• Renewables produce more electricity in Germany than coal in 2018

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      Patrick Lavery

      Combustion Industry News Editor

New research has shown that in 2018, Germany produced more of its electricity from renewables than coal, a first in industrial times. Solar, wind, biomass and hydroelectricity produced 219 TWh of electricity, up 4.3% from 2017 and forming 40.4% of the national total, while coal produced around 206 TWh. It caps a remarkably fast rise for renewables, which accounted for 19.1% of electrical production in 2010. Comparing this to data from the German Energy Charts website, solar, wind, biomass and hydroelectricity produced around 21.2% of its theoretical potential (with 118 GW of installed capacity), whereas coal produced around 51.8% of its theoretical potential (with 45.4 GW of installed capacity).