Renewable share in Germany’s net power generation little changed in 2016

Renewable energy sources produced about 34 percent of Germany’s net power generation for public electricity supply in 2016, according to first projections by solar energy research institute Fraunhofer ISE. “The share of renewables therefore remained roughly unchanged, compared to 2015,” Bruno Burger of Fraunhofer ISE told Clean Energy Wire. There was a drop in coal-fired and nuclear power generation last year, but a sharp rise of natural gas, according to the data. Earlier projections by AG Energiebilanzen (AGEB) had showed similar developments in German primary energy consumption. Fraunhofer ISE’s calculations are based on data by Germany’s statistics agency (Destatis) for January through September. Fourth quarter extrapolations are based on preliminary data by the European Energy Exchange (EEX) and the grid operators, and the final data available in autumn 2017 may differ, according to Burger.
Calculations on the share of renewables in Germany’s power mix can lead to varied results, depending on the preliminary data used. The share also differs when assessing net power generation (focus on power fed into the grid) versus gross power generation, which includes facilities that generate electricity for industry self-consumption and electricity that plants use for their operation. The share of renewables in Germany’s gross power generation in 2016 was about 32 percent, according to Fraunhofer ISE.

Find the complete document in English here.

Find out more about the difficulties surrounding the data on the share of renewables in the CLEW factsheet Germany’s renewable generation peaks remain shrouded in data fog.

Read about estimations of the share of renewables in Germany’s primary energy consumption in the CLEW article German carbon emissions rise in 2016 despite coal use drop.