We hope you all had a wonderful transition to 2018!
Looking back at 2017, it is clear that Germany again made strides in its production of renewable energy – and this is bound only to rise even more. A whopping 33.1 percent of Germany’s electricity generation came from renewable energy sources last year according to preliminary data. In fact, Germany experienced many days in which its supply was greater than its demand, causing some German companies to get paid, in a sense, to use it.
In Germany, there are some days where the supply of renewable energy produced is actually greater than needed, usually due to the weather. Examples includes particularly warm or sunny days, some weekends (when businesses and large factories are closed) and days with strong breezes. On such days, large energy consumers (such as factory owners) are occasionally paid to take the power, when the excess power cannot be stored. (This “payment” usually comes in the form of a reduction on a future electricity bill.)
During days when Germany had excess power in 2017, it also often exported this power to neighboring countries.
Throughout last year, Germany broke several renewable energy records. On April 30, for example, 85 percent of its electricity came from renewables, thanks to windy, sunny and warm weather. In the first half of 2017, Germany had generated 37.6 percent of its electricity from renewable energy.
Of course, the fact that Germany produced so much renewable energy is good news. It also highlights the challenges that we face as we make the transition to renewable energy. The extension and adaptation of the power grid to the needs of larger shares of intermittent renewable energy such as sun and wind as well as more storage options are solutions for the future power system.
By Nicole Glass, German Embassy Washington