A combination of Germany's economic recovery since the height of the coronavirus pandemic and the relatively cold weather this year resulted in a rise in energy consumption during 2021 - but the share of renewables fell slightly.
According to calculations released on Tuesday by the Working Group on Energy Balances (AGEB), energy consumption in Germany jumped by 2.6 per cent from last year's figure.
The effect of the significantly cooler weather alone would have caused energy consumption to have risen by just 0.6 percent, according to AGEB calculations.
Germany's growing economic momentum in 2021 had hardly any effect on energy consumption, however, as supply bottlenecks, a weakening construction sector and the end of the economic bounce caused by the end of the pandemic led to a stagnation in the economic recovery, according to AGEB.
Rising energy prices also led to a "noticeable reduction in consumption" in the year just ended, the report said.
For 2021 as a whole, AGEB expects a 4-percent increase in energy-related CO2 emissions. This is also due to a slight decline in the proportion of renewable energies in Germany's total energy consumption.
According to the report, less electricity was generated from wind power in 2021 due to the weather. This was "mainly compensated for by secured output from hard coal and lignite-fired power plants."
A separate report released on Tuesday found that the share of renewable energies in German electricity generation has fallen in the current year.
Industry associations attribute this, among other things, to the fact that there was comparatively little wind in 2021.
According to preliminary figures released by the German Association of Energy and Water Industries (BDEW) on Tuesday, renewable energies accounted for 40.9 percent of the gross electricity generation of 582 billion kilowatt hours in Germany. In the previous year, their share was 44.1 percent.
According to the BDEW, onshore electricity generation from wind turbines fell by 12 percent.
At the same time, the importance of other products grew, the BDEW found.
According to the data, lignite's share of electricity generation was 18.6 percent, hard coal's was 9.3 percent and petroleum products accounted for 11.9 percent.
According to the BDEW, electricity generation from lignite increased by 18 percent, and that from hard coal by as much as 26.7 percent.
According to the German Lignite Industry Association (DEBRIV), the enormous growth rates are also due to the fact that 2020 was an unusually windy year.
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