GLOBAL Germany needs to double its renewable energy output –grids Germany may need to double its renewable energy capacity by 2035 as Europe's biggest economy goes electric in heating, transport and other sectors, grid operators said. Presenting their capacity planning through to 2035, the four high voltage transmission grid firms (TSOs) said that Germany will need to have renewable power capacity of between 233 and 261 gigawatts (GW) by 2035, compared with just under 130 GW recently forecast for end-2021. "The rising share of renewable energies in power production is the central driver of network development," they said, adding that all the scenarios they had discussed assumed increasing power
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demand and Germany becoming a net importer. Germany needs to meet a target of renewable energy contributing at least 65 per cent of power output in 2030 as part of the country's overall goal to cut CO2 emissions by at least 55 per cent compared with 1990 levels. Green power could provide between 70 per cent an 74 per cent of the total by 2035, led by more wind power generation especially from offshore parks, the TSOs said. Photovoltaic capacity would also increase strongly. Meanwhile, German is planning to close its nuclear plants by 2022 and coal power stations by 2038 in its decarbonisation drive, which will require grid extensions to connect the industrial south with more wind power farms in the north.