How much renewable energy is needed to meet climate protection targets?

Renewable energies already represent a possibility for the emission-free production of electricity. In the context of the climate protection targets adopted in Germany, across Europe, and around the world, the share of renewable energies in the energy supply will therefore grow strongly. Renewable energies can be divided into two categories: weather-dependent and weather-independent. Above all, weather-dependent renewables, also known as volatile renewables, will play an essential role in the future, as they can be added in large numbers to available land. Volatile renewables include onshore wind, offshore wind, and photovoltaics. These are complemented by weather-independent renewables such as hydropower, geothermal, and biomass. We investigate how much renewable generation capacity is actually necessary to achieve the climate protection goals, using scenario analyses within our model landscape.

Specifically, we look at the following questions:

• How high will the demand for electrical energy be in the future?
• What are the environmental impacts of RE?
• How does climate change affect electricity generation from renewables?
• Will we reach the climate targets with the current expansion rates?