Germany reaches 100% renewables for a few hours, 42% so far this year

Germany, the biggest economy in Europe, reached 100 per cent renewable energy for several hours on Monday, as huge output from its array of  wind and solar installations coincided with a May Day holiday when demand was subdued.

According to the official data, the combination of renewables reached 58GW round 1pm, compared with a demand peak of around 53GW. For several hours either side of that time, the renewable output was greater than demand, with excess power being exported to neighbouring countries.

Over the whole day, renewables accounted for 71.3 per cent of total generation on Monday, May 1, with wind and solar contributing 55 per cent.

Over the year to date, the contribution of wind and solar has been 42 per cent of total generation, with wind and solar providing 28 per cent, and wind (22.2 per cent) falling just short of brown coal (23.2 per cent) as the biggest single contributor for the year to date.

The figures for 2018 show increased growth over 2017, when Germany reached 36.5% renewables as a share of domestic demand, meaning the country surpassed its 2020 target of 35 per cent share of renewables in domestic demand three years early.