Berlin (dpa) – Amid a sunny summer season, wind and solar power production in the northern and eastern parts of Germany during the first half of 2018 greatly exceeded the figures for the same period last year. Photovoltaic plants were kept busy with virtually uninterrupted sunshine from April onwards.
According to the electricity network operator 50Hertz, solar energy output surged by 21.7 per cent to 5,876 gigawatt-hours in the first half of 2018. Wind-powered generators produced 16,562 gigawatt-hours of electricity, up 9.9 per cent on the first half of 2017.
The figures show that in the 50Hertz network, wind power production was nearly three times as high as solar power. The growth figures also reflect the fact that more wind power and solar power facilities had gone on stream. According to preliminary projections based on reports by distribution networks, the installed capacitiy for photovoltaic facilities rose by 13.7 per cent in the 12-month period through June this year, reaching 10,566 megawatts. Wind power plants installed capacity gained 7.0 per cent to 18,856 megawatts.
In order to avoid a capacity overload, on 78 different days during the first half of the year 50Hertz had to instruct wind power plants to reduce or completely shut down their production. In the first half of 2017 this was the case on 79 days. When there is danger of overload in the electric power grid, conventional power plants are the first to be shut down, followed by wind power plants.
The 50Hertz company operates the roughly 10,000-kilometre long electric transmission network for Germany’s five eastern states plus the city-state of Hamburg. Last Friday, the German government thwarted a buy-in at the company by China. The German state development bank KfW is acquiring a 20 per cent stake in the network operator, blocking the way for the Chinese state company SGCC. The majority shareholder of 50Hertz, at 80 per cent, is the Belgian utility concern Elia.
