독일, '신재생 에너지' 비중 석탄.원자력 첫 추월 Germany’s Carbon Emissions Fall as Renewable Energy Takes the Lead
Photo courtesy of Siemens AG
케이콘텐츠 kcontents
지난해 독일 재생에너지 비중이 처음으로 기저발전인 석탄과 원자력보다 앞서 가장 비중이 큰 에너지원이 된 것으로 파악됐다. 16일 글로벌에너지협력센터에 따르면 독일의 경우 2014년 주요 원별 전력생산 비중이 재생에너지 25.8%, 갈탄 25.6%, 무연탄 19.2%, 원자력 15.9%, 가스 9.6%, 석유 0.8%, 기타 4.3% 순인 것으로 밝혀졌다. 주요 원별 전력생산량은 재생에너지 157.4TWh(테라와트) 갈탄(Lignite) 156TWh, 무연탄(Hard coal) 109.9TWh, 원자력 96.9TWh, 가스 58.5TWh다. 재생에너지 원별 구성을 살펴보면 풍력이 8.6%로 가장 높았고 다음으로 바이오매스 8.0%, 태양광 5.8%, 수력 3.4% 순으로 나타났다. 이어 2014년 독일 경제는 1.4% 성장했지만 전력수요는 4%가 감소하는 등 전력수요가 2007년 이후 계속 감소하고 있는 것으로 나타났다. 경제성장과 전력수요간 상관관계가 분리(decoupling)된 것이다. 가스, 무연탄, 원자력발전은 감소하는 추세로 에너지전환정책의 상당한 영향을 받고 있는 반면에 갈탄발전은 높은 수준을 유지하고 있다. 가스발전은 2014년 58.5TWh로 2010년 89.3TWh를 정점으로 계속 하락하고 있는 추세다. 무연탄 발전은 2014년 109.9TWh가 생산돼 2009년 경제위기로 1990년 수준(140.8 TWh) 이하로 하락한 이후 사상 두 번째로 1990년 수준 이하로 하락했다. 원자력은 에너지전환의 영향을 가장 크게 받는 분야다. 2014년 96.9 TWh로 2010년 140.6 TWh 이후 계속 하락추세로 2015년 상반기에 그라펜라인펠트(Grafenrheinfeld)에 있는 원자력발전소가 가동 중단되면 더 큰 폭으로 감소할 예정이다. 갈탄 발전은 2014년 156 TWh로 1990년의 170.9 TWh 보다는 낮지만 2010년(145.9 TWh) 이후 계속 높은 수준을 유지하고 있다. 지난해 전력공급가격(전력거래가격 + FIT 부과금, 세금 제외)이 10.46 ct/kWh로 감소(2013년 10.55 ct/kWh, 2015년 9.96 ct/kWh 전망)했고 가정용 전기요금이 2014년 29.6 ct/kWh에서 2015년에 29.4 ct/kWh로 최초로 감소할 전망이다. [에너지경제] 양세훈 기자ysh1020@ekn.kr |
Germany’s Carbon Emissions Fall as Renewable Energy Takes the Lead
Andrew Burger | Tuesday January 13th, 2015
2014 may have marked an inflection point in the transition to clean, renewable energy in Germany, Europe’s largest economy and the fifth largest in the world. Collectively, renewable energy resources supplied more electricity in Germany than any other category last year, surpassing lignite coal for the first time, according toAgora Energiewende‘s 2014 annual report.
Renewable energy resources, including wind, hydro, solar and biomass, accounted for 27.3 percent of German electricity generation in 2014, according to Agora’s The Energiewende in the Power Sector: State of Affairs 2014. Significantly, greenhouse gas emissions and electric power consumption both declined, and wholesale power prices fell to a record-low while Germany’s economy expanded 1.4 percent.
Commenting on the confluence of positive developments, Agora Energiewende Director Dr. Patrick Graichen said: “In 2013, we could still see an increase in the undesirable emission of carbon dioxide, parallel to the rise in renewables. At the time, we called this the Energiewende Paradox. Today we can say that this trend has been broken – energy from renewables continues to grow and greenhouse gas emissions are decreasing again.”
A turning point in Germany’s renewable energy transition?
A tapering off in wind power production in October and November was followed by a record amount of wind power generation in December. Overall, a mild winter resulted in a low amount – 60-70 gigawatts – of power demand, Agora Energiewende highlights in its 2014 annual report.
Germany net electricity generation, 1Q 2014. Click through to the report for full size.
A sunny summer led to lots in the way of solar energy production in Q3 2014, while both wind and solar power production levels were high in the spring second quarter. Renewable energy resources met 28.5 percent of Germany’s overall electricity demand through the first half of 2014.
A troubling uptick in coal combustion, and hence carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, had been recorded in recent years as Germany carried out the process of decommissioning its fleet of 22 nuclear power plants. Utilities opted to burn more hard and lignite coal to make up for the shortfall as opposed to natural gas, which is much more expensive in Germany.
That changed in 2014. Germany’s annual greenhouse gas emissions fell substantially, to their second-lowest level since 1990, last year. Lower coal prices, and a mild winter, were the main contributors. Furthermore, Graichen of Agora Energiewende explains:
“The main reason for lower CO2 emissions, according to the analysis, is that after pushing gas-fired power plants out of the market, renewables are now crowding out climate-damaging hard-coal power plants. ‘Hard coal and gas are the losers in the power mix. Lignite-fired power plants, on the other hand, are still producing at a high level.”
Falling prices, falling greenhouse gas emissions and a growing economy
What’s more, the upward trend in wholesale electricity prices also reversed course. Wholesale electricity prices on the Leipzig power market fell to a record-low 33 euros per megawatt-hour in 2014 as compared to 38 euros in 2013, according to Agora Energiewende’s report.
Germany: Share of energy sources in gross power production in 2014 (2013 valuesin parentheses). Click through to the report for full size.
Declining German power prices prompted its European neighbors to import more electricity from Germany, a record amount as it turns out. On a net basis, neighboring countries imported 34.1 terawatt-hours of German electrical energy – 5.6 percent of Germany’s total electricity generation in 2014 — which was a slight uptick from 2013.
“We appear to have reached the maximum possible in electricity exports,” Graichen commented.
Looking forward, Agora Energiewende foresees further declines in German electricity prices in 2015. Two factors will be the main drivers, Agora elaborates: “Forward contracts for 2015 purchases of electricity on the power exchange as well as the renewable energy surcharge are lower than in 2014. Many electricity distributors will pass these advantages on to their customers.”
Moreover, Agora points out, the number of hours where electricity prices were negative in Germany in 2014 increased to 64, “the same number as in 2013, although the share of wind and solar power had increased significantly.
“That this was successful is perhaps the best news for the power system,” Graichen said. “It shows that even a system with a lot of wind and solar power is technologically manageable.”
*Images credit: Agora Energiewende
http://www.triplepundit.com/2015/01/germanys-carbon-emissions-fall-renewable-energy-takes-lead/
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