[Germany 2023 renewable energy installed statistics released] On January 5, the German Federal Network Administration (BNetzA) published preliminary data on the growth of installed renewable energy capacity in Germany in 2023. In 2023, Germany added 17GW of renewable energy capacity, bringing the total installed capacity to nearly 170GW, an increase of 12% year-on-year. Most of Germany's renewable energy growth comes from solar and wind power. Klaus Muller, head of BNetzA, said that the almost doubling of solar power generation compared to 2022 is rapidly driving Germany's energy transition. In 2023, renewable energy generation in Germany exceeded 50% for the first time, but German onshore wind power still did not meet the expected target in 2023. However, there is a significant increase in the number of permits in 2023. According to the German solar industry association BSW, more than 1 million new solar power systems were installed in Germany last year. However, wind power is still the main source of electricity in Germany. Overall, renewables accounted for more than half of electricity consumption for the first time. Wind power in Germany saw a significant increase in 2023. According to earlier reports, Germany added 50 percent more wind power capacity in the first nine months of 2023 compared to the same period in 2022. The share of wind power in total electricity generation is also increasing, with more than a quarter (27%) of Germany's electricity coming from wind power for the first time in the first three quarters of 2023. Editor/Xu Shengpeng

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• 2024.03.18 18:09
• [Europe: Install solar on the roof of all new residential buildings from 2030]
• The European Parliament has formally adopted the revised Energy Performance Directive for Buildings (EPBD), which will become law after formal approval by the Council of Ministers. The directive requires all new residential buildings in the EU to be powered by rooftop solar from 2030, and public buildings and non-residential buildings will need to be phased in according to their scale and technical and economic assessments. The EPBD aims to reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions in the building sector in line with the EU's goal of achieving climate neutrality by 2050. Currently, the building sector accounts for 40% of the EU's total energy consumption and 36% of greenhouse gas emissions. The aim of improving energy efficiency in buildings is to enhance energy independence and sustainability in this sector by reducing the use of imported oil and gas fuels. Under the forthcoming rules, all new buildings occupied or owned by public bodies will need to be zero-emission by 2028, and all new buildings from 2030 onwards. Member States need to clearly plan the measures taken to decarbonize heating systems in order to phase out fossil fuels in heating and cooling by 2040. From 2025, stand-alone fossil fuel boilers will no longer receive subsidies, but hybrid heating systems that use renewable energy will be eligible for financial incentives. Editor/Xu Shengpeng

• 2024.03.18 18:09
• [Germany plans to build fusion power plants]
• Germany's Federal Research Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger has announced a new fusion research funding program aimed at paving the way for the construction of the first fusion power plant in Germany by 2040. The Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) has long supported fusion research at the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics (IPP) in Garching and Greifswald, the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and the Jurich Research Centre (FZJ). "This institutional funding is complemented by the second pillar of the new Project Funding Scheme," the ministry said. "The project funding aims to advance the technologies, components and materials required for fusion power plants in the first phase by the early 2030s. The second phase focuses on integration into the power plant design. The funding program is open to technology and addresses so-called magnetic confinement and laser fusion technology." In order to achieve the construction of fusion power stations as soon as possible, the program is essentially application-oriented collaborative research as a form of public-private partnership. Projects on specific sub-technologies will be carried out jointly by research institutions, universities and industry. This allows new findings from the research to be applied at an early stage and know-how to be transferred to domestic industries for further use, the ministry said. Editor/Xu Shengpeng