Germany is the world's first major renewable energy economy.
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Germany's renewable energy sector is among the most innovative and successful worldwide. The share of electricity produced from renewable energy in Germany has increased from 6.3 percent in 2000 to about 25 percent in the first half of 2012. Germany is the world's top photovoltaics (PV) installer, with a solar PV capacity of 36 gigawatts in 2013.
In 2010, investments totaling 26 billion euros were made in Germany’s renewable sector. In 2011, 20% of Germany's electricity supply was produced from renewable energy sources, more than the contribution of gas power plants. Germany has a goal of producing 35% of electricity from renewable sources by 2020.
Siemens CEO believes that Germany’s target of generating 35 per cent of its electricity from renewable energy by 2020 is achievable – and, most probably, profitable for Europe’s largest engineering company.
The Lieberose Photovoltaic Park is a 70 megawatt solar power plant in Brandenburg, Germany. The solar park with 900,000 solar panels which went fully on line in 2009 and will supply electricity for 15,000 households a year. It is the world's third-largest in the world. The Lieberose Solar Park cost $238-million and is operated by the Juwi Group.
According to official figures, some 370,000 people in Germany were employed in the renewable energy sector in 2010, especially in small and medium sized companies. This is an increase of around 8 percent compared to 2009 (around 339,500 jobs), and well over twice the number of jobs in 2004 (160,500). About two-thirds of these jobs are attributed to the Renewable Energy Sources Act.
Energiewende (German for "Energy transition") is a significant change in energy policy. It is a change of policy from demand to supply and a shift from centralized to distributed generation. It should replace overproduction and avoidable energy consumption with energy-saving measures and increased efficiency, while reducing the use of pollution-generating fossil fuels. The German government's goal is 100% renewable energy by the year 2050.
