Renewable energy in Germany
     
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| Renewable Energy in Germany (from top left to bottom right): · Renewables in the German electricity sector · Biogas fermenter in Hornstet · Wind park in Bernburg · Geothermal power plant in Neustadt-Glewe · German Levelized cost of electricity in 2013 · German wind and solar in Rhineland-Palatinate |
Germany's renewable energy sector is among the most innovative and successful worldwide. Net-generation from renewable energy sources in the German electricity sector has increased from 6.3% in 2000 to about 34% in 2016.
On Sunday 15 May 2016 at 14:00 hours, renewables supplied nearly all of domestic electricity demand.
While peak-generation from combined wind and solar reached a previous all-time high of 74% in April 2014, wind power saw its best day ever on December 12, 2014, generating 562 GWh.Germany has been called "the world's first major renewable energy economy".
More than 23,000 wind turbines and 1.4 million solar PV systems are distributed all over the country's area of 357,000 square kilometers. As of 2011, Germany's federal government is working on a new plan for increasing renewable energy commercialization, with a particular focus on offshore wind farms. A major challenge is the development of sufficient network capacities for transmitting the power generated in the North Sea to the large industrial consumers in southern parts of the country.
According to official figures, some 370,000 people were employed in the renewable energy sector in 2010, especially in small and medium-sized companies. This is an increase of around 8% compared to 2009 (around 339,500 jobs), and well over twice the number of jobs in 2004 (160,500). About two-thirds of these jobs are attributed to the Renewable Energy Sources Act.
Germany's energy transition, the Energiewende, designates a significant change in energy policy from 2011. The term encompasses a reorientation of policy from demand to supply and a shift from centralized to distributed generation (for example, producing heat and power in very small cogeneration units), which should replace overproduction and avoidable energy consumption with energy-saving measures and increased efficiency.
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