German emissions were at their lowest point in around 70 years, as Europe’s largest economy managed to reduce its dependence on coal faster than expected, a study published Thursday showed.
Europe’s biggest economy emitted 673 million tonnes of the greenhouse gases last year, 73 million tonnes fewer than in 2022, according to the energy think tank Agora Energiewende.
The figure was at its lowest point “since the 1950s”, Agora said in a statement, while warning that Germany had work to do to further reduce its emissions.
The drop was “largely attributable to a strong decrease in coal power generation”, Agora said.
Germany resorted to the fuel in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, when Moscow cut off gas supplies to the European giant. But since then, Berlin has managed to pare back its use significantly.
Electricity generation from renewable sources was over 50 percent of the total in 2023 for the first time, while coal’s share dropped to 26 percent from 34 percent, according to figures published by the federal network agency on Wednesday.
The cut in coal use accounted for a reduction of 46 million tonnes in CO2 emissions, the think tank estimated.
The renewables record brought Germany closer to its target to produce 80 percent of its electricity from wind and solar by 2030, Agora chief Simon Mueller said.
“When it comes to the generation of electricity, we are on a very good path,” Economy Minister Robert Habeck said in a statement.
Strong wind generation and low demand during the holiday period sent electricity prices below zero in Germany, while wholesale markets turned negative for some hours in France, Denmark and Britain.
The German day-ahead price for Dec. 24 fell to -€3.37 ($-3.72) a megawatt-hour and €0.41 for Dec. 25, according to data from Epex Spot SE, the Paris-based power exchange. The contract for Wednesday, the first working day after Christmas, was €60.80.
Negative prices are occurring more frequently as the continent adds more weather-dependent renewable power. In Germany, wind-power generation is expected to stay strong for the rest of the week, peaking above 50 gigawatts on Friday, according to Bloomberg’s wind model. Output reached a record 53 gigawatts on Dec. 21.
Natural gas supplies to Europe by Russian energy giant Gazprom (GAZP.MM) were down 55.6% to 28.3 billion cubic metres (bcm) in 2023, Reuters calculations showed on Tuesday.
The calculations, based on data from the European gas transmission group Entsog and Gazprom’s daily reports on gas transit via Ukraine, showed that average daily pipeline exports of Russian gas to Europe declined to 77.6 million cubic metres (mcm) in 2023 from 174.8 mcm in 2022.
Pipeline deliveries of Russian natural gas to Europe were down 55.6 percent, year on year, in 2023.
Imports of gas via pipeline fell from 174.8 million cubic meters in 2022 to 77.6 million cubic meters in last year, according to a Reuters analysis of data from Russian state energy giant Gazprom and the European gas transmission network ENTSOG.
In 2022, Russia slashed exports of gas to Europe in retaliation for Europe’s support of Ukraine. Europe has also sought to wean off Russian gas in light of the invasion.
To cope with dwindling supplies of Russian gas, Europe has implemented measures to conserve energy and has ramped up wind and solar power. Last year, Germany, the largest economy in Europe, drew more than half of its power from renewables for the first time.
Amid gas shortages, Europe also revived mothballed coal plants and built new liquefied natural gas terminals to import gas from overseas. But clean energy and conservation efforts helped keep coal use in check. And with renewables on the rise, Europe’s new liquefied natural gas capacity is set to far exceed demand.
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With the help of mild weather, Europe made it through last winter, without the predicted resurgence of coal generation. While a peaking El Nino year might mean ominously rising global temperatures, a silver lining could be continued good luck as Europe makes its exit from dependence on Russian gas supplies.
Now, with Europe successfully on the other side of this winter and major supply disruptions avoided, it is clear the threatened coal comeback did not materialise. On the contrary, spring is starting in Europe with coal generation down in six of the previous seven months, historically high gas storage levels, and industry forecasts of continued renewable growth to come.
As fossil fuel generation dropped 12% year-on-year due to a large drop in power demand, renewables increased to overtake the share of fossil fuels in the EU electricity mix for the first time. Renewables accounted for 40% of EU generation between October and March, with fossil fuels at 37%. Coal power fell by 11% (-27 TWh) and gas by 13% (-38 TWh) compared to the previous winter.
Germany a success story?
A bit of context.
“Industrial production has fallen 12% in 6 years”
73% survey respondends view Germanys economy as bad, or very bad.
“People have lost belief in energy transition”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyKcKtjCVrY
The global economy needs to shrink enormously to fit the renewable energy future. It’s going to hurt!
Yes, German industries (and other companies) have been struggling in the past 6 years (which included the pandemic). Apparently some people are feeling down from the optimism about the transition from several years ago.
From the extended description of the video:
“Faced with the risk of recession, German industry is shrinking more than expected. In September, industrial production fell for the fourth month. Production decreased by 1.4%. compared to the expected 0.1 percent The sector is struggling with higher interest rates and a slowdown in China.”
Nothing energy-related there….
VW, which shot itself in the foot with the emission scandal, has had to pivot away from ICE vehicle manufacturing, and picked Poland for a big battery factory. German automakers as a whole have been losing both in terms of China’s market slowdown and making the transition to EVs.
Bosch producing car parts will likely be hit hard by the transition to BEVs which require fewer parts. They are also hit by the export slowdown.
Siemens Gamesa is having quality issues with the onshore wind turbines that they make.
And all of German business has been struggling with high interest rates introduced to calm post-pandemic inflation.
None of the market analysis I’ve seen for these companies is blaming the new energy sources, but rather interest rates and a significant decline in exports.
https://kpmg.com/de/en/home/insights/overview/economic-key-facts-germany.html
“The global economy needs to shrink enormously to fit the renewable energy future. It’s going to hurt!”
That seems to me to be exactly the opposite conclusion one should draw. RE will reduce the cost of energy as well as downstream pollution costs, should improve energy reliability, as well as stabilize the costs of energy production because fuels will not have to be purchased.
We will be harvesting an infinite supply of energy from the sun, and we should be able to enjoy an increase in the global economy once we have paid off the initial capital expense.
What I personally find encouraging in the continent of Europe, are the power linking projects – sharing international resources, such as the U.K’s link with Denmark:
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The joint venture between National Grid and Danish System Operator, Energinet, marks a significant milestone in interconnecting nations for clean energy exchange.
https://www.energylivenews.com/2024/01/02/national-grid-activates-worlds-longest-land-and-subsea-interconnector/
Work has begun on a 2.4 billion pound (2.8 billion euro) project to build the first power cable linking Britain and Germany, said NeuConnect Interconnector, which is leading the move to connect two of Europe’s largest energy markets for the first time
https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/construction-starts-first-uk-german-power-link-project-2023-07-19/
and the U.S.A has just started producing offshore wind energy..
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“This truly is a milestone for offshore wind and the entire renewable industry in North America. For the first time we have power flowing to the American consumers from a commercial-scale wind project, which marks the dawn of a new era for American renewables and the green transition.”
https://www.wbur.org/news/2024/01/03/vineyard-offshore-wind-massachusetts-first-power-clean-energy
Nowadays when I think of infrastructure (pipelines, transmission lines, rails) crossing long distances, I automatically think of vulnerability to sabotage.
🙁
Good point, at least U.K, Germany and Denmark are all members of NATO, and NATO is on the case for the need for protection/defense of submarine utilities.
Germany’s carbon intensity – grams of CO2 per kilowatt – was 10% higher in 2023 than in 2020 (399 g/kWh to 440.) They’re not producing cleaner power, just less of it. Renewable fraction went up, nuclear fraction fell, and they became a net importer.