Significantly more electricity generated from solar energy in 2022
The many hours of sunshine and the construction of new photovoltaic systems brought Germany a particularly large amount of solar power last year. The expansion of wind power, on the other hand, is faltering. by Daniela Mocker
In 2022, 19 percent more solar power could be generated in Germany than in 2021. This is reported by the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems in its annual evaluation of power generation . According to this, photovoltaic systems generated around 58 terawatt hours of electricity, of which around five terawatt hours were used for self-consumption and 53 terawatt hours went into the public power grid. The reasons for this were both a noticeable addition of new systems and the warm weather in Germany: With around 2025 hours of sunshine, 2022 was the sunniest year since records began, as reported by the German Weather Service on December 30 .
Overall, solar energy ranked third in terms of net electricity generation in Germany last year. Wind power took first place with around 123 terawatt hours, followed by lignite with a good 107 terawatt hours. Net electricity generation is the difference between gross electricity generation and the power plants’ own consumption.
While an average amount of electricity could be generated by wind power on land in 2022, the yield offshore was below average. According to the report, the construction of new wind turbines is still stagnating. Nevertheless, around eleven terawatt hours more electricity could be generated from wind energy in 2022 than in 2021. Things looked worse for hydropower, which delivered significantly less energy in 2022 than in the previous year due to the hot and dry summer.
