Renewables well ahead in the energy mix

07/05/2023

Source: Energy & Management Powernews

The share of renewable energies in electricity generation in Germany increased to 57.7 percent in the first half of 2023. This is significantly more than in the same period last year.

The Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE has presented data on net electricity generation for the first half of 2023, according to the Energy-Charts data platform. With a share of 57.7 percent of net electricity generation for public power supply - i.e. the electricity mix that comes out of the socket - generation from renewables was significantly higher than the previous year's 51.8 percent. Renewables accounted for 55.5 percent of electricity consumption.

Solar and wind power plants together fed 97 billion kWh into the public grid, down from 99 billion kWh in the first half of 2022.The reason this figure is lower, despite the higher share of renewables, is that overall electricity consumption fell sharply. Indeed, there was a much more significant decline in the other sectors. Electricity production from lignite fell by 21 percent, hard coal by 23 percent, natural gas recorded a minus of 4 percent and nuclear energy declined by 57 percent.

Nuclear power shutdown well absorbed

The effects of the nuclear power plant phase-out with the shutdown of the last nuclear power plants Isar 2, Emsland and Neckarwestheim II in April 2023 have been well absorbed, according to the Fraunhofer analysis. Factors such as increasing production from renewable sources, the weather and increased production in neighboring European countries would have had a much greater impact on the price of electricity than the shutdown of the three reactors. According to the report, the missing 30 billion kWh from the shutdown reactors was offset by lower consumption, reduced exports, increased imports and the addition of solar and wind capacity.

Load was 234 billion kWh in the first half of the year, compared with 250 billion kWh in the same period last year, continuing a downward trend. Electricity production fell to 225 billion kWh from 252 billion kWh in the first half of 2022. Exports of electricity to France were lower after the French nuclear reactors came back online. Exports to Austria and Switzerland fell due to higher domestic generation and lower consumption there.

The electricity mix coming out of the socket in Germany Source: Fraunhofer ISE

Wind energy was by far the most important renewable energy source. Wind turbines produced about 67 billion kWh in the first half of 2023, down slightly from 68 billion kWh in the first half of 2022. February was a weak wind month, lowering the overall result. Photovoltaic systems fed about 30 billion kWh into the public grid in the first half of the year, a slight decrease from the previous year's 31 billion kWh, for which the weak month of March was mainly responsible Hydropower produced 9.3 billion kWh in the first half of the year, higher than the previous year's 8.2 billion kWh. Biomass power generation of 21 billion kWh was on par with the previous year.

Together, solar, wind, hydro, and biomass renewables produced about 130 billion kWh in the first half of 2023, down slightly from 131 billion kWh a year earlier.

Power and natural gas prices fell sharply

The volume-weighted average power price in the 2023 day-ahead auction was 100.54 euros/MWh. This is a significant decrease compared to the first half of 2022, when the price was 181.28 euros/MWh. The average price for natural gas in the first half of 2023 was 45.29 euros/MWh. In the same period last year, it was still 99.84 euros/MWh. The average CO2 certificate price per ton of CO2 in Germany has risen to 86.96 euros, which is higher than the 2022 value of 83.01 euros.

According to Fraunhofer's findings, the addition of photovoltaic capacity is currently within the target corridor of Germany's climate protection goals: From January to May alone, 5,000 MW were added, which would reach the target of 9,000 MW in 2023. Wind expansion, on the other hand, is not on track: by the end of May, 1,000 MW of onshore wind had been installed, which would fall short of the target of 4,000 MW. Wind offshore additions are also low at 230 MW.

In contrast, there has been great movement in the battery storage sector. In the first half of 2023, 1,700 MW of storage capacity with a storage capacity of 2,400 MWh was added, so that 5,600 MW of capacity with 8,300 MWh of capacity is now installed in Germany. By the end of the year, this capacity is expected to increase to 10,000 to 11,000 MWh.

Author: Günter Drewnitzky