Sobering energy balance
Germany prefers coal again
03/17/2022 11:24 am
Germany is shifting into reverse gear in the energy transition. In the past year, the share of wind power, photovoltaics and biogas in the energy balance has fallen. Good old coal is the new leader in power generation.
Conventional energy sources such as coal, natural gas and nuclear power were the most important energy sources for electricity generation in Germany last year – the proportion of renewables, on the other hand, declined. In 2021, 57.6 percent of the electricity generated in Germany and fed into the power grid came from conventional energy Federal Statistical Office communicates. In the previous year it was 52.9 percent. Above all, the share of coal grew.
Electricity from conventional energy increased by 11.9 percent compared to 2020. The feed-in from renewable energies, on the other hand, fell by 7.6 percent to a share of 42.4 percent; In 2020 it was 47.1 percent. The main reason was a spring with less wind, as the statisticians explained.
In total, almost 518 billion kilowatt hours of electricity were fed into the grid last year. That was 2.6 percent more electricity than in the previous year, but 3.1 percent less than in the pre-corona year 2019.
Coal the most important energy source
Coal was the most important energy source for electricity generation in Germany in 2021, as the statistical office explains. With an increase of 24.9 percent, electricity from coal-fired power plants also recorded the highest increase compared to the previous year. The share of coal-fired electricity in the total amount of electricity fed into the grid was 30.2 percent in 2021 – in the previous year it was 24.8 percent.
According to the Federal Office, around 60 percent of the electricity generated from coal in Germany comes from lignite and around 40 percent from hard coal. The demand for lignite is therefore “largely covered by domestic production”, the demand for hard coal by imports. About 50 percent of the hard coal comes from Russia.
Spring with little wind is harmful
In the case of renewables, the electricity feed-in from wind power decreased “significantly” by 13.3 percent, as the Federal Office further explained. This is “particularly due to the spring of 2021, which was less windy than in the previous year”. As a result, electricity from wind power only accounted for 21.5 percent of the amount of electricity fed into the grid. In 2020, wind power was the most important energy source in electricity generation for the first time, with a share of 25.2 percent. In contrast, electricity feed-in from photovoltaics fell only slightly by 0.5 percent to a share of 8.7 percent in 2021.
The share of natural gas in electricity generation, which is currently the focus of particular attention due to the economic consequences of the Russian attack on Ukraine, was 12.6 percent in 2021 – after 13.7 percent in the previous year. According to the Federal Office, electricity feed-in declined in the third quarter in particular due to significantly higher prices for natural gas.
France’s most important electricity supplier
The electricity feed-in from nuclear power increased compared to 2020 to a share of 12.6 percent of the total amount of electricity fed into the grid. In 2020 it was 12.1 percent. “At the end of 2021, however, three of the six nuclear power plants that were still in operation were shut down as part of the phase-out of nuclear energy,” emphasized the statistical office. Therefore, the proportion will decrease significantly.
The amount of electricity imported into Germany rose by 7.7 percent in 2021 compared to the previous year and, at 51.7 billion kilowatt hours, amounted to exactly one tenth of domestic production. As in previous years, France was the most important electricity supplier.
The amount of electricity exported from Germany increased by 5.0 percent compared to the previous year. With 70.3 billion kilowatt hours or 13.6 percent of the electricity fed into the domestic grid, Germany continued to export more electricity than it imported.