The struggle to find sustainable energy resource is getting easier with every renewable source innovation. From treating water from exploding lakes to nanotechnology powered solar panels, countries are gradually moving towards renewable sources of energy.
Europe’s biggest economy, Germany, aims to make a total shift to the renewable energy source by 2030 and completely renouncing coal in recent years. In 2018, the country made renewables as its main source of energy for the very first time. Further plans are being made for an absolute transformation of the German energy industry.
German History With The Renewable Energy Source Conversion
Germany’s renewable energy source installations increased considerably from 19.1% in 2010 to 40% in 2018. Even in 2019, experts are sure to not let it fall below 40, predicting favorable weather conditions and following through with plans for the intended environmentally positive shift.
By 2030 though, Germany aims for a 65% mark in renewable energy usage primarily through onshore wind and solar.
“We will not fall below the 40 percent in 2019 because more renewable installations are being built and weather patterns will not change that dramatically,” said Bruno Burger of Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE, Freiburg, Germany.
Green Power Sceptics Acknowledge Favourable Weather Patterns
Critics of green power credit favorable weather patterns for a profitable renewable energy source output. According to them, this also does not validate the sector’s contribution to obtain energy supplies.
German 2018 Power Output Sources
The increase in solar power in 2018 is one example. The said source contributed to about 16% of the energy requirements, which amounts to 45.7TWh due to a prolonged hot summer.
The hot summer hurt the hydropower resource due to dried out rivers and low rainfall. Due to which the industry could only convert to 3.2% of the total output at 17TWh.
Wind power is counted as the second biggest energy source in Germany, after coal. The industry amounted to 20.4% of the total energy requirement with 111TWh from an on and offshore capacity of 60GW.
Domestically mined coal contributed to 24.1% of the German energy output while imported coal amounted to 13.9% at 75.7TWh.
Biomass added to 8.3%, gas-to-power plants to 7.4 and nuclear energy to 13.3%.
Germany also looks forward to completely parting ways from using nuclear-powered energy. And as it exports large volumes of energy to fellow European countries, like France and Netherlands, we will have to see in the coming years how Germany will still manage to do that without coal and nuclear power.
It is commendable how Germany is consistently increasing its own target by setting up multiple goals in steps. It reached its goal for 2020 three years early this year, showing the world that the best way to get results is to consistently make efforts and not wait for the last moment.
