Renewable energy created a new record in Germany on Sunday, with wind and solar, supported by biomass and hydro, accounting for 74 percent of demand in the middle of the day.
As the graph below from think tank Agora Energiewende shows, the combined contribution of renewables reached 43.54 gigawatts between noon and 1 p.m.
That accounted for nearly three-quarters of demand, although the inability of some baseload generators to switch themselves off (many did) meant that a record level of more than 10 gigawatts of surplus capacity at its peak was exported to neighboring markets.
The solar output was 15.2 gigawatts at its peak, which is just half its rated peak capacity (more than 33 gigawatts), but that's because most of the northern half of the country was shrouded in clouds and rain. Wind accounted for 21 gigawatts at the 1 p.m. peak, while conventional sources such as nuclear, coal and gas accounted for 26 gigawatts -- around half their normal daily production peaks.
According to BDEW, the share of renewable power in Germany’s electricity consumption jumped to 27 percent in the first quarter of 2014, up from 23 percent a year earlier. Below is a table that shows the various inputs for the past week, leading up to the record peak production day on Sunday.
***
Editor's note: This article is reposted from RenewEconomy. Author credit goes to Giles Parkinson.