Renewable energy contributions to the German grid grew by almost 20% last year, according to the latest official figures.
Together with wind, which contributed 44% of renewable energy, hydro and other renewables produced a total of 56 TWh or 9.3% of the total power consumed in 2004, up from the 7.9% share from renewables in 2003. According to figures from the Environment Ministry, citing results presented by the working group on renewable energy statistics (AGEE-Stat), for the first time, wind exceeded hydro in the volume of power generated and the country installed some 300 MW of solar capacity, bringing the total to 700 MW and Germany the world pv leader, ahead of Japan.
