The supply of renewable energy available on the system reached a new record high in Germany on 11 May, with wind and solar, supported by biomass and hydro, accounting for 74 % of demand in the middle of the day.
According to figures collated by think tank Agora Energiewende, the combined contribution of renewables reached 43.54 GW between noon and 1pm. That accounted for three quarters of demand, although the inability of some baseload generators to switch themselves off meant that a record level of more than 10GW of surplus capacity at its peak was exported to neighbouring markets
The solar output was 15.2 GW at its peak, which is just half its rated peak capacity (more than 33 GW), rather low because most of the northern half of the country was overcast much of the day. Wind accounted for 21 GW at the 1pm peak, while conventional sources such as nuclear, coal and gas accounted for 26 GW – around half their normal daily production peaks.
According to BDEW (Germany’s Federal Association of the Energy and Water Industry) the share of renewable power in Germany’s electricity consumption rose to 27 % in the first quarter of 2014, up from 23 % a year earlier.
