In the first half of 2024, renewable energies continue to increase their share of electricity generation in Germany, reaching a new record high and contributing around 61.5 percent of electricity generation. Including the third quarter of 2024, the share amounts to around 56 percent of electricity consumption and is based mainly on the generation of electricity from solar and wind energy, biomass and hydropower. It is around 3 percentage points higher than in the previous year, 2023. According to the latest evaluations, gross electricity generation from renewables increased by 8.3 percent to 217 billion kilowatt hours.

Although the electricity mix in Germany in 2024 consists mainly of renewable energies in every month, at around 53 to 59 percent, it cannot manage without fossil fuels such as coal and gas. However, the share of coal and gas fell significantly by around 10.5 percent compared to the same nine-month period of the previous year. Gross electricity generation from these two conventional energy sources fell to 149 billion kilowatt hours.

Despite the successes in the expansion of renewable energies, Germany is falling short of its potential. The inadequate nationwide expansion of the power distribution grid is quickly identified as a bottleneck for the further expansion of renewable energies. In addition, electricity storage capacities are urgently needed for grid stability. Wind and sun are volatile and, by their very nature, are not constantly available for energy generation.

The expansion of the electricity grids is not keeping pace with the expansion of renewable energies. Compared to other countries such as Denmark and Norway, Germany needs to better coordinate the measures. In Denmark and Norway, the expansion is progressing at a rapid pace, so that according to experts, the energy supply in these countries could be completely independent of fossil fuels as early as 2029.

In Great Britain, the overall situation is more similar to that in Germany. However, the expansion of the electricity grids is even further behind. It is not without reason that the new government recently announced a detailed 10-year strategy for developing the necessary infrastructure. In terms of grid stability, the British are one step ahead with BESS projects. The storage capacity is above the EU average. Again, this is due to the fact that the outdated network is groaning under the strain.

However, it should be noted that although these states have the same goal of getting by without fossil fuels as soon as possible, they have different political, economic and, for example, geological conditions. But even with favorable starting points, such as those Norway has created for itself, it remains to be seen whether the energy transition will actually be completed in around five years, as the oil lobby is also fighting for its future.

But it is not only the oil lobby that is fighting for its market share. Nuclear energy is also repeatedly coming into the focus of strategic considerations. While Germany has completed its nuclear phase-out for the time being, the UK is building two large reactors, Hinkley Point C, and Romania has planned the construction of mini-reactors in its energy strategy, which was made public on November 21, 2024, and has also reintroduced domestic uranium mining into its considerations.

Admittedly, we have exaggerated a little. PtX should correctly be abbreviated as Power-to-X. The term was established in the 2010s in scientific and technical contexts as part of efforts to efficiently store surplus electricity production from renewable energies (primarily wind and solar) or to convert it into other usable forms of energy.

Power-to-X thus encompasses a range of processes with the aim of making surplus electricity usable, in particular for industrial and economic sectors that will not be able to manage without fossil fuels in the foreseeable future or that cannot currently be easily converted to climate-friendly energies. Power-to-X is therefore a fundamentally important building block for achieving net zero by 2050 in accordance with the Paris Agreement of December 12, 2015.

While Power thus describes the electricity generated from renewable energies, the X optionally stands for gas, such as methane, liquid fuels such as diesel, gasoline or kerosene, or solid synthetic substances.

But how does the process work in which electricity is converted into other usable forms of energy, and which is described by the term power-to-x with the to?

The keyword is hydrogen. To obtain hydrogen from water, electricity from renewable energies is needed. Carbon dioxide is then added to this to produce a gas or liquid fuel from the hydrogen, which can then be used in land, sea or air transport, for example.

For Power-to-X processes to be sustainable, climate-friendly and environmentally friendly, the procurement of the building blocks of water and carbon dioxide must also be considered. As a basic product, hydrogen needs water, which is already a scarce resource in some regions of the world. Ideally, therefore, the water should be drawn from regions without water shortages or from the desalination of seawater. Carbon dioxide can be obtained from the air or from sustainable biomass, so that no additional CO2 is released into the atmosphere during the Power-to-X process.

Further brief explanations in connection with Power-to-X:

Power-to-Gas (PtG) – This process converts electrical energy into gas, such as hydrogen or methane.
Power-to-Liquid (PtL) – Production of liquid fuels, like methanol or synthetic gasoline. In this process hydrogen and CO2 are converted into liquid energy carriers.
Power-to-Heat (PtH) – Conversion of electrical energy into heat, which can be used directly in district heating systems and in industrial processes.
Power-to-Chemicals (PtC) – Many scientists repeatedly emphasize the importance of PtC for the chemical industry. The main products are methanol and ammonia.

The 11th edition of the publication series “Renewable Energy and Jobs” by the International Renewable Energy Agency, or IRENA for short, has been available for a few days. The Annual Review 2024 shows a new record of 16.2 million people employed in the renewable energy sector worldwide. Overall, employment rose sharply by a further 2.5 million within a year (previous year's figure: 13.7 million).

