Renewables on rise in Germany, but faster growth needed for 2030 target – report

Renewable energy capacity has increased rapidly in Germany in the past year, but the expansion must be accelerated further for the country to meet its target of sourcing 80 percent of electricity from renewables by 2030, a report by consultancy EY for utility association BDEW found. While the energy transition has gained momentum overall with simplified planning and approval proceedings, investments to the tune of 721 billion euros are needed by the end of the decade to achieve the country's emission reduction and renewable expansion targets, according to EY's 'Energy Transition Progress Monitor'. Especially electricity and heat generation, power grids, the hydrogen economy, heating and transport need additional investment, the authors found.

"The pressure to act remains high in order to achieve the targets by 2030," BDEW head Kerstin Andreae said. "The progress made in speeding up planning and approval procedures according to our progress monitor is positive. This trend must be maintained and further strengthened." The report highlighted progress in electricity transmission, with power supply outages roughly halving in time since 2006, as well as heat pump sales rising 50 percent in 2023. However, it also noted that skilled labour shortages and controversies around the phase-out of fossil-fuel boilers had hampered progress in heating transition.

Renewables covered over half of Germany's gross electricity consumption for the first time in 2023. Solar capacity rose by 13.6 gigawatts (GW), almost doubling expansion compared to 2022, while onshore and offshore wind saw additions of around 3.3 and 0.3 GW, respectively. However, new solar PV installations need to rise to 22 GW per year as of 2026 to achieve a total capacity of 215 GW by 2030. Onshore and offshore wind expansion must increase by a factor of 1.7 and a factor of 9 compated to last year to reach their respective targets of 115 GW and 30 GW by the end of the decade.