Frankfurt, Sept. 13, (dpa/GNA) – Coal displaced wind power as Germany’s most important energy source in the first half of the year, with a debate over climate change measures raging ahead of elections in September.
According to calculations by the Federal Statistical Office released on Monday, 56 per cent of the 258.9 billion kilowatt hours of electricity generated in Germany came from conventional sources such as coal, natural gas or nuclear energy in this period.
This was 20.9 per cent more than the same six-month period last year.
By contrast, the share of renewable energies such as wind, solar energy and biogas fell by 11.7 per cent to 44 per cent compared to the January-June period last year.
The lack of consistent wind in spring was the main reason for the decrease, the statistics office said. The share of wind energy fell by 21 per cent.
The gap was filled primarily by electricity generated by coal-fired power plants.
After coal and wind power, natural gas was the third most important energy source for electricity production in the first half of the year, with a share of 14.4 percent, just ahead of nuclear energy at 12.4 percent.
GNA