East Germany’s full renewables potential still untapped

East Germany could produce more energy from renewable sources than it uses, but the region’s full potential remains untapped, the Reiner Lemoine Institut research organisation says in a press release. Wind energy production in particular could still be expanded in the country's less densely populated eastern states, the institute explains. If the full benefits of sector coupling (using renewable power to cover heating and transport) were reaped in the east, renewable power production would not have to be capped during days of high output, the researchers said. Project leader Elisa Gaudchau said sector coupling still faces considerable legal hurdles that ought to be removed “to pave the way for this important technology.”

Read the press release in German here.