Germany Expects to Get 50% of Its Energy From Renewables This Year

A boom in solar and wind power has Germany generating more than 50 percent of its power needs from renewable sources, but a top government official warned on Monday that it's just not enough to meet both rising power demand and climate goals.

Economy Minister and Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck reiterated his warning that the nation is still not on track to help keep global temperatures below the lower 1.5-degree warming limit of the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change.

"We won't get there at the current pace," the Green Party politician said a conference in Berlin organized by the Heinrich Boell foundation.

Habeck made similar observations at the beginning of the summer, which has turned out to be Earth's warmest on record.

He said the nation really needs to get 80% of its power from renewables by 2030, Habeck said. By contrast, the U.S. only gets about 13% of its power from renewable sources, according to the U.S. Energy Information Agency.

On the plus side, a boom in solar power has put Germany within range of its 9-gigawatt capacity target. Onshore wind is also growing at a healthy pace with 2022's full-year production already reached by the end of July 2023, Habeck noted.

A lack of critical components, however, is slowing development of offshore wind energy, Habeck said.