation (for example, producing heat and power in very small cogeneration units), which should replace overproduction and avoidable energy consumption with energy-saving measures and increased efficiency. The key policy document outlining the ''Energiewende'' was published by the German government in September 2010, some six months before the
Fukushima nuclear accident The was a nuclear accident in 2011 at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Ōkuma, Fukushima, Japan. The Proximate and ultimate causation, proximate cause of the disaster was the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, which occurred on t ...
. In addition, there will be an associated
research and development Research and development (R&D or R+D), known in Europe as research and technological development (RTD), is the set of innovative activities undertaken by corporations or governments in developing new services or products, and improving exist ...
drive. Legislative support was passed in September 2010. Important aspects include: The policy has been embraced by the German federal government and has resulted in a huge expansion of renewables, particularly wind power. Germany's share of renewables has increased from around 5% in 1999 to 22.9% in 2012, reaching close to the OECD average of 18% usage of renewables. Producers have been guaranteed a fixed feed-in tariff for 20 years, guaranteeing a fixed income. Energy co-operatives have been created, and efforts were made to decentralize control and profits. The large energy companies have a disproportionately small share of the renewables market. Nuclear power plants were closed, and the existing nine plants will close earlier than planned, in 2022. In May 2013, the
International Energy Agency The International Energy Agency (IEA) is a Paris-based autonomous intergovernmental organisation, established in 1974, that provides policy recommendations, analysis and data on the entire global energy sector, with a recent focus on curbing carb ...
commended Germany for its commitment to developing a comprehensive energy transition strategy, ambitious renewable energy goals, and plans to increase
efficient energy use Efficient energy use, sometimes simply called energy efficiency, is the process of reducing the amount of energy required to provide products and services. For example, insulating a building allows it to use less heating and cooling energy to ...
and supported this approach. Nevertheless, the scale of Germany's energy policy ambitions, coupled with the large size and energy intensity of its economy, and its central location in Europe's energy system, mean further policy measures must be developed if the country's ambitious energy transition is to maintain a workable balance between sustainability, affordability, and competitiveness. Subsidies aimed at stimulating the growth of renewables have driven up consumer energy prices by 12.5% in 2013. To date, German consumers have absorbed the costs of the ''Energiewende'', but the IEA says the debate over the social and economic impacts of the new approach has become more prominent as the share of renewable energy has continued to grow alongside rising electricity prices. The transition to a low-carbon energy sector requires public acceptance, and, therefore, retail electricity prices must remain at an affordable level. Presently, German electricity prices are among the highest in Europe, despite relatively low wholesale prices. At the same time, the IEA said the new energy policy is based on long-term investment decisions, and a strong policy consensus in Germany in favour of large-scale renewable energy commercialisation exists. The Energiewende has been subject to a number of
computer studies Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, information theory, and automation) to practical disciplines (including th ...
. Most concentrate on electricity generation and consumption as this sector is undergoing a rapid transition in terms of technologies and institutions.


Ownership

In Germany, almost half of renewable power capacity was citizen-owned as of 2013, and about 20 million Germans lived in so-called 100% renewable energy regions.Renewables 2014 Global Status Report, page 27
/ref>


Statistics

Increases in installed renewable electric power capacity and generation in recent years is shown in the charts and table below: })
''Version'': last published PDF data sheet as per October 2020.
''Note'': column "Biomass" contains all generated electricity from biomass, biofuels and biogas, excluding generation from biogenic
waste incineration Incineration is a waste treatment process that involves the combustion of substances contained in waste materials. Industrial plants for waste incineration are commonly referred to as waste-to-energy facilities. Incineration and other high ...
''Note'': data for year 2020 added, based on Fraunhofer ISE Energy-Charts


Public opinion

According to a 2017 national survey conducted for the German Renewable Energies Agency, of 1016 respondents 95% supported further expanding renewable energy. Almost two-thirds of the interviewees agreed to renewable power plants close to their homes, with the support increasing further if respondents already had experience with such plants in their neighborhood. With solar farms it increased from 72 to 94%, with wind power from 57 to 69%, and with
biofuels Biofuel is a fuel that is produced over a short time span from biomass, rather than by the very slow natural processes involved in the formation of fossil fuels, such as oil. According to the United States Energy Information Administration (EIA ...
from 39 to 56%.


See also


References

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External links


European Commission National Renewable Energy Action Plans

European Commission renewable energy Progress Reports

European Commission National Energy Efficiency Energy Action Plans


External links

{{Commons category
2011 Renewable Energy Sources in Figures
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130319044745/http://www.erneuerbare-energien.de/fileadmin/Daten_EE/Dokumente__PDFs_/broschuere_ee_zahlen_en_bf.pdf , date=19 March 2013 from th
Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety – Renewable Energy
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120323112205/http://www.erneuerbare-energien.de/inhalt/3860/ , date=23 March 2012
For German Homeowners, Renewable Energy is No Longer a Choice
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{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110520134354/http://www.germany.info/Vertretung/usa/en/06__Climate__Business__Science/01__Climate__Energy__Envir/Climate__Energy__Env.html , date=20 May 2011
Official site about renewable Energy in the Emscher-Lippe-Region
{{Energy in Germany {{Renewable energy by country {{Europe topic, Renewable energy in {{Europe topic, Energy in {{DEFAULTSORT:Renewable Energy In Germany