Renewables generate record amount of German electricity. (picture alliance / dpa)
Renewable sources of energy generated more than half of Germany's electricity consumption over the first quarter of this year for the first time, according to official calculations presented in Stuttgart and Berlin on Wednesday.
The figures, compiled by the ZSW solar and hydro energy research centre in the south-western state of Baden-Wuerttemberg and the Federal Association of Energy and Water Industries (BDEW), found that 52 percent of demand had been covered by wind, solar and hydro power over the three months, compared with 44.4 percent in the same period last year.
The BDEW said that predictions for the year as a whole should not be made on the basis of the first quarter, as special effects had contributed to the rise.
On Sunday February 16, almost 93 percent of demand was covered by renewables, partly as a result of high winds, and partly as a result of reduced demand caused by the novel coronavirus crisis.
While the figures were pleasing, they stood in sharp contrast to the drastic slowdown in building new wind and solar plant, BDEW head Kerstin Andreae said.
If the barriers to increased construction were not removed, the target of 65 percent of electricity generated by renewables by 2030 was in danger, she said.
Further expansion of wind power is being hampered on land by local objections to the building of wind turbines on grounds of appearance and health.
There is also opposition to constructing the power lines needed to transmit electricity from North Sea windfarms to industrial areas in the south, where the energy is needed.
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