Renewables accounted for more than half of Germany's electricity generation in January and February this year, driven by favorable weather conditions.
In the first quarter of 2022, Germany generated 74.5 billion kWh of renewable energy, an increase of nearly 25 percent year-on-year, according to new analysis by the Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research Center in Baden-Württemberg and the Federal Association for Energy and Water Management (BDEW).
The "unusually windy" start of the year, especially in February, pushed the share of renewables to 47 percent and 62 percent of electricity consumption in January and February, respectively, with record wind power in February.
In the first quarter of this year, solar photovoltaics contributed 9.6 billion kWh, and March's solar radiation was above average.
In the first quarter of 2022, the power generation of German solar projects reached 9.6 billion kWh
The analysis found that in the two months at the beginning of the year, renewable energy accounted for 54 percent of Germany's total electricity consumption.
"The high share of renewables in the first few months of the year should not obscure the fact that the expansion of renewables is too slow," said Kerstin Andreae, chairman of the BDEW executive committee.
Andreae said that with the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, rapid independence from fossil fuels was crucial, and the move to expand renewable energy was "more urgent than ever."
Earlier this month, in an effort to reduce reliance on Russian oil, Germany set a goal of accelerating the development of solar and wind projects to achieve 100 percent renewable electricity by 2035. By then, of the installed renewable energy capacity, solar energy will be 200GW.
Andreae added: "In order to provide more space for wind turbines and photovoltaic systems, we need a faster planning and approval process."
Similar comments were made by the solar industry association Bundesverband Solarwirtschaft (BSW) earlier this year. The association has called for additional barriers to be "broken" if Germany wants to reach 200GW of solar capacity by 2030.
In addition, the government has launched an initiative to support the construction of solar energy projects on agricultural land to consolidate Germany's agricultural photovoltaic projects.
Last year, Germany led the EU with 5.3GW of installed solar PV capacity. At the end of 2021, Germany has nearly 60GW of installed capacity. To meet the 2030 target, Germany needs to more than triple its annual installed solar PV capacity.