Informed Comment Homepage

Thoughts on the Middle East, History and Religion

Header Right

  • Featured
  • US politics
  • Middle East
  • Environment
  • US Foreign Policy
  • Energy
  • Economy
  • Politics
  • About
  • Archives
  • Submissions

© 2025 Informed Comment

  • Skip to content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Climate Crisis
Renewables provide 50% of German electricity in 1st quarter '22 as Berlin Seeks Escape from Russian Gas

Renewables provide 50% of German electricity in 1st quarter ’22 as Berlin Seeks Escape from Russian Gas

Clean Energy Wire 05/14/2022

Tweet
Share
Reddit
Email

By Edgar Meza | –

( Clean Energy Wire ) – Renewable energy sources accounted for 50 percent of electricity consumption in Germany in the first quarter of 2022 – around nine percentage points more than in the same period last year, according to a report by the Centre for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research Baden-Wuerttemberg (ZSW) and the German Association of Energy and Water Industries (BDEW).

A total of around 73.1 billion kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity were generated from wind energy, solar energy, hydroelectric power and other renewable energy sources between January and March. Renewables were unusually strong in the first two months of the year. Stormy weather in February led to a renewables share of 62 percent. In January it was 47 percent. March saw less wind but more hours of sunshine, resulting in a 41 percent share.

“The increase in the share of renewables in electricity consumption is encouraging, but it shouldn’t hide the fact that the expansion of wind and solar energy is currently far too sluggish,” said BDEW head Kerstin Andreae. “In order to quickly become independent of Russian energy imports, we urgently need to speed up the expansion of renewable energy sources.”

Article continues after bonus IC video
France 24 English: “Wind and sun: European nations step up shift to renewables • FRANCE 24 English”

Andreae called for more efficient planning and approval legislation in order to implement wind turbine and photovoltaic plant projects more quickly as well as an expansion of the power grid. “It must not happen that renewable electricity is lost because we lack grids,” she added.

Germany wants to fight the climate crisis and its heavy dependence on fossil fuel imports by speeding up the rollout of renewables with a massive overhaul of key energy legislation.

In the “biggest energy policy reform in decades,” the coalition of Social Democrats (SPD), Greens and Free Democrats (FDP) recently proposed to lift the rollout of wind and solar power “to a completely new level”.

All texts created by the Clean Energy Wire are available under a “Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence (CC BY 4.0)” .

Via Clean Energy Wire

Filed Under: Climate Crisis, Extreme Weather, Flooding, Germany, Russia, Solar Energy, Ukraine, wind energy

About the Author

Clean Energy Wire produces and facilitates top-quality journalism about the energy transition in Germany and beyond, and fosters cross-border cooperation among reporters covering the move towards a climate-friendly society.

Primary Sidebar

Support Independent Journalism

Click here to donate via PayPal.

Personal checks should be made out to Juan Cole and sent to me at:

Juan Cole
P. O. Box 4218,
Ann Arbor, MI 48104-2548
USA
(Remember, make the checks out to “Juan Cole” or they can’t be cashed)

STAY INFORMED

Join our newsletter to have sharp analysis delivered to your inbox every day.
Warning! Social media will not reliably deliver Informed Comment to you. They are shadowbanning news sites, especially if "controversial."
To see new IC posts, please sign up for our email Newsletter.

Social Media

Bluesky | Instagram

Popular

  • Israel's Netanyahu banks on TACO Trump as he Launches War on Iran to disrupt Negotiations
  • Iran's Hypersonic Missiles Hit Israeli Refinery, Military Sites, as Israel does the same to Tehran
  • A Pariah State? Western Nations Sanction Israeli Cabinet Members
  • Why did Israel defy Trump – and risk a major War – by striking Iran now? And what happens next?
  • Will Iran reply to Israeli Attacks with "War of Attrition?" Will its Nuclear Red Line Hold?

Gaza Yet Stands


Juan Cole's New Ebook at Amazon. Click Here to Buy
__________________________

Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid the Clash of Empires



Click here to Buy Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid the Clash of Empires.

The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam


Click here to Buy The Rubaiyat.
Sign up for our newsletter

Informed Comment © 2025 All Rights Reserved