Renewable energy in Germany rose by 22 percent in the past quarter century while total coal usage dropped by 14 percent since 1990, according to the latest Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) estimates.
Germany intends to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 levels by 40 percent by 2020 and by at least 80 percent by 2050.
'According to experts, this can only be done by shutting down old coal-fired power plants one by one,' Destatis said.
Despite the drop in coal generation since 1990, coal still surpasses renewable energy in the country.
Last year, Germany generated about 628 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity with renewables accounting for 26 percent while coal accounted for 43.7 percent, estimates show.
Within the total coal generation, brown coal accounted for 24.8 percent and hard coal made up 18.9 percent.
Lignite, often referred to as brown coal, is considered the lowest rank of coal due to its relatively low heat content while anthracite is a hard, compact variety of coal with the highest calorific content of all types of coal.
The country targets 35 percent renewables share by 2020, a nine percent rise in the next five years while aiming that 60 percent of energy consumption will come from renewable sources by 2050.
To support the renewables increase, the government passed laws and set regulations encouraging the production of solar, wind and bioenergy, in a program known as the Energiewende, or Energy Transition since 2000.
Meanwhile, nuclear power, referred to as relatively clean energy due to its non-polluting quality, is becoming less important in the country. Nuclear energy’s share decreased to 16 percent in 2014 from 28 percent in 1990.
Reporting by Abdulselam Durdak from Germany
Writing by Zeynep Beyza Kilic
Anadolu Agency
zeynep.karabay@aa.com.tr