Renewables within the German Electricity System - Experiences and Needs

During the last two decades renewable sources of energy as an environmentally friendly alternative to fossil fuel energy have gained more and more importance within the German electricity system. Their share has increased from less than 4 % to roughly one third of the gross electricity production in the last 25 years. Against this background, the goal of this paper is to present briefly the current status of the use of renewables within the German electricity system, to assess selected developments taking place during this development process as well as to identify given challenges and needs as well as necessary actions to pave the road for a further use of renewable sources of energy within the German electricity provision system. The political driver for the latter is the overarching goal to reduce Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions which has been confirmed within the Paris agreement signed by the end of 2015.