Graph of the Day: German solar PV production peaks at 42% of demand

Having kicked off the month of May with a day of record renewable energy generation, Germany looks to be winding it up with a new first, with the nation’s solar PV production averaging at greater than 30GW for an hour on Sunday May 28, amounting to 42 per cent of total production (71.41GW) at that time.

As the Tweet and chart from Navigant Energy’s Kees van der Leun show, solar PV, along with wind, hyrdo and biomass, renewables combined to provide a total of 46.44GW, or roughly 65 per cent of total demand at that time, while fossil fuels/nuclear were reduced to around one-third of generation.

Today, in early afternoon, German solar PV production averaged >30 GW for an hour; first time ever! 42% of total production at that time. pic.twitter.com/SHqoEKKnjG

— Kees van der Leun (@Sustainable2050) May 28, 2017

And while this is not quite as impressive as the April 30 record – when wind and solar along with biomass and hydro produced a level of 85 per cent renewable energy generation, almost completely sidelining hard coal plants – it marks a new first for solar PV in Germany.

It should be noted that both records were achieved on a Sunday, at times of lower overall demand, but as Patrick Graichen of Agora Energiewende Initiative said of the April 30/May 01 record, days like these are expected to be “completely normal” by 2030, as the federal government’s Energiewende (energy transition) initiative continues to add value to the wealth of resources invested in it.