Suche
Mein Konto
Solar power revolution: Germany could supply all of Austria!
Germany reaches 100 GWp of PV output, almost covering Austria's electricity needs. Renewable energies on the rise.
Solar power revolution: Germany could supply all of Austria!
Renewable energies, particularly photovoltaics, have made significant progress in Germany and Austria in recent years. Germany has now exceeded the threshold of 100 GWp of installed photovoltaic (PV) capacity, with around 4.75 million PV systems generating a significant amount of electricity of 72.6 TWh. This electricity production covers around 14% of the total gross electricity consumption in Germany, whose share of all renewable energies is now 53%, as oekonews reports.
In comparison, Austria showed electricity consumption of around 64.5 TWh in 2024, indicating ever-increasing trends in the use of renewable energy. In order to cover the entire electricity requirement of 74.7 TWh in Austria, an increased use of storage systems for solar power from Germany will be necessary, although the solar power produced in Germany would theoretically be sufficient. The installed PV capacity in Austria amounted to 8.3 GWp in the same year, which is supported by around 470,000 PV systems with an electricity production of 8.3 TWh, which corresponds to 11% of the gross electricity consumption in Austria.
Record levels of solar power generation
The development of photovoltaics in Germany was particularly dynamic in 2024. In July of this year, a record was achieved for solar power feed-in: around 10.3 TWh was fed into the grid, accounting for 28.3% of net electricity generation. Overall, the share of renewable energies in the electricity supply was 64.6% in July 2024 and shows the growing role they play in the German energy supply, explains Strom-Report.
The power-generating capabilities of photovoltaics have improved dramatically compared to previous years, with nearly 49.7 million tons of CO2 emissions saved through electricity production in 2024. This year, an additional 1 million new solar systems were installed, contributing a peak output of 15.9 GWp.
The contribution of renewable energies to the climate protection balance
According to Umweltbundesamt, renewable energies already contributed 22.4% to gross final energy consumption in 2024, which means an increase of 0.8 percentage points compared to the previous year. The goal for 2030 is for 41% of gross final energy consumption to be covered by renewable sources. In 2024, over 517 billion kWh were provided from renewable sources, with electricity production accounting for 55%.
The dominant renewable energy sources in Germany are biomass with 47%, followed by wind energy with 27% and solar energy, which accounts for 16%. The developments in photovoltaics are also hidden behind an increase in installed capacity to 99.8 GW.
These developments clearly show the potential of photovoltaics and the crucial role that renewable energies can play in future energy supply and climate protection. The trend suggests that both Germany and Austria are well on the way to achieving their climate goals.