Offshore wind produced nearly 17 billion kWh of renewable energy in Germany in the first three quarters of 2019, representing a 31% increase compared to the previous year.
The figures were released by the Centre for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research BadenWürttemberg (ZSW) and the German Association of Energy and Water Industries (BDEW) based on an initial assessment.
In total, renewable energy accounted for 42.9% of Germany’s gross electricity consumption in the first three quarters, which is a new record as it represents an increase of almost 5 percentage points compared to last year .
Around 183 billion kWh of electricity was generated from the wind, sun and other renewables, compared to 166.5 billion kWh from the first three quarters of 2018, the report writes.
Renewables accounted for almost 50% more than the generation of electricity from lignite and hard coal, which contributed around 125 billion kWh. In March, renewables reached even 52% due to extremely strong wind.
However, according to Frithjof Staiß, ZSW Managing Director, Germany’s target of covering 65% of its power generation with renewables by 2030 is endangered and more wind energy and photovoltaics are required to meet the goal, as well as effective measures for solar power expansion.
The report concludes that if wind and sunshine in the fourth quarter are similar to the average of recent years, the share of renewables for the whole year could be just over 42%.