New BMU publication: "Renewable energy sources in figures - national and international development"
On the basis of the latest data, the Federal Environment Ministry has highlighted the growing significance of renewable energies for the energy markets and the economy. According to this data, the share of renewables in total electricity consumption in Germany increased to 10.2 percent in 2005, compared with 9.5 percent in the previous year. Companies achieved turnover of around 16.4 billion euro with renewable energies last year. The future-oriented renewables sector also currently provides 170,000 jobs, and this figure is set to rise. The Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG) prescribes a share of at least 20 percent for renewables in the electricity supply in Germany by 2020. The new figures confirm that by 2020 a share of no less than 25 percent is technically and economically feasible.
Through the consistent expansion of renewable energies around 84 million tonnes CO2 were saved in Germany in 2005 - around 9 million tonnes more than in 2004. Based on the primary energy consumption in Germany, the share of renewable energies thus rose to 4.6 percent last year - compared with 4 percent in 2004.
Around 62.4 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity were generated from wind energy, hydropower, biomass, photovoltaics and geothermal energy. Wind energy made the greatest contribution again in 2005 with 26.5 billion kilowatt-hours, followed by hydropower (21.5 billion kilowatt-hours) and biomass (13.4 billion kilowatt-hours). The production of electricity from solar energy doubled to around 1 billion kilowatt-hours.