BERLIN/STUTTGART (dpa-AFX) - Renewable energies covered around 56 percent of electricity consumption in Germany in the first quarter of 2024. This is according to projections by the Center for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research Baden-Württemberg (ZSW) and the German Association of Energy and Water Industries (BDEW), which were made available to dpa on Friday.

In total, renewable energy plants generated around 75.9 billion kilowatt hours of electricity from January to March, around nine percent more than in the same period last year. Onshore wind turbines alone covered more than a quarter of the electricity demand in Germany with 39.4 billion kilowatt hours.

"Hydropower also made an above-average contribution to electricity generation in recent months with 5.3 billion kilowatt hours of electricity," the report continued. This was 27 percent more electricity than in the same period last year. In total, hydropower plants covered four percent of Germany's gross electricity consumption.

"The recent steady increase in the share of renewables in electricity consumption shows that we are on the right track," said Kerstin Andreae, Chairwoman of the BDEW Executive Board. The expansion of renewable energies has recently increased significantly. "This is now being reflected in electricity generation." However, it is also clear that we need to "go one better" to achieve the climate targets./tob/DP/zb