Sunny autumn brings Germany record October solar power output

Germany has registered a new October record for solar PV power output last month, PV Magazine reports based on data by Fraunhofer ISE. Solar generation reached 3.6 terawatt hours (TWh), a fifty-percent increase over the same month last year and the highest total ever recorded in October. Overall, renewable sources generated more electricity than fossil fuels, with power from solar and wind energy totalling 16.9 terawatt hours (TWh), whereas lignite, hard coal and natural gas generated 16.4 TWh.

Renewables made up 43 percent of total electricity consumed in the first three quarters of 2021, down from 48 percent during the same period in 2020 when conditions were unusually windy. Despite experiencing a comparatively cloudy summer, Germany’s solar PV installations have generated 40.7 terawatt-hours (TWh) worth of electricity between January and August 2021, roughly the same as during the same period in the previous year, when much more sunshine hours were recorded.