Germany Looks At Rapid Renewable Energy Expansion

The German government is looking to come up with a major package of reforms that would give speed to renewable power generation. Speaking in a renewable energy industry event, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has said that his government wants to end supplies of fossil fuels from Russia considering its armed conflict with Ukraine.

The European Commission is mulling to increase its renewable energy targets to 45% by the end of this decade as an effort to end importing fuels from Russia. Germany had announced an ‘Easter Package’ two months ago after the Russian forces entered Ukrainian borders.  By the end of this year, Germany may not import any coal or oil from Russia. The Western European country also aims at ending natural gas by 2024.

The largest economy of Europe has already reduced its energy imports from Russia drastically. The German Chancellor stated that war is a reason for Germany to double the expansion of renewable energy projects.

Olaf Scholz said, “Germany has relied for too long and too unilaterally on energy supplies from Russia. Today, we have to realize that Russia is using energy as a weapon. After all, no one believes that Russia is reducing its gas supplies for technical reasons alone.”

He further added, “If we want to keep energy affordable in the long term, if we want to reconcile supply security and climate protection, then this is only possible with renewable energies. That’s why we need to kick the expansion of renewables into high gear now.”

Germany strives to generate 80 per cent of its electricity from renewable energy sources by the end of this decade and achieve net zero emissions by 2045. Last month, Germany and the USA partnered to set offshore wind targets of 30 GW by 2030. Germany has also said recently, when the two countries’ heads were meeting in the G7 meeting, that it is looking at a deeper alliance with India in the development of renewable energy.