According to the German Federal Association of Energy and Water Management (BDEW), electricity consumption in Germany dipped by 2% in the first quarter of 2020 (compared to the same period of 2019), while total power generation declined by nearly 7% year-on-year. Conventional thermal and nuclear power generation decreased by 15% during the first quarter of 2020 (unavailability of 1.4 GW at the Philippsburg 2 nuclear power plant and lignite-fired power plants shutdowns), while wind power generation surged (+20% for onshore wind and +35% for offshore wind). Overall, renewable energies accounted for nearly 52% of the power mix in the first three months of 2020.
In Spain, renewables contributed by nearly 45% of the total power generation in mainland Spain in the first quarter of 2020, and by 50% in March 2020 alone, according to the Spanish power transmission network operator Red Electrica de Espana (REE). Due to the coronavirus pandemic and the related lockdown since 15 March 2020, the Spanish electricity consumption declined by 4.6% in March 2020 and by 3.1% in the first quarter of 2020. Consequently, the share of thermal power generation was cut to nearly 28% and that of nuclear to less than 24%, raising the share of renewables to 44.7%: wind power covered 22.7% of the power mix in the first quarter of 2020, followed by hydropower (15.1%), solar PV (4.1%) and solar CSP (0.9%).
Source: energycentral
