“Natural gas consumption continues substantial surge in 2017”

Germany’s consumption of natural gas continued to rise in the first half of 2017, the German Association of Energy and Water Industries (BDEW) says in a press release. Since January, Germans burned the equivalent of 516 billion kilowatt hours (kWh) of natural gas, 3 percent more than over the same period last year, BDEW says. This is remarkable, since natural gas consumption had already risen by 11 percent in the first half 2016, it adds. The association says that besides the weather, the increased use of combined-heat-and-power (CHP) systems was mainly responsible for the surge in consumption. BDEW head Stefan Kapferer praised CHP as making “an important contribution to meeting the 2020 climate targets.” Germany’s total power consumption rose by 1.6 percent compared to the first half of 2016, which BDEW said was partly due to the country’s sustained economic growth.

See the press release in German here. 

See the CLEW factsheets Germany’s energy consumption and power mix in charts and Combined heat and power – an Energiewende cornerstone? for more information.