Almost half of Germany’s gross electricity consumption is covered by renewable energies. This means that the proportion has increased significantly compared to the first half of 2021. This is partly due to the weather conditions, but the expansion of photovoltaic systems is also reflected in the figures.
Energy generation from renewable sources increased by around one seventh in the first half of the year compared to the same period last year. The share of renewable energies in gross electricity consumption was around 49 percent – in 2021 as a whole it was still 41 percent, as the Federal Environment Agency in Dessau announced. In the first six months of 2022, a total of over 137 terawatt hours (TWh) of renewable electricity was generated – around 14 percent more than in the first half of 2021.
The experts gave several reasons for this development – such as more favorable weather conditions than in the previous year: More wind and more sunshine meant more energy production. In addition, the growing expansion of photovoltaic systems has also made itself felt: In the months of May and June, new highs were registered in electricity generation from photovoltaics.
To put this in perspective: According to the information, about as much electricity was fed into the public grid from photovoltaic systems in both months as from all natural gas and coal-fired power plants combined. In the first half of the year, the electricity generated by photovoltaics amounted to around 33 TWh, almost 22 percent more than in the same period of the previous year.
Due to better wind conditions than in the first half of the previous year with little wind, power generation from wind energy increased by around 18 percent from 58 TWh (2021) to 69 TWh in the current year. Wind energy thus contributed about half of all renewable electricity. Just over four-fifths of wind power was generated onshore, with the remainder being generated by offshore wind turbines.
In the first half of 2022, almost 26 TWh of electricity was generated from biomass and biogenic waste. This roughly corresponded to the value of the previous year. At just under 10 TWh, electricity generation from hydropower plants was also at the same level as the previous year. The share of hydropower in renewable electricity generation fell continuously due to the expansion of wind and solar energy and was currently only 7 percent.
The balance was drawn up by the “Renewable Energy Statistics” working group at the Federal Environment Agency. On behalf of the Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection, this group balances the use of renewable energies and continuously compiles reports on the development of renewable energies based on currently available data.
