Climate Denial Crock of the Week

Clean Energy Wire:

Germany is set to produce a record 256 terawatt hours (TWh) of electricity from renewable sources this year, but the amount is still insufficient to put it on track to its 2030 targets, writes the Federal Environment Agency (UBA) in a press release. Preliminary data by the Working Group on Renewable Energy Statistics (AGEE-Stat) show that sunny weather helped boost solar PVproduction 23 percent compared to 2021, while wind power production also increased. However, to stay on track to reaching about 600 TWh by 2030 – or 80 percent of total power consumption – renewables would have had to produce around 270 TWh this year.

Overall, renewables will have produced 46 percent of German power consumption in 2022 (up from 41% in 2021), UBA forecast. Germany saw the highest renewables share in electricity use to date in 2020 at 45.2 percent. UBA head Dirk Messner said the focus must be on expanding onshore wind power. Only if the right groundwork is laid, “is there hope of achieving climate goals and overcoming dependence on Russian natural gas and fossil raw materials,” he added.

Shortly after taking office, the German coalition government put into motion one of the largest reform efforts on renewable energy and efficiency the country has seen. Russia’s war in Ukraine and the coinciding energy crisis have prompted the economy and climate ministry to present many amendments to existing laws and funding schemes much faster than planned. These are mainly geared towards boosting the country’s renewable energy capacity, especially onshore wind, but also to accelerate grid planning and the development of offshore wind connections, and to make building stock more efficient. Many of the reforms have already been decided in parliament during 2022. AGEE-Stat is made up of experts from various federal ministries and agencies and consolidates data on the development of renewable energy in Germany.

Successful Farming:

FRANKFURT, Dec 16 (Reuters) – Renewable energy accounted for 46.9% of German power consumption 2022, up 4.9 percentage points from a year earlier thanks to favourable weather conditions, industry groups said on Friday.

Both higher sunshine intensity and wind speeds were behind the trend, utility industry association BDEW and the Centre for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research (ZSW) said in a statement.

The preliminary figures were calculated under European Union requirements that base market share of individual electricity sources on usage rather than production, a basis also adopted by Berlin for its climate target definitions, they said.

The share of renewables in German power consumption in 2021 had been 42.0%.