The reason is easy to see. The photovoltaic industry is booming and employed 7.11 million people in 2023, 2.21 million more than in 2022. The bioenergy technology sector also saw a slight increase, with around 300,000 more employees. This is mainly due to the liquid biofuels sector, which will employ a total of 2.8 million people in 2023. The biomass and biogas sectors will employ 756,000 and 316,000 people respectively.

The hydropower sector lost around 200,000 jobs in 2023. There were no changes in the wind energy and solar (cooling and heating) technology sectors. Around 1.46 million people are employed in the wind energy sector worldwide, and around 700,000 in the solar (heating/cooling) sector.

In the booming photovoltaic industry, almost 4.6 million people (65%) are employed in the Chinese labor market, followed by India with just over 300,000 employees.

China also leads the TOP 10 country ranking in the field of wind energy, with 51% of employees. Not so in the field of liquid biofuels. Here, Brazil leads the ranking with around 1 million employees. Followed by Indonesia with around 800,000 employees.

Nevertheless, as our graphic shows, China dominates the renewable energy sector with a total of 7.4 million employees, followed, but clearly distanced, by the EU27 countries with 1.8 million, Brazil with a total of 1.56 million and the USA and India with around 1 million employees each.

In 2013, the global renewable energy sector employed around 8.5 million people. In 2023, 10 years later, the figure will be almost twice as high, at 16.2 million.

In contrast, the production value of 473 gigawatts of newly installed electrical capacity in 2023 and a cumulative total capacity of 3865 gigawatts. In 2013, the cumulative total capacity was still around 1600 GW. The technology areas of wind energy and solar photovoltaics were responsible for the rapid increase. The hydropower sector has provided a baseline of around 1000 to 1300 GW since IRENA began its evaluations (2010).

China's increasingly dominant role in the field of renewable energies is also reflected in the global comparison of investment volume. Between 2014 and 2023, China alone invested USD 1572 billion, around three times as much as the United States (USD 550 billion) and around twice as much as the European countries, which invested around USD 785 billion.

Repowering is the tuning of wind energy projects. By renewing existing projects, wind energy is used much more efficiently. Older turbines are replaced by modern and more powerful ones. In this way, more electricity is generated on the same area with fewer turbines.

This is all made possible by the research of recent years. Compared to the early days of wind energy in the 1980s, wind turbines in Germany are now being built with hub heights of up to 169 m instead of 30 m, for example. Wind turbines in 2024 are up to 600 times more efficient.

Most wind turbines in Germany are located in Schleswig-Holstein between the coasts of the North and Baltic Seas. The repowering rate here was already 25 percent in 2015. The increase in efficiency thanks to modern turbine technology often makes repowering attractive even before the planned service life of the existing turbines has expired.

While repowering has progressed at a rather low level in Germany since 2018, the all-time high of 1,148 MW from 2014 was narrowly missed in 2023 with a replaced capacity of 1,076 megawatts.

WindEurope estimates that around 27 gigawatts of wind energy capacity will be dismantled by 2030. Around 16 gigawatts of this is to be repowered. 11 gigawatts will be decommissioned. The total capacity will be increased to 28 gigawatts.

In order to achieve the climate targets, around 33 gigawatts of wind energy must be added each year in Europe. An expansion of wind energy of around 29 gigawatts per year is currently considered realistic. This would mean a total of 174 gigawatts of wind energy by the beginning of 2030.

The world hasn't gotten any easier for strategists and thought leaders, either. The Covid crisis, Russia's war on Ukraine, the related global energy economic crisis, and now the flare-up of the Middle East conflict. Issues that blur the continued urgent focus on #climate change?

Extreme weather events, the melting of glaciers and polar ice masses, and severe droughts have changed the awareness of society and politics. The energy transition is anchored as a goal and continues to progress globally.

A look at global #investment in the energy sector makes this clear. Within a decade, the investment volume in renewable energies has overtaken that in fossil energies. A look at the energy transition Index also shows that global activities have increased by 10 percent in the last decade, by only 6 percent in the area of system performance, but by 19 percent in the area of transition readiness.

Looking at the ETI ranking, Nordic countries such as Sweden, Finland, Norway and Denmark retain their top positions. They have made the most progress in terms of system performance and transition readiness. Germany, in 11th place in the ETI ranking, narrowly misses out on a top 10 position. France, on the other hand, manages this with 7th place. However, these countries account for only 2% of energy-related #CO2 emissions, 4% of total energy supply and 2% of the world's population.

China, the world's largest energy consumer, has stepped up its energy transition efforts by 48% in the last 10 years, twice the global average. In terms of so-called transition momentum, #India is one of the few countries that is making progress in all areas.

We have included the #UK in our chart. Reason: While the UK Government's current approach to net zero seems to be losing clarity, we want to better support our UK clients, and underline our commitment to the United Kingdom, by establishing HCE UK.

Nigeria is in the spotlight these days, as the German government is currently in Nigeria for talks. Therefore, we decided to include the ET status of Nigeria.
Interested in the topic. You can find more information here: world economic forum or directly in the Insight Report 2023.

At 32.7 percent, net electricity generation from onshore wind is clearly ahead of generation from lignite (13.7 percent, rank 2).

