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Germany could be entirely fossil fuel free, replacing its energy generating capacity with renewable sources like wind and solar by 2050, according to a new report.

The study from the Federal Environment Agency says it is realistic to target phasing out fossil fuels by2050 as the country already generates 16% of its energy from renewable sources and plans to increase this over the next decades.

“A complete conversion to renewable energy by 2050 is possible from a technical and ecological point of view,” Jochen Flasbarth, president of the Federal Environment Agency, told reporters earlier this week.

The transition would also create new jobs and increase exports of renewable energy technologies.

The country already employs some 300,000 in the renewable energy sector and is the world’s leader in installed photovoltaic capacity and second largest generator of wind power after the US.

Currently around 40% of Germany’s greenhouse gas emissions come from electricity generation, particularly coal-fired plants, but the Government has committed to cutting emissions 40% on 1990 levels by 2020 and 80-85% by 2050.

Meanwhile, the German authorities have finally agreed a two-step plan to reduce feed-in tariffs by 3% later this year.

The German Federal Network Agency says that 714 MW of solar capacity was installed in Q1 of this year, a ten-fold increase on last year. The change to the feed-in tariff is expected to calm the market but not lead to a collapse, according to media reports.

For further information:
www.umweltbundesamt.de/index-e.htm

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