New solar power output record in one of warmest May ever in Germany

Solar power plants Germany produced more electricity than ever before in May, which brought 275 hours of sunshine instead of the average 196, the Renewable Energy Industry Initiative (IWR) reports. According to preliminary data by grid operators, solar panels produced nearly 6 billion kilowatt hours (kWh) of power, about 16 percent more than in the previous record month in May 2017. Wind power production in May 2018 was also much higher than the previous year. Onshore and offshore turbines combined supplied about 7.2 billion kWh, nearly one-third more than in 2017, IWR says.
According to the German Meteorological Service (DWD), May 2018 was also one of the warmest in the country on record to date, after the April before already claimed an absolute record for that month. With an average temperature of 16 degrees Celsius, it was nearly 4 degrees warmer than any month of May from 1961 to 1990, the international standard reference period. The temperature was “about the same as in the absolute record year 1889,” the DWD adds.

Read the IWE article in German here and the DWD press release in German here.  

For more information, see the CLEW factsheet Volatile but predictable: Forecasting renewable power generation.