Germany remains net power exporter

As though to mark the first anniversary of the nuclear accident in Fukushima, Germany has announced official figures for its energy supply in 2011 – and the country remained a net electricity exporter despite phasing out 40 percent of its nuclear capacity last March.

In 1992, solar research center Fraunhofer ISE set up this off-grid house in the middle of town just to prove that solar work. 20 years later, more progress has been made then the researchers would have dared dream. Photo: Craig Morris

This week, Germany's Energy Balance Task Force (AGEB) released the official statistics for German energy supply last year. Perhaps the most important finding is that Germany remained a net exporter of power, with an excess of five terawatt-hours for the year – this although the moratorium on nuclear power adopted almost a year ago today reduced the country's nuclear power production by 23 percent.

We also now know what the short-term effects were. Production of coal power from brown coal increased by just under four percent – a temporary effect, as Germany has no plans to increase coal power production. In contrast, power production from anthracite (hard coal) dropped slightly by 0.7 percent. Interestingly, for Germany plans to use natural gas as a bridge towards 100 percent renewable supply, consumption of natural gas dropped by a full 10 percent last year.

In contrast, production of renewable power increased by 4.1 percent and now makes up nearly 11 percent of total energy (not just electricity!) supply. Wind power production increased by 22 percent; photovoltaics by a whopping 67 percent. For the first time ever, Germany got more of its energy from photovoltaics than from hydropower. Biogas also grew by an impressive 21 percent, and biofuels grew by eight percent.

Overall, AGEB points out that primary energy consumption dropped by an estimated 5.3 percent last year to a level even lower than in 2009, when the economic crisis reduced demand. The task force attributes this drop mainly to "milder weather, which reduced demand for heat considerably in all sectors"; after all, it cannot be due to any economic slump, for the German economy grew by 3.0 percent last year.­ But even demand for power dropped slightly by 0.3 percent.

All in all, the growing economy combined with lower energy consumption reduced Germany's energy intensity by more than three percent in a single year. (Craig Morris)