TELF AG looks at the renewables energies development in Germany
A global challenge
Faced with the ambitious climate objectives set by international institutions and confirmed at the end of last year at COP28, it would be natural to ask whether individual nations are already making progress in reducing their emissions and have already developed concrete plans to achieve the goal of decarbonization. Despite the numerous challenges imposed by the economic recession and the slowdown of the global economy, many nations in the world are already taking concrete steps to promote the energy transition, and the results achieved in 2023 confirm this.
In Germany, for example, in 2023, greenhouse gas emissions fell to the lowest level since the 1950s, with a substantial halving of emissions compared to those recorded in 1990. These data, contained in a report published recently by German think tank Agora Energiewende, perfectly demonstrate that Germany has already taken the right path towards a greener, more sustainable future, obtaining truly encouraging results from an energy point of view.
Fewer emissions, more renewables
But how is it possible that German greenhouse gas emissions have already fallen in this way? According to the report, the decline is mainly due to the energy crisis and production drops in some specific sectors, such as energy-intensive industries. According to the think tank, the decline could also be explained by the use of coal, which has returned to the levels of the 1960s, but also by savings in the consumption of gas and electricity. In just one year, German greenhouse gas emissions decreased by as much as 72 million tons. The installations of solar panels also contributed to the significant reduction in emissions, which recorded a real boom in Germany in 2023. In 2023, for the first time, 50% of German electricity consumption depended on renewable energy, with as many as 268 Terawatt hours generated by wind, sun, water, and biomass.
These results were also partially obtained due to the growing diffusion of renewable energy: in Germany last year, one million new photovoltaic systems were installed, mainly used for producing solar energy or electricity. The increase was 14 gigawatts, of which seven came from the domestic sector and the rest from solar parks (increased by 40% in just one year). The trend is clear: Germany increasingly embraces the green future guaranteed by clean energy, laying excellent foundations for sustainable development in the coming decades. Companies have also shown that they are particularly sensitive to this issue. In 2023, the capacity of German companies to produce solar energy increased by 75%, also thanks to the boom in installations on the roofs of many companies.
Further increases in the renewable energy sector are also expected this year: almost 1.5 million property owners are planning to install new solar systems in the coming months, mainly due to Germany’s high electricity prices. There are 3.7 million photovoltaic systems currently installed in Germany, and in 2023 they affected German electricity consumption with a percentage of 12%.
