(Clean Energy Wire) – The amount of electricity produced with renewable energy sources in Germany within one year could theoretically power the country for 172 days, energy provider E.ON has calculated. Germany’s “Green Energy Day” thus would be on 20 June in 2020 – 47 percent of the whole year, and more than two weeks later than last year, the company said.
Twenty years ago, the amount of electricity produced with renewables would have been exhausted in January.
“This day therefore is an indicator for the energy transition’s status quo,” E.ON argued. Several renewable energy production records in the first half of 2020 and a lower power demand due to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic helped push the date further back this year, the company explained.
According to a survey commissioned by the energy provider, about one third of all people in the country are underestimating the capability of renewable power sources, while around one in four think they currently provide more electricity than they actually do. Another 25 percent estimated correctly that the output of renewables in theory can cover Germany’s electricity demand for about six months.
Renewables covered more than half of Germany’s electricity consumption over a whole quarter for the first time ever between January and March 2020 and lots of sunshine and wind let renewable energy production soar also in the months that followed. The government aims to bring the share of renewables in annual power consumption to 65 percent by 2030, from about 43 percent in 2019.
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