Germany will complete much of its electricity market reform this year, with the goal of significantly increasing the share of renewable energy in the power mix by 2030, Economy Minister Robert Habeck said on Monday (20 February) local time.
As Europe's largest economy, Germany is also the region's largest consumer of energy. Germany aims to generate 80 per cent of its electricity from wind and solar power by 2030, a goal that has become more urgent as it reduced its imports of fossil fuels from Russia last year.
"We will have done most of the necessary work by 2023," Habeck told a consultation meeting on electricity market reform on Monday.
Data released last month showed that Germany will consume a total of 484.2 terawatt hours (TWh) of electricity in 2022, down 4.0 percent year-on-year; 506.8 TWh of electricity generation, up 0.4 percent year-on-year; 48.3 percent of electricity generated from renewable sources, compared to 42.7 percent previously; 25.9 percent of electricity generated from renewable sources, 25.9 percent from onshore and offshore wind, 11.4 percent from photovoltaics, 11.4 percent from biomass 8.2 per cent and hydro and other 2.8 per cent.
As coal and nuclear power are phased out and as a transition, the German government is preparing to launch tenders for natural gas-fired power projects, according to Harbeck. He said these tenders would be ready this quarter and that natural gas would soon be replaced by zero-carbon alternatives, such as hydrogen made through the electrolysis of clean energy.
The challenge for the German government is that as electric cars and heat pumps become more popular, the demand for electricity will also increase. Habeck said that the German government's working assumption is that the country will use 700-750 TWh of electricity by 2030.
Habeck noted that Germany's electricity reform plans will differ from those of other EU countries, which are likely to have more stable sources of electricity.
Germany set the goal of abandoning nuclear power in 2011, and despite the fact that the German government extended the operation of its three remaining nuclear power plants until April this year due to the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, Germany's goal of abandoning nuclear power has not changed.
In contrast, Germany's neighbour France is heavily dependent on nuclear power. France has the highest share of nuclear power generation in the world, which has remained stable at over 70% in the 2010s.
Post time: Mar-10-2023