Together with the share from offshore wind (6.6 percent, rank 7), wind energy (onshore and offshore, 39.3 percent) even exceeds the total share from conventional energy generation (lignite and hard coal, gas, nuclear energy, 37 percent in total).

In the first three months of 2022, the share of renewable energies averaged 50.7 percent, and in March 2022 it was 43 percent.

By 2030, the German government plans to draw 80 percent of its energy supply from renewables, while at the same time significantly increasing electricity demand. In 2022, electricity consumption was around 485 TWh. In 2030, it is expected to be over 780 TWh.

So there is still much to be done in terms of the energy transition.

For users, the technification of the home does not only mean comforts, such as starting the sauna via app on the way back to home , starting the vacuum robot or simply a fast internet.

No, smart homes can save a lot of energy and money in the long run. The use of smart heating and cooling systems brings energy savings of around 50%.

Understandably, smart homes are becoming increasingly popular because of their benefits and conveniences. In the US, there were approximately 57.4 million households using smart technologies at least once a month in 2022. In Europe, there were around 44 million households in 2022, with a jump to over 97 million households predicted by 2025. In Germany, more than 27.5 million households are expected to be smartly equipped by 2026.

An important driver for this development is the expansion of the fibre-optic network. 8.5 million German households were connected to the fibre optic network in 2021. At the end of 2021, two-thirds of German households had a fibre-optic connection available. And the trend is rising. Supply is increasingly concentrated in rural areas.

Compared to the copper-based network, the fibre-optic network promises 17 times less power consumption.

The advantages of the Smart Home cannot be used carelessly. Caution is advised in the choice of technology. More than 40 percent of smart homes use an end device that is susceptible to cyber attacks, which in the worst case can shut down the entire household.

According to this, electricity consumption fell by around 4% compared to the previous year 2021. This may be due on the one hand to the rather mild winter until the turn of the year and on the other hand, in view of Russia's war of aggression in Ukraine and the associated turbulence in the energy market, to the more conscious saving behaviour of the German population.

Generation from conventional energies fell by around -5.7 percent compared to the previous year, while generation from renewable energies rose significantly by +8.5* percent. There was a particular increase of around 18.7 percent in renewable energies in the photovoltaic sector, not only due to the favourable weather conditions, but also due to the addition of +4.4 GW of plants to a total of 57.7 GW.

Wind power generation was also higher than in the previous year. Onshore generation increased by +12.4 percent and offshore generation by +2.9 percent.

For the coming years, the federal government plans a significant expansion of electricity generation from onshore wind turbines by +10 GW/year. However, this plan is stalling due to a lack of and extensive complaints about permits. The measures and plans of the so-called Easter Package have so far come to nothing.

Generation from nuclear energy decreased significantly, resulting from the shutdown of individual nuclear power plants at the end of 2021. Overall, the share of total generation fell by -49.8 percent. In contrast, generation by gas-fired power plants increased by +1.7 percent despite the lack of gas deliveries from Russia. This is attributed to the high operational flexibility of the power plants. Compared to coal-fired and nuclear power plants, they are far less cumbersome to manage in ramping up and down.

The return of coal-fired power plants to the electricity market by the federal government in response to wholesale gas prices increased generation by +5.4 percent from lignite and +21.4 percent from hard coal.

The average wholesale electricity price rose by +140.4 per cent in 2022 compared to the previous year to 232.85 euros/MWh

For more information on the electricity market in 2022, see SMARD | Der Strommarkt im Jahr 2022.

*Note: The significant increase of +8.5 percent in generation from renewable energies refers to the so-called grid load and not to gross electricity consumption. The grid load does not include power plants' own consumption or industrial grids, so that the calculation basis used tends to result in a higher share of renewable energies compared to the share of gross electricity consumption.

The plan is mainly based on the realisation of further projects in the field of solar energy. With a total of 9 GW, half of the projects with a size of up to 1 MW and half with a size of over 1 MW are to be auctioned. In addition, there are onshore projects for a total of 3 GW and 1 GW from biogas and landfill gas.

In total, 30.2 billion euros are to be tendered. Already in the coming year 2023, the planned tender volume amounts to 8.7 billion euros. In the following years 2024 to 2027, the projects are expected to amount to 3.5 billion euros (2024), 6.6 billion euros (2025), 5.3 billion euros (2026) and 6.1 billion euros (2027).
Poland will have realised around 12 GW of installed projects in solar energy by the end of 2022. Experts assume that in 2030 the capacities in the solar sector will be expanded to 30 GW.

Onshore wind turbines are installed in Poland with a volume of almost 7,000 MW. The previous record feed-in capacity was reached on 16 February 2022 with 6,718 MW. However, onshore expansion is currently faltering, and the current additions are only due to projects that were started before the introduction of the 10 H distance rule.

The Polish government is focusing more on offshore wind in the Baltic Sea. Currently, two offshore projects with a capacity of 1,440 MW are in the advanced planning stage. They thus represent a significant part of the first phase of the development programme for offshore wind energy in Poland with a capacity of 5,900 MW.

If everything goes according to schedule, the permits for the first two projects should be granted in 2024 and then the first kilowatt hours should be fed into the Polish grid in 2027.