BDEW & ZSW: Renewable energies cover 58 percent of electricity consumption

In the first half of 2024, renewable energies covered around 58 percent of gross domestic electricity consumption - more than ever before in a half-year period. This is shown by preliminary calculations from the Center for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research Baden-Württemberg (ZSW) and the Federal Association of the Energy and Water Industries (BDEW). The share of renewable energies in electricity consumption was thus almost six percentage points higher than in the first half of the previous year (first half of 2023: 52 percent). Throughout the entire six months, renewable energies covered more than half of the monthly electricity consumption. Since April, they recorded a monthly share of 59 percent. In particular, photovoltaic systems produced significantly more electricity with a total of 37 billion kWh than in the previous year – also thanks to the record expansion in 2023. In June 2024, according to preliminary calculations, PV systems produced more than 10 billion kWh of electricity within a month for the very first time. Hydropower also contributed an above-average amount to electricity generation in the first half-year with 12 billion kWh of electricity.

"Once again, we are seeing a record share of renewables in electricity consumption. This is the reward for the persistent expansion of wind energy and photovoltaics in recent years. Just as important as the expansion of renewables are the corresponding infrastructures. The expansion and transformation of the power grids as well as the development of storage and innovative concepts must go hand in hand with the expansion of renewables. Green electricity is useless if it cannot be utilized," explains Kerstin Andreae, Chair of the BDEW Executive Board.

The federal government must remove the remaining obstacles here. Furthermore, sector coupling will become an important building block in the energy system of the future, and the production of hydrogen will play a central role in this. The federal government should advocate pragmatic criteria for green and climate-neutral hydrogen in Brussels. According to Andreae, this still applies to planning and approval procedures. She also sees the construction of hydrogen-capable gas power plants as central.

"Because despite the encouraging numbers: The generation of electricity from wind and sun is not constant. We need secured power for system services and times when the sun does not shine and the wind does not blow," appealed the BDEW chief. 

From the perspective of the ZSW, this renewed record emphasizes that an efficient, reliable, safe, and greenhouse gas neutral electricity supply based on nearly 100% renewable energies, including hydrogen, can be achieved in Germany by 2035. This also provides a stable foundation for the industry on its way to climate-neutral production.

"However, it should also be noted that the value creation in the production of renewable energy systems currently almost exclusively takes place outside Germany and largely outside Europe," cautioned Prof. Dr. Frithjof Staiß, Managing Director of the ZSW.

From his perspective, it is all the more important that Germany specifically utilizes the EU's Net Zero Industry Act, adopted on March 16, 2024, to (re)locate the production of key technologies such as photovoltaics, wind energy, battery technologies, electrolysis, fuel cells, and power grid components in Germany. If this does not succeed, dependency on supplies, particularly from non-European countries, will continue to increase, warns the ZSW chief.