Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein have achieved Germany’s renewable target for 2025. They already obtain 40% of their energy from renewables on an annual basis. A technological breakthrough, the digitization of industry, will be required to go further. This region of 4.5 million people expects to obtain 70% of its energy from renewables by 2025 and 100% by 2035. Schleswig-Holstein and Hamburg will be showcasing the fourth industrial revolution.
Germany has long been one of the world’s leading centers of the wind industry. Thus I welcomed an opportunity to question Esther Frey, renewable energies expert at Germany Trade & Invest (GTAI), about this technology’s effectiveness and future development. GTAI is the foreign trade and inward investment promotion agency of the Federal Republic of Germany. Ms Frey provided some valuable insight into some of the issues involved in developing Germany’s Wind Energy Potential.
Renewable sources contributed 27% of Germany’s domestic electricity in the first quarter. In windy Schleswig-Holstein, which obtained 90% of its energy from renewable sources in 2013, they hope to reach 100% this year. The role played by fossil fuels and the nuclear sectors is shrinking. Contrary to what naysayers have been predicting, Energiewende is very much alive and on-track in Germany